Bible sales in the United Kingdom reached a record high in 2025. According to data analyzed by the Christian publisher SPCK, sales reached £6.3 million, more than double their value in 2019. The number of Bibles sold also rose sharply, from about 192,000 copies in 2019 to roughly 396,000 in 2025.
At the same time, survey data suggests a change among some younger adults. One YouGov measure found that the share of 18 to 25-year-olds in Britain who say they believe in a higher power rose from 28 percent in 2018 to 49 percent in 2025.
These figures should be read carefully. Higher Bible sales do not automatically prove widespread Christian conversion. More spiritual interest does not necessarily mean deeper faith, church involvement, or commitment to Jesus. Researchers are right to caution against declaring revival too quickly, especially while church attendance remains low in many places.
Still, many Christians have seen a smaller version of this change up close.
A younger friend who once dismissed religion now says they are “spiritual but not religious.” A colleague begins asking questions about prayer, suffering, death, meaning, or the Bible. A family member who never showed interest in church admits that lately they have been wondering whether there is more to life than work, entertainment, and self-improvement.
These moments matter.
They may not be revival. But they may be openings.
Do Not Rush to Win
For Christians who love the gospel, the temptation is to hear the words “spiritual but not religious” and immediately prepare a response.
We may want to explain what is incomplete about private spirituality. We may want to point out that Christianity is not merely an inner feeling, but faith in the living Christ and membership in his body, the church.
There is truth in that.
Jesus does not call people to create a god in their own image. He calls them to follow him. The Christian faith is not vague belief in “something out there.” It is trust in the crucified and risen Son of God.
But truth does not require rushing.
A person who says, “I am spiritual but not religious,” may be expressing confusion. But they may also be expressing hunger. They may have been hurt by religious hypocrisy. They may be afraid of being judged. They may not know what they believe. They may be reaching toward God with language they have available.
If the conversation is a threshold, a debate can sometimes close the door before trust has formed.
Jesus often began with a question, a request, or an invitation.
Jesus at the Well
In John 4, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well. She carried a complicated history, social isolation, and religious questions. Jesus knew all of this.
Yet he did not begin by confronting her failures.
He began simply:
“Give me a drink.”
John 4:7
Jesus crossed a social and ethnic boundary. He spoke to a woman others may have ignored. He began with an ordinary request, then moved slowly toward deeper truth.
The woman asked questions. Jesus answered some and redirected others. He spoke about “living water” and exposed her thirst for something more than physical water could provide.
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.”
John 4:13–14
Jesus did not flatter her. He did not pretend her life was simple or morally harmless. But he did not crush her either.
He told the truth with patience.
By the end of the conversation, she left her water jar, went into town, and said:
“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
John 4:29
The deepest invitation is often not, “Let me defeat your argument.”
It is, “Come and see Jesus.”
Paul in Athens
Paul gives another example in Acts 17.
Athens was full of altars, philosophies, and religious ideas. Paul was distressed by the city’s idolatry, but when he spoke publicly, he did not begin by mocking the people around him.
He said:
“Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.”
Acts 17:22
Then he referred to an altar he had seen:
“For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.”
Acts 17:23
Paul did not affirm their idolatry. He did not say that every spiritual path led to God. He proclaimed the true God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and called them to repentance.
But he began by recognizing their search.
He saw their religious hunger as evidence that human beings are made to seek God, even when they seek him imperfectly.
Paul says God made humanity:
“That they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.”
Acts 17:27
This is a helpful posture for Christians today.
We do not need to approve of vague spirituality. But we can take it seriously enough to ask what longing lies beneath it.
Gentle Conviction
Christians should be clear: vague spirituality is not the destination.
A god we invent for ourselves, who makes no demands, exposes no sin, and requires no repentance, cannot save us. Scripture says:
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:12
Jesus is not one helpful option among many. He is the way to the Father.
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6
But confidence in Christ does not require harshness toward seekers.
Peter tells believers:
“Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”
1 Peter 3:15
Then he adds words we often forget:
“Yet do it with gentleness and respect.”
1 Peter 3:15
Gentleness is not compromise.
Respect is not silence.
They are the manner of people who trust that Christ is strong enough not to need our aggression.
An Unhurried Welcome
When someone says they are spiritual but not religious, begin with curiosity.
Ask, “What do you mean by spiritual?”
Ask, “Has something happened that made you begin thinking about these things?”
Ask, “What do you hope is true?”
Then listen.
Do not pretend to have tidy answers to every hard question. Christians believe in mystery, suffering, unanswered prayer, and a God whose wisdom exceeds ours.
But do speak honestly about Jesus.
Tell them what following Christ has cost you and what it has given you. Speak about forgiveness, hope, prayer, church, doubt, belonging, and the grace of being known by God.
And invite them.
Invite them to read one Gospel with you.
Invite them to church.
Invite them to dinner with Christian friends.
Invite them into a community where faith is lived, not merely argued.
Philip’s invitation remains one of the best forms of Christian witness:
“Come and see.”
John 1:46
A skeptical friend may not be persuaded by a perfect argument.
But a person who has been heard, prayed for, welcomed, and shown the patient love of Christ has encountered something arguments alone cannot provide.
They have seen a glimpse of Christ in the love of his people, even if they are still searching for him.
~ Sunny
All Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV).