Page 17 - Finding Jesus with Good News report A5 WEB

Introduction

Much has been written about the decline of the church in the West. However,
over the last few years, a different story has started to bubble up amongst non-
believers, a surprising interest in Christian faith in all sorts of unlikely places. From
celebrities and students to those in prison and on the margins of society, many
people are discovering and choosing to follow Jesus.
This research was commissioned to try to understand what was going on in the
stories we were hearing of adults in the UK finding Jesus: Who were they? What
prompted them to search? What was their journey to Christian faith like? What
helped them along the way and what’s happened since?
The aim was to understand what was causing people to buck the cultural trend and
to help the UK church in its mission to reach people with the good news of Jesus
Christ. This report is a summary of those findings. We have found them fascinating,
encouraging and inspiring, and we are confident that you will too!

The report is in five parts:
1. Those who took part
2. The journey towards Jesus
3. The decision to follow Jesus
4. The consequences of conversion
5. Recommendations

How the research was undertaken

Experienced researchers, Dr Ruth Perrin and Joe Warton, conducted a mixed-
mode project; a combination of digital survey and online interviews during 2024.
Adults over 18, who lived in the UK and had come to faith in Jesus in the past five
years, were invited to participate. They were recruited through Evangelical Alliance
networks and social media.
The project, led by Rachael Heffer and Phil Knox of the Evangelical Alliance,
was intended to be a small-scale ‘deep dive’ to understand why and how
adults in Britain are coming to faith today. Between July and September 2024,
280 individuals completed the digital survey. In the autumn of 2024, in-depth
interviews were conducted with a representative sample of 20 of those, exploring
their experiences more fully.

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