Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Psalm 85:6
The Bible Society’s 2025 report of a ‘Quiet Revival’ was acclaimed and refuted in similar measure, well before the YouGov data it was based on was discovered to be flawed, bringing smugness to the non-believer and discouragement to some Christians. However, for the impartial sceptic, biblical revival must be discerned by more than survey data alone. For the Christian, it must be understood as a sovereign work of God, lifting people, even Christians, churches and regions, out of spiritual darkness and worldliness, and towards repentance and deep spiritual transformation.
Few would doubt that biblical revival or awakening occurred across Wales in 1904/05, as well as faithful praying for it beforehand, most famously recorded by the likes of Evan Roberts, Joseph Jenkins and Seth Joshua. So, what of it today? Is there evidence that the many years of prayers, including by Christian military charities like SASRA (Soldiers’ & Aviators’ Scripture Readers Association), have translated into revival, awakening, renewal or rebirth of some form?
Following the Falklands War in 1982, the UK’s Armed Forces had proven to be a formidable fighting force. Committed to NATO Cold War obligations and counter-terrorist operations in Northern Ireland, UK Armed Forces personnel numbered approximately 325,000, with over 50,000 permanently stationed in Germany, as part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), and around 16,000 in Northern Ireland on Operation BANNER.
The UK Government committed around 5% of GDP to defence spending and at the time SASRA employed 13 salaried Army/Aviator Scripture Readers (ASRs) as evangelists, including three in Germany and one in Northern Ireland. Multiple volunteer Scripture Readers were also employed, including six in Northern Ireland, that committed to a day or so each week.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the collapse of communist control in Eastern Europe and accelerated the end of the Warsaw Pact, which formally dissolved in 1991. The end of the Cold War removed the immediate threat of large-scale conflict in Europe and a ‘peace dividend’ resulted: reduced defence spending as the need for mass conventional forces was deemed unnecessary.
Through the 1990s, successive governments cut troop numbers, closed bases and reduced equipment programmes, shifting focus toward smaller, more agile forces suited to expeditionary operations. Defence spending fell to roughly 2–3% by the late 1990s and 2000s. While this freed resources for other public spending, it also created long-term military capability gaps.
By 2023, UK Armed Forces had reduced markedly to around 135,000, while having still distinguished themselves during multiple conflicts around the world, including Kuwait, the Balkans, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan. Counter-terrorism operations in Northern Ireland and on the mainland continued well past the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, with Operation BANNER officially ending in 2007.
While volunteers reduced to zero over those years, SASRA still employed 13 salaried Scripture Readers, a level that had remained steady over the intervening years, plus or minus one or two. God maintained SASRA’s ministry because of its faithfulness to the gospel over these four changing decades and notwithstanding massive troop reductions, ever-increasing secularisation and restrictive legislation and regulation.
Witnessing SASRA’s prayerful reliance on the Word, prayers for revival in our Armed Forces, and prayers for more Scripture Readers, God laid the foundations, delivering from the beginning of 2024 many excellent Scripture Reader candidates for recruitment. He will have tested our faith to employ them before we had confirmed financial provision. It was all God’s work in providing for the rapid growth in Scripture Readers, from 13 to 21 in just two years, with even more to come.
Yet, what was God’s foreknowing plan? What was the point of Scripture Reader growth, with declining numbers of military personnel, without some form of renewed interest in Christ? Well, at SASRA, ‘we walk by faith, not by sight’ (2 Corinthians 5:7) and what we have witnessed is a clear increase in interest about spirituality, faith and the Word.
Take, for example, the Army Training Regiment (ATR) Winchester, where new recruits undergo their 13-week basic training course. Alongside marching, shooting, map reading, fitness and fieldcraft, trainees have been encountering the gospel more than ever, as our current serving Scripture Reader there of 23 years has witnessed. Over the last 18 months, many recruits have shown a real desire to seek meaning and purpose in their lives. The work of the chaplain and our Scripture Reader there, sharing the gospel, has been transformative.
In October 2025, 26 recruits were baptised or confirmed at ATR Winchester’s chapel, 16 on one Sunday alone. Similar spiritual engagement by recruits is recorded by Army chaplains, with dozens of officer cadets at Sandhurst being baptised or confirmed - 11 baptisms taking place last October. At Army Training Centre Pirbright, recruit baptisms rose by 37.5% between 2024 and 2025, with similar transformations at the Infantry Training Centre, Catterick and the Army Foundation College, Harrogate. At the baptisms, hundreds of colleagues attend voluntarily, witnessing divine providence.
More broadly, mainstream media reported in September 2025 that Royal Marines in training were using assault course water tanks to perform baptisms, after increasing numbers of recruits began turning to Christianity. Over 100 baptisms had occurred and chapel attendance rose rapidly over the year, often exceeding its 150-person capacity.
Further, Military Christian Fellowships have witnessed significant membership growth recently and the Naval & Military Bible Society has dispatched more Bibles and Christian literature than ever; in 2025, they had increased significantly distribution to 75,000 Bibles and books and halfway through 2026, they have already distributed 80,000.
We are also witnessing renewed interest in barracks and stations beyond training. Our Scripture Readers report much less sarcasm and cynicism when participating in spiritual conversations than previously, and much more engagement, including one-to-one and group Bible studies, attendance at church, and Christian-led community events. Yes, we observe cynicism from some but we are seeing more lives changed by the gospel.
Scripture tells us to expect opposition for our faith, but such as 1 Peter 3:15 reminds us to ‘honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect’. And so, as our SASRA motto ‘Be Ready’ reminds us, we are ready for the transition of recruits into barracks and stations, to help disciple them to grow in their faith, so that as many as possible are ready for Jesus’ return.
In summary, along with many Christians, churches and groups, we have prayed for revival in our nation for many years now and, in SASRA’s case, revival in our Armed Forces too; something is happening. With decades of stable Scripture Reader numbers, all very faithful ‘labourers’, we suddenly experienced rapid and sizable growth in them, which began before the Quiet Revival was widely acclaimed; I propose that is God’s foreknowledge and timing.
It was Jesus who said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest’ (Matthew 9:37-38). While our Armed Forces are the smallest in modern history, the harvest remains plentiful and by His grace, SASRA’s labourers are not so few anymore and available to plant seeds and watch God make them grow. We are called to be holy, not successful. We are responsible for faithfulness, not outcomes.
SASRA stepped out in faith, fully trusting our Lord, while also acknowledging that none of this would be possible without God inviting His faithful partners, supporters, donors, volunteers, churches and trusts to help us. Their prayers, time and generosity grew this gospel ministry to our troops, at a time of great spiritual need and awakening.
If you are new to SASRA, we invite you to join us. Pray. Volunteer. Fundraise. Give. Together, we are sharing the greatest story ever told with those who serve us at a time of great instability and uncertainty in the world.
Visit www.sasra.org.uk for more information.
Dr Martin Gliniecki is the Executive Director of the Soldiers’ & Aviators’ Scripture Readers Association (SASRA) and a retired lieutenant colonel.
