Following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, there was a surge in social media posting referred to as “the Charlie effect.”
People who were returning to churches from which they had stepped away and people who were planning to step inside a church for the first time in their lives all posted on social media.
The amazing number of these posts led many Christian commentators to describe the trend with a joyful word: revival.
To point to a Christian revival is a hopeful perspective. The decline of Christianity throughout the world has been devastating for many formerly great societies, especially in the West, that are now plagued by nihilism: the sense that life and the world around us have little to no meaning.
In the United States in particular, numerous commentators have pointed to the “God-shaped hole” in the American heart, which was once filled by Christian faith. Now that hole tends to be filled by politics, hedonism, and any number of other empty calorie pursuits of the soul.
It appears as if the assassination of Charlie Kirk revealed to many people the fact that their lives are missing something essential. This tragedy led them to see how a lack of faith has left them ill-equipped to process the difficult realities of life and the world around us.
Seeing this awareness come to so many people was heartening for Christians yearning for a spirit of renewed faith to bring Americans back into churches that have a chance to help bring God back into people’s hearts.
In a social media post that may feel like a wet blanket on What hopes, religion analyst Ryan Burge responded to the discussion of revival by saying that:
“Since modern polling began in the 1950s, there’s not been a single event that has led to a significant durable increase in church attendance rates. Every example (like 9/11) may have led to a short-term increase, but all that faded back to baseline within a few months.”
Is Burge just being pessimistic or is he sharing something valuable here?
Those of us old enough to remember the terror attacks of 9/11 and their aftermath recall how Yankee Stadium was filled with thousands of people for a prayer and memorial service that included Oprah Winfrey — who was then a very popular leading figure in the “spiritual but not religious” demographic of religion in the U.S.
Enya’s melancholy song “Only Time” saw a massive surge in popularity following 9/11 as people throughout the world sought some kind of transcendent soundtrack for their deep mourning, soul searching and reflection.
One month after that horrifying attack, in the October 2001 general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Henry B. Eyring shared:
“You have probably noticed, as I have in recent days, that prayers have not only become more numerous but more heartfelt.… The great increase in heartfelt prayer, and the public acceptance of it, has been remarkable to me and to others.”
But then the leader offered a difficult dose of realism:
“More than once in recent days, someone has said to me with great intensity and with a sound of worry in the voice, ‘I hope that the change lasts.’
“That worry is justified,” he continued. “Our own personal experience and God’s record of his dealing with his children teaches us that.”
One of the most severe trials of Christian faith is to observe a real-life example of Jesus’ parable of the sower, to rejoice in a person’s new Christian commitments and then see them abandon their faith within a sun-baked or overcrowded planting environment of the soul. In failed revivals, this sad process occurs with groups of people — sometimes large masses of people — at a time.
The Sept. 21 memorial service for Charlie Kirk in Arizona showed both the potential of this revival moment and also some reasons for concern.
The memorial happened at a time when we are seeing influential figures like Jordan Peterson, Jonathan Rauch, and even Elon Musk publicly acknowledge the devastating impact of Christian decline on American society. When we consider the reach of streaming, Charlie Kirk’s memorial service may have been the most-watched memorial service for a private citizen in history, and it offered some of the most powerfully Christian messaging many people have ever heard. In the remarks of Erika Kirk in particular, the world witnessed the very essence of Christian faith and the inner freedom it creates, enabling a Christ-facing soul to forgive the unthinkable.
For all who are hoping that this massive event has awakened and renewed Christian faith across America — and even the rest of the world — the hard work of lasting revival begins now. To get there, it may be helpful to ask the question: What environment is a new or returning American Christian walking into?
With newly emerging roots of faith, are they walking into a church and congregation where they will be nourished in the plain simplicity of the gospel of faith and repentance? Or will their church experience be one of some Christian teaching, mixed with mostly entertainment?
Will their worship experience be shallow and emotive, or deep and reverent? Will they be taught the gospel by people who have come to know Christ through years of sincere discipleship, or will they be taught by people who think of Christ on more of an abstract conceptual level?
As remarkable as the memorial for Charlie Kirk was, it did reflect to the world a mixture of authentic Christian faith and messaging that was not Christian in any sense. President Trump’s frank acknowledgement that he hates his enemies, was jarring to hear alongside the pure Christian witness of Erika Kirk. In this chorus of politically conservative Christianity in America, it’s likely Americans came away sensing they were witnessing a mixture of some voices that know God and some who don’t.
Following the memorial, there was an explosion of infighting among people who love Charlie Kirk and want his legacy to continue. Turning Point USA announced the continuation of their university tour with a lineup of assorted commentators, and the announcement was met on social media with some complaints over the fact that Turning Point USA is platforming Catholics, Latter-day Saints and even people who are not religious to any meaningful degree.
Charlie Kirk envisioned a big tent for the religious right that would include all of these people, but it is evident that many of his followers never shared that vision.
In the end, this revival started because people have seen in the aftermath of evil the power of authentic Christian faith. If it is to continue, it will be because, as the parable of the sower describes, soil conditions allow for the sprouting of a real plant that bears fruit.
American Christians hopeful over revival should work to ensure new Christians’ plants of faith are not choked by “cares of the world” in the form of political hatreds, interdenominational infighting and false professions of faith among the influencer class.
Part of the Christian message accompanying the parable of the sower is that we are the authors of the soil conditions in our own hearts, and we also contribute to the conditions of people around us, helping to facilitate either their lasting revival into faith, or their spiritual decline.
In other words, whether this revival lasts or whether it flames out is a question that depends upon each of us.