The Bible’s Society’s report The Quiet Revival, published last year, said that the Church in England and Wales was in a “period of rapid growth, driven by young adults and in particular young men”, and that the trend of decline had been reversed (News, 11 April 2025). But is the Church of England experiencing a share of this revival? Some have expressed concern that the Church will “miss out” on the opportunity presented.
At the end of January, the Church Times hosted an event at St John’s, Waterloo, in London, “Springtime for the Church of England: Where are we seeing growth?”, which brought together speakers representing different traditions to share stories of local growth.
The podcast this week features the opening talk by the Revd Dr David Goodhew, Vicar of St Barnabas’s, Middlesbrough, Visiting Fellow of St John’s College, Durham University, and the former director of the Centre for Church Growth Research.
“The reason we have a confused discussion is that people tend to say either it must be growth, or it must be decline,” he says. “Actually, it’s both; and, if you look across British Christianity, you are seeing a whole load of things going up, and going down, and it depends where you look as to what you are seeing.”
At the start, Madeleine Davies, senior writer at the Church Times, and the Vicar of St John’s, Waterloo, Canon Giles Goddard, introduce the event.
A video recording of the event can be purchased here.
Click the play button above to listen to this podcast. You can also listen to the Church Times Podcast on the Church Times app for iPhone and iPad, SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and most other podcast platforms. Music for the podcast is by Twisterium.
