Thought for the Week from Rachel Reid, LLM – 22nd June 2026

God is on the move

Remember back in 2010? There was a lot of hostility to the church. The New Atheists like Richard Dawkins got a lot of airtime. He wrote books such as The God Delusion and Outgrowing God. Religion, according to Dawkins, fuels war, aids and abets bigotry and abuses children. He lined up arguments which “proved” the improbability of an omniscient, omnipotent, eternal God who created everything.

Newspapers were happily predicting that the Church of England would have ceased to exist by 2030. (Hello!) Even the powers that be in the Anglican church were advising that we needed to “manage decline well”. Christians were opposed and othered.

But often you must walk through the wilderness to get to the promised land. Something is shifting. The Zeitgeist is changing. There is a sovereign move of God, quiet but slowly gathering momentum, especially among young people. They are coming to church having read the Bible for themselves and wanting to know more. Like the young Samuel in the Temple when Eli was High Priest, they are hearing a Voice, beautiful and utterly compelling, that says their name.

If you want to know more about this and you’ve got 25 minutes, watch this short documentary on You Tube on the Awakening in the UK.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDB33nIQtqE

Sarah Jackson from Holy Trinity Brompton talks about investing in young leaders because God is really doing something in Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012). There is an openness to the Gospel among them. They are praying for their parents to know Jesus and his transforming, burning, world changing love. Sarah comments that we don’t need to plan to grow upward in age and inward in focus. This will happen naturally, without doing anything at all. We only go the opposite way by intentionally focussing on young people.

At the beginning of the year, we appointed Amy to be our Children, Youth and Families worker, and she has been building up teams, making relationships in the villages and reaching out to families. A follow up group for young people that are too old for Messy Church is being considered and pondered and planned. If you don’t already know, Messy is a monthly meeting of 50-60 children of mainly primary school age and their families. They come to learn about Jesus through crafts, story and song, and enjoy a hot meal together at the end.

Friends, there is one story that leads to life. Let’s tell the story. Let’s tell people about what God has done in our lives. The Hope of the Nations is in Jesus. The emerging generation needs to know the name of Jesus isn’t just a swear-word.

If you feel led to offer to help Amy and her team, see the contact details and advert for Little Fish below!

Rachel (LLM)

Pray for…

· All of our seven churches to grow closer as we learn to love Jesus more

· Our lovely Vicar Geoff, that he might be encouraged this week in his work for our churches and communities

· Amy and her team as they continue to develop a focus on growing younger

· More workers to enter the harvest field and tell Christ’s story

Give thanks for …

· The renewed interest in faith among young people

· All those who work in the background to keep our churches running beautifully