On Friday night in East London, more than 2,000 people—most of them young adults—packed into Saint Church’s Hackney location for an all-night prayer and worship gathering. The multi-church event—created in collaboration between Saint Church, King’s Cross Church and Imprint Church—ran from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and sparked what many attendees are calling a powerful spiritual outpouring marked by salvations, spontaneous worship and moments of deep repentance.
“There was a thick and heavy sense of God’s presence,” recalled Al Gordon, pastor of Saint Church. “Dozens giving their lives to Christ, healing, freedom. Moments of extraordinary weight and glory. Singing like I’ve never heard: passion, raw, hunger.”
In a recap post on Instagram, Gordon shared there were also testimonies of healing, deliverance and salvation, and spontaneous worship.
According to the event’s website, the bimonthly joint prayer gatherings are moments of “unity, prayer and worship,” focused on calling on God to revive neighborhoods, the city and the next generation.
The gathering is part of a growing movement in the U.K. some have called “The Quiet Revival”—a surprising rise in faith among young adults. In the last six years, the number of 18- to 24-year-olds in Britain who identify as Christian and attend church has risen from 4% to 16%. Among 25- to 34-year-olds, the number has jumped from 4% to 13%.
Pastor Dave Ferguson of Community Church in Naperville, Illinois, was also in attendance on Friday. He shared his view of the revival, saying that he believes what is happening throughout the U.K. will spread to the U.S.
“There is early evidence that it is also moving across the Atlantic to the United States,” Ferguson shared. “I personally believe this is coming our direction.”
“One thing is certain: we are witnessing a profound and sovereign spiritual moment,” Gordon said. “You can’t orchestrate this… And at the end of the day, the true sign of God at work is not numbers, or experience even, its lives transformed, made new, sent out.”
The next Joint Prayer Gathering is scheduled for July 7. More information is available here.
