"A seismic shift … belief is back"

Is your church ready for the gospel opportunity of a lifetime? Fresh from her involvement at a Limitless leaders’ event, Pioneer UK’s Ness Wilson talked Chris Rolfe through the revival of faith, Bible reading and passion for the gospel she is witnessing.

“The Evangelical Alliance’s Missional Trends for 2026 says this year will be the most spiritually open year in living memory, and from what I’m seeing I totally agree,” says Ness Wilson.

Her enthusiasm today is a far cry from her reaction three years ago when her prophetically gifted husband told her the UK was in the grip of a slow awakening. Then she couldn’t see it.

But today, from her vantage point as leader of the Pioneer UK network and Open Heaven Church in Loughborough, she is witnessing record numbers of people coming to faith.

“For years we’ve been told the church is in terminal decline and we’ve lived in an atmosphere of indifference, apathy and hostility.

“Now it feels like a seismic shift has begun and belief is back.”

What’s happening?

The changes Ness is so excited to report are evident in many different ways.

There are the rising numbers of people becoming Christians at Open Heaven, for example.

“We’ve been recording numbers each year since 1993. For most years we had an average of 7.3, but in 2025 it was 54,” she says.

Then, just as the Quiet Revival report found, rising faith in young men has been particularly evident too.

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