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Scotland's Quiet Revival
—Talk of a ‘quiet revival’ has caught the attention of the church and the media since the report of the same name was published in March 2025 by our sister Bible Society in England and Wales. Sadly, YouGov who conducted the research, recently informed the Bible Society that the survey sample on which The Quiet Revival was based was faulty. This means that the report can no longer be regarded as a reliable source of information about the spiritual landscape in Britain. Yet the trend that the Quiet Revival spoke about – increased openness to Christian faith, particularly among the young – is borne out by many stories. Is it possible to discern if a similar quiet revival is happening here in Scotland?
Church Growth
The Patmos data reveals a stunning picture of church growth among the young. By comparing the 2015 Transforming Scotland data with Patmos, we can now reveal that there has been a three-fold increase in 18–24-year-olds attending church at least once a month in the last decade.
Moreover, if we have a look at those who were 18-24 years old back in 2015 and are now in their late twenties to early thirties, we discover that four times as many of this generation are now in church regularly. These two age groups are now the two generations most likely to attend church regularly, reversing the picture of an aging and declining church in Scotland.
The Spiritual Generation and the Bible
What about the spiritual openness reported by the Quiet Revival? Patmos found that young adults in Scotland are more likely to describe themselves as spiritual than religious. But there is one area of huge encouragement: the younger generations in Scotland show great interest in the Bible. Back in 2015, we were stunned to discover that over half of all young people wanted to learn more about the Bible. This is outstripped any other generation of Scottish adults. Patmos reveals that this interest continues.
What is more, young people in Scotland are not just saying they are interested in the Bible. They are picking it up and reading it in staggering numbers. Back in 2015, Transforming Scotland surprised us all when it found large numbers of young people read the Bible at least once a month. Incredibly, three times as many young people were reading the Bible regularly as were in church. That active reading of the Bible is confirmed by Patmos.
Fast forward a decade, and the numbers of Scottish young people who are reading the Bible at least once a month has grown. Moreover, those who were reading the Bible in such large number ten years ago have kept the habit and even more of their generations have now joined them in reading the Bible at least once a month.
What is clear is that people are in the Bible before they are in church. How important therefore to share the Bible with our communities! Beyond the data, what encourages us most are the stories we are hearing from church leaders across the nation about people young and old coming to church and putting their faith in Jesus, a significant proportion of whom began their journey by getting a Bible and reading it for themselves.
