The Good News is Making a Comeback... or Did it Ever Really Leave?

Joel Halldorf in an article for Christianity Today titled, “Not So Secular Sweden” describes some good news about the “Good News.” Halldorf, a Swedish historian describes a surprising resurgence of faith in Sweden which in the past several decades has been a picture of the secular future. Church attendance had hovered around five percent and belief in God had all but collapsed. Halldorf writes that religion wasn’t angrily rejected—rather, it was gently dismissed.

But things are changing. In recent years, Sweden has seen unexpected signs of change: open conversations about faith at intellectual dinner tables, and most surprising of all—young people showing up in churches. The author continues…

Across the Western world, similar signals are appearing. In Britain, journalists speak of a “quiet revival.” In France, the Catholic Church reports a stunning surge: more than 7,400 teenagers baptized at Easter in 2024. In the United States, Pew Research notes that the long decline of religious affiliation has flattened, especially among younger adults.

Globally, Gen Z is now more religious than their boomer parents—a reversal once thought nearly impossible. Musician Nick Cave observed that a decade ago, talking about God at a dinner table would get you laughed out of the room. Now, he says, people listen. There is “a kind of need” in the air.

Halldorf argues that there’s an erosion of faith in secular progress itself. When reason, technology, and prosperity stopped delivering hope, people didn’t stop longing. They started searching again. And in the Western world that search is becoming visible.

While we often hear pundits and pollsters reporting on the decline and death of faith, new indications, especially among the younger generation, are defying the expectations of the many who have predicted the end of Christian faith as we know it.

And that is especially significant given the fact that we have been told that the “good news” is as good as gone for most Americans… but it’s just not true. According to The Wall Street Journal in an article this past year titled “Are Americans Really Losing Their Religion”… “The biggest story in American religion is the dramatic rise of the “nones”—people who say they are atheist, agnostic or have no particular religious faith. Last year we conducted the largest-ever survey of nones, with 12,000 participants.

One-third of nonreligious people fall into a category we call the “dones,” because they are finished with religion altogether and want nothing to do with it. Then there are the “zealous nones,” because they are evangelical about their unbelief.

But the majority of nonreligious non-Americans have a more complicated attitude toward spirituality. 21% are called “nones in name only”: over half of this group says they pray daily, and a third attend some kind of religious service at least once a year. And 66% say they feel drawn toward spirituality.

The researchers conclude, “The majority of nonreligious Americans do yearn for some kind of connection with a higher power. This suggests that a religious revival is certainly possible in the U.S...” So don’t believe all the misinformation by those who wish to see the demise of religious faith. It’s not happening like they’d hoped. God has always had a people and always will! And remember that God is always trying to take His people someplace new! I love being your Pastor!

For God’s Glory Alone,
Pastor Ray

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