'Something Has Shifted': Pastors Report Revival Fires Spreading in the UK

Revival fires are reportedly spreading across the United Kingdom. From England to Ireland, Christians are witnessing a "shift" and a new hunger for God in the once spiritually dry region. 

"Something has shifted in the last six months and it feels almost like it's a rising river," said Pastor Craig Cooney who leads Hope Church in Northern Ireland. He believes the spiritual drought brought on by the pandemic is over.

"Between 2020 and 2023 I found myself often saying that I've never seen the church at such a low ebb that it just felt like we were going through the motions post-Covid, that churches were struggling, their numbers were down. But not only were their numbers down, there was just a lack of zeal, lack of passion, a lack of enthusiasm, a lack of growth. And something shifted around the start of this year, I would say, and it's difficult to describe or define," Cooney said.

Cooney, who also reaches more than 100,000 people on Instagram at daily.prophetic, says the most noticeable change is a tangible presence of God as well as an increase in the number of healings. 

"God Is in the Room"

"There's this sense of 'God is in the room' that has been birthed out of and has probably birthed prayer, an increase in prayer. We have seen that in our own church. About 20% of our church now come to our weekly prayer meeting, which is at 6:00 PM on a Wednesday. It's not a convenient time, but it's just an hour of solid intercession. And there's just people crying out for the lost people, crying out for their families," he said. 

"And every single week we are getting testimonies of healing from people who might not even six months ago believed in divine healing. I mean really, it's not the people you might expect quite honestly. It's the people who when they say they're healed, they're healed because they wouldn't be making this stuff up," Cooney said.

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Rev. Liz Doyle, founder and director of "She Leads America" just returned from England where she prayed with a group inside Windsor Castle. 

"And as we were in St. George's Chapel praying, I felt the Lord speak to me and say, 'I'm going to bring revival into this place.' We were there for three days and three nights with 30 of our British counterparts," Doyle said. "Genesis Chapter 28 is what the Vicar was reading from that day, Jacob's Ladder. And right next to us is Queen Elizabeth's grave and I felt that when he began to read Genesis chapter 28:13-15, you read it, it'll say on the ground where you're laid, I'm going to bless the generations. And I felt the Lord was saying, 'I am going to begin to work in your children's lives, Queen Elizabeth, and they're going to be a blessing to the world.'" 

Doyle and her husband pastored in England for 25 years and for her, this was a full-circle moment as she felt the Lord saying, "I'm going to bring you back to the land and give you the things I've promised." 

"And my husband and I had been pastoring in England for 25 years in church planting. And we left about 25 years ago. And so those two things came together, and I just understood it to be that the Lord was going to move in St. George's Chapel," Doyle said.

Signs of Revival in Scotland

Signs of revival are also sprouting in neighboring Scotland. In June, Rev. Franklin Graham brought his "God Loves You Tour" to Glasgow, where more than 7,000 people turned out with many giving their lives to Christ. "You see, God loves you and He's willing to forgive our sins but we have to come to Him, His way and that's through the cross of Jesus Christ," Graham told the crowd.

One young Scottish man in attendance described the experience like this: "I went up tonight because Franklin was so powerful in his word, He said 'get out of your seat,' and I had to get out of my seat! I had to get there! I didn't realize there was going to be 2-3,000 people behind me. It gives me anxiety, but I didn't care, I'm going to give it to the cross," he exclaimed.

Church Grows by a Third
 
For Cooney, this is a season he has waited a long time to see. 

"And I kind of feel like the Lord says, 'You will get what you go after.' And there's this sense where I felt him say, go after healing, go after healing. And so, we've gone after that. And honestly, in the first five months of this year, our church has grown by about 30%, 3-ZERO, incredible 30%, and we have done nothing different," Cooney said.

When asked if this means we're experiencing revival he said, "I was thinking of Elijah where he keeps sending the servant back to see if there's rain coming. And he said the seventh time 'I see a cloud the size of a man's hand.' And the cloud wasn't the rain, but it was a sign that something was coming. And Elijah got into the birthing position and kept praying until the downpour came. And I believe what the Lord is saying is there's a cloud. 'I'm showing you what's available and I'm showing you what's possible and I'm showing you what I would delight to give you. And I'm calling my people to prayer and I'm calling my people to consecration and I'm calling my people to a deeper level of commitment. And if you will pursue me, I will come for you,'" Cooney said.