There is something going on. It’s an exciting time to be part of a church and see people coming through the door for the first time.…People are looking for hope, purpose and meaning. We believe that it’s possible, as Charlie Kirk put it, to “pursue the eternal” and in doing so “seek true joy.”

The 5th most popular podcast on Spotify in 2024 was Steven Bartlett’s “Diary of a CEO”. The YouTube version has almost 13 million subscribers. One of last month’s episodes was entitled “Is Not Believing In God Causing More Harm Than Good?!”  (Helpfully summarised in Glen Scrivener’s response video.)

Bartlett starts with the statistic than 9 in 10 young people in the UK believe their life is lacking meaning. “As a result, a lot of people are turning back to religion — there is something going on”. The 3+ hour episode goes on to talk about the “meaning crisis”, or the “purpose crisis”. Bartlett gives the example of a 35-year-old friend in Dubai. This friend was single and worked from home. Six months ago, he told his friends that he couldn’t get out of bed anymore. Fast forward to today and he’s become a Christian, got baptised and “suddenly his life has purpose and meaning again — he’s a completely different person”. This is despite, Bartlett says, him being the last person you would ever think would be religious.

Bartlett then gives the example of another friend in her early 30s. Again, with no kids and who works from home. When he asked her what her meaning and purpose was, she replied that she wanted to reach a total of 200 plants that she could water. A week later she told him she was in therapy because she felt lost and stuck in life.

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