The answer is 'yes' according to some of the research that is being done.
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of people 'googling' prayer since the Covid-19 crisis began. Research carried out by Jeanet Bentzen, an economist at the University of Copenhagen, revealed an extraordinary numerical trend: the number of people searching for 'prayer' continues to double for every 80000 new registered cases of the coronavirus.
You can read more about the research HERE
An article in the Guardian on the 3rd May tells us the 'British public turn to prayer as one in four tune in to religious services'
Research by Tearfund suggests that a quarter of adults in the UK have watched or listened to a religious service since the coronavirus lockdown began. It is far from an uncommon story for churches to be finding more people are engaging online than would normally be the case on a Sunday.
What is particularly noteworthy is that the survey found a third of young adults aged between 18 and 34 have watched or listened to an online or broadcast religious service. This generation is one that can be missing from church life and it is important to ask ourselves the question about whether we are learning something new about how we engage young adults with matters of faith and discipleship?
Maybe amidst the challenge of coping with the Coronavirus we will discover new opportunities and ways to share the precious good news of:
a God who loves us more than we can imagine
a God who is infinitely more powerful than Covid-19
a God who brings life from death
