Reports suggest that churches up and down the country saw a surge in attendance for this year’s Easter services and events.
The anecdotal evidence from parish priests and pastors backs up the more scientific findings of research conducted by the Bible Society that indicates a “quiet revival” is taking place in Britain.
According to the findings of the research the percentage of adults attending church regularly has grown from 8% to 12%. While it may sound small, that represents an extra 2 million people going to church.
Among young people the numbers are even more dramatic. The percentage of 18 to 24-year-olds attending church has risen in the last six years from just 4% to 16%. Among young men the figure has actually gone up to 21%.
As The Telegraph reports, church leaders across different denominations saw a significant rise in attendance this Easter.
Philip North, the Bishop of Blackburn, spoke of services being packed out in many Church of England parishes, while Cardinal Vincent Nichols said that the Catholic Church had also seen a surge in interest.
“In this last week, there have probably been 50,000 people in and out of Westminster Cathedral," said the cardinal.
"For the 12 o’clock [Easter Sunday] Mass, people were queuing down Ambrose Avenue in order to come in as soon as the previous Mass had finished, to find a place.
“There were 200 people outside the door following it on their phones. So there’s, as they say, something going on – and that, too, we should ponder and pray about.”
According to the Bible Society’s research Catholicism is expected to become the most popular denomination in Britain (if it isn’t already) and indeed Pentecostalism could potentially knock the Church of England into third place.
Denominations which have historically had very little purchase in Britain, such as Eastern Orthodox churches, have also started to attract new followers seeking the transcendence and ritual that has endured over the centuries.
