Gavin Calver is the CEO of the Evangelical Alliance. He has a burning passion to see the church working together to share the gospel throughout the UK. Formerly the leader of Youth for Christ and chair of Spring Harvest, he’s an ordained evangelist, a regular public speaker, and has authored six books.

We are living in a critical time for our nation and the church. Many things people have previously placed their hope in seem to be crumbling before their eyes. Political instability, cultural upheaval and economic uncertainty all bring fear and anxiety into the everyday lives of people. Into this hope vacuum comes the gospel message, with profound power.

People are seeking God

As I look across the UK, many people are asking the big questions of life and lots are becoming Christians in this season too. A colleague of mine at the Evangelical Alliance says that he’s never known quite so many doubters starting to believe and it’s so important that, in this landscape of opportunity, we believers don’t start to doubt. We are increasingly seeing people turn to Jesus in all corners of our society and this is incredibly encouraging.

Traditionally people have typically come to faith by being born into a Christian home or by attending a church event. However, we feel that the new ways people are coming to faith are so significant…

• We at the Evangelical Alliance are hearing more and more stories of people coming to faith in digital spaces, those turning up at churches on a Sunday having seen a TikTok video, or having encountered someone on Instagram talking about the life they have in Jesus.

• Increasingly there are people in the public eye who are standing up for the Lord – from the adventurer Bear Grylls to the England footballer Bukayo Saka and many in between. Their stories are seen by many, who are left wondering: What is this hope that they have?

• Amazingly we are also hearing of many people in the UK having dreams that point them to Jesus. We’ve always heard about this overseas, but increasingly this seems to be the case here too.

We live in exciting times. The people around you may be more interested than you think.

Through relationship

Thanks to these new ways of encountering Jesus, many who are crying out for something greater are starting to look to Jesus, but there is another piece to this puzzle...

I’m a proclamation evangelist but, in today’s culture, people aren’t primarily wanting to hear a great sermon or attend a course in a local church. As they encounter brokenness, what they are crying out for is to speak with a friend.

The Talking Jesus report (EA, 2022) found that one in three non-Christians wanted ongoing conversations with a friend about their faith in Jesus. What an incredible opportunity this is!

This includes you

I’m a keen runner and run often in Adidas running shoes. Their advertising slogan is, ‘Impossible is nothing.’ Every time I run in these shoes I prove this to be false marketing; much is impossible when it comes to me and running! However, with Jesus nothing is impossible. Let’s allow this God to stretch our prophetic imaginations as to what might be possible and really go for it. As Jesus says himself in Luke 18:27, ‘What is impossible with man is possible with God.’

In the cultural moment we find ourselves in, there is clearly an increased openness to Jesus. What wonderful possibilities lie in front of us, if we could just release people to reach out to their friends. This includes you. Be confident in the power of the gospel, get alongside someone and see what God can do.