I note reference to France, as in the word Lisa Tierney heard last August and I blogged on Monday:

Pete Greig’s Facebook > Something wonderful seems to be stirring…

📷 Snapshot #1: Friday
In Hackney, East London hundreds of young people from three local churches stay up all night to pray and seek God. Al Gordon writes “I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s a remarkable sense of consecrating love setting apart the young, calling them to holiness.”

📷 Snapshot #2: Saturday
In Trafalgar Square thousands gather to hear the gospel. Many healed and saved. Evangelist Daniel Chand sums it up in one word: “Historic”.

📷 Snapshot #3: Sunday
St Aldates, Oxford where George Whitfield gave his life to Christ, is overflowing. So many young people give their lives to Christ they lose count. Steven Foster says: “It broke our systems. From the start of the service it felt like literally anything could happen and probably would. It was mostly Gen Z responding but also prison leavers and people in recovery.”

Jesus tells us to be alert to the signs of the times, but then again we need hope not hype.

And so, after 25 years of 24-7 Prayer, contending non-stop for the tide to turn, refusing to believe for anything less than revival, I am hesitant even to type these words: something seems to be shifting at last. Just when it felt like failure. When in our darkest moment we found ourselves wondering if it had all been a waste of time.

I dare to believe because this last weekend is just the latest iteration of something bigger that seems to be happening. Over Easter

– many churches reported bumper attendances.
– 12000 were baptised in France one of the most secular nations on earth
– 419 were baptised by our friends at New Life Church in Colorado Springs.
– 469 gave their lives to Christ at Audacious church in Manchester
– 116 got saved at Soul Church in Norwich

And meanwhile – beyond events, programmes, conferences and successful services – the long-term societal markers also seem to be shifting.

– Public intellectuals from Tom Holland to Jordan Peterson to Ayaan Hirsi Ali are arguing for faith in God.
– Influencers with millions of followers are professing faith – some even getting baptised.
– Columns in the Wall Street Journal and the London Times are reporting a return to religion amongst the young. The Spectator even using the (over-excited) headline ‘Revival’. [RB well-worth reading https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-christian-revival-is-under-way-in-britain/]
– More than 7000 school classrooms have now been turned into prayer rooms thanks to Prayer Spaces in Schools
– 25% of Australians are saying they’d accept an invitation to church and 70% that they talk to the God they’re no longer supposed to believe in!

Now if you’re reading this and thinking ‘it doesn’t feel like that where I live,’ all I can say is this:

Firstly, let’s pray! It doesn’t matter how small the spark, if you pour petrol on it you can start a fire. Pray on your own. Pray with others. Set up a 24-7 Prayer Room.

Secondly, let’s be confident in sharing our faith. There are clear signs of a growing spiritual hunger in the land – people are more open than they were to the Lord. These things always begin in certain hotspots before they spread out.

Thirdly, let’s invest in young people. The turning is most marked amongst Gen Z. Let’s not miss this moment of opportunity.

Finally, if this stirs your heart, join us at the Wildfires Festival – where we will once again be praying, thinking, dreaming and contending for the next great awakening in our lands.