As the nation continues to reel after the death of Charlie Kirk, many questions remain, but one significant development America is witnessing is a surge in conversations about revival, with droves of people coming to faith.
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Dr. John Plake, editor-in-chief of the State of the Bible series and chief innovation officer at the American Bible Society (ABS), told CBN News his organization has witnessed incredible expressions of faith across the U.S. during recent survey waves.
“We do see … in my lifetime, an unprecedented move toward the church, and toward God, and from places that you wouldn’t normally expect to see it,” he said, noting a significant upturn in young adults attending and engaging in church. “Prior to this moment in time, we were witnessing a 30-year slide, a decrease in church involvement, a decrease in Bible use, a decrease in faith affiliation.”
While ABS hasn’t conducted new research after Kirk’s death, the organization’s recent research and reports from various churches across the U.S. indicate that houses of worship are seeing even more people come to faith.
Many believe that the horrific assassination of Kirk has accelerated spiritual resurgence.
“I think what we’re seeing is just the latest very tragic example of the fact that disruptions lead people to question the way they’re living their lives day to day,” Plake said. “And we’ve looked at this for many years. We’ve been talking about the movable middle. These are people who are kind of Bible test drivers. They think the Bible is a good idea, they may not interact with it a lot on their own, they may be kind of confused by it or feel stopped from interacting with Scripture.”
He continued, “But what we notice is that in times when they experience disruption, either negative disruptions like we saw with COVID or maybe this latest incident with the Charlie Kirk murder, all of these things lead people to say, ‘Wait, the way I was living my life maybe isn’t all there is. Or maybe there are … some existential questions that I have had on the back burner, maybe haven’t given time to think about them. But now I want to know, does the Bible speak to this? Does the church speak to this? And if so, I’d like to get some answers.'”
To Plake’s point, New York City-based Pastor Mike Signorelli recently told CBN News that he saw 533 people accept Jesus during the first Sunday after Kirk’s murder. Other churches have similar stories.
“I almost started weeping just hearing the number again,” Signorelli said. “It’s still overwhelming to even think about it. … Five-hundred-and-thirty-three decisions for Christ of every age, [many] generations were represented, every race was represented.”
Plake also spoke about other ABS findings showing the benefits of people turning to faith, with higher interaction with church and prayer yielding powerful results.
“What we found, consistently, really over and over again, whether we’re using Harvard’s Human Flourishing Scales, or we’re looking at stress levels or hope levels, or you’re looking at a sense of solid identity or purpose in life, all of these things are highly correlated to people’s relationship with God, with Scripture, and with the people of God,” he said. “So, I often say, look, if you’re struggling in life, the prescription is pretty obvious — find out who you are by dipping into God’s story.”
These interactions are also intensifying, with a 22% year-over-year increase in Bible sales, increased engagement with the Scriptures, and higher church attendance, particularly among young people.
Find out more about this research and upcoming chapters of the ABS’s “State of the Bible” here.
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