Church leader sees challenges and opportunities as research suggests openness to Christianity within the UK

An evangelical church leader has welcomed national polling pointing to a more open spiritual landscape within the UK, as churches prepare for a nationwide mission effort within the run-up to Easter 2026.

John Stevens, National Director of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC), said the findings should give congregations confidence and boldness in sharing their faith, difficult the widespread assumption that Britain is uniformly closed to Christianity.

The survey was commissioned by A Passion for Life and conducted by Whitestone amongst 2,112 UK adults during early June last 12 months, exploring church attendance, spiritual interest and what people imagine their lives are lacking.

One of essentially the most striking findings is that 15% of adults say they attend church at the very least once a month, either in person or online.

That figure is higher than the 12% recorded within the Bible Society’s 2024 “Quiet Revival” research.

Attendance is especially strong amongst young men: nearly a 3rd (30%) of young men aged 18 to 24 said they attended church at the very least once a month.

By contrast, churchgoing was least common amongst adults in midlife (aged 35-54).

The report notes that the broader geographical scope of the brand new survey, which included Scotland and Northern Ireland in addition to England and Wales, may help explain the upper overall figure.

Beyond attendance, the survey found that 20% of respondents are open to exploring the Bible and Jesus Christ.

More than half said they personally know a practising Christian, and over one in five said they’d be willing to go to a church service on the invitation of a friend or colleague.

The findings also indicate that folks are more willing to attend an everyday church service if invited than to go to a standalone event or special outreach meeting, underlining the importance of relational invites.

Stevens said such figures should reshape how churches take into consideration evangelism.

“We can inadvertently discourage people from evangelism by suggesting that they are going to face hostility, in order that the important thing quality we are saying they need is courage,” he said.

“The survey suggests we must always be more positive and provides people a vision for the chance and possibility of evangelism. They could also be talking to certainly one of the 20% who could be focused on checking out more!”

Participants were also asked what voids they perceived of their lives. The most typical responses were purpose, freedom and security, with purpose proving essentially the most distinguished at greater than 30% for each men and girls, and 40% amongst 18 to 24 12 months olds.

Love, meaning, hope, truth and community also featured prominently, each cited by around one in five respondents. By contrast, relatively few said spirituality, forgiveness, order, identity, justice or purity were missing from their lives. Just 3% said that God was missing.

Stevens said these findings present each a challenge and a chance.

He said: “We can easily assume that we all know what people’s felt needs are, actually because these are our own felt needs or the felt needs of the Christians we spend most of our time helping. But preaching to those needs may not resonate with unbelievers.

“It is evident that the best need for many is the existential desire for purpose and meaning. The survey suggests that folks aren’t directly on the lookout for God, and so they don’t feel his absence.

“Instead, we want to patiently show them how the absence of God is perhaps the very reason for the felt needs they experience,” he said in an FIEC blog.

The survey also revealed notable generational and geographical patterns. Younger adults were more more likely to report that something is missing of their lives and showed higher levels of openness to Christian faith.

Those over 65 were the least more likely to say they lacked anything on the list, though purpose still ranked highly for them.

Middle-aged adults, particularly those aged 45 to 54, showed a renewed sense of dissatisfaction in comparison with older age groups but were less more likely to attend church or respond positively to invitations.

Church attendance and interest in Jesus and the Bible were higher in Scotland and Northern Ireland than in England and Wales.

Within England itself, London stood out, with almost one in 4 reporting monthly church attendance.

At the opposite end of the size, Yorkshire and Humberside recorded the bottom levels of standard attendance.

Stevens urged churches to avoid comparing ministries in several contexts, noting that urban centres and university towns often see more visible growth attributable to demographic aspects.

“The survey must drive us to prayer that God could have mercy on our land and work a mighty revival by his Spirit, and to take comfort that it’s the Gospel alone which is the facility of God for salvation,” he added. 

The findings come as churches across the UK prepare for the following A Passion for Life initiative, a nationwide mission specializing in the month before Easter 2026.

Hundreds of churches are expected to participate, using refreshed “LIFE” branding and evangelism resources designed to support local outreach.

The initiative follows similar missions in 2010, 2014 and 2022, and goals to mix national visibility with local ownership. FIEC has been a big supporter of the project.