Are more young Europeans converting to Christianity? It seems to be so
Evangelical Protestants in Ukraine participate in a large-scale baptism in the Dniper River. Photo AFP, Sergei Supinsky
European Union
It took the evangelising group Carry the Love two months to travel through over thirty European countries. Between January and March, the mission organisation Circuit Riders was able to make a possible life-changing impact on more than 1500 young people by calling them to turn to Jesus.
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I had the opportunity to attend one of the meetings of the campaign in my Finnish hometown, Mikkeli. I was indeed amazed to find out that more than twenty young people responded to the altar call, and many of them didn’t have any Christian background whatsoever.
This is not an isolated case. After Mikkeli, the team went to run another evangelistic event at the secular university of Tampere, where their call was answered by over a hundred students.
The Circuit Riders shared similar accounts from other European nations as well. Large numbers of young people gathered in other European cities, with a significant number of young people responding to the call to follow Jesus.
Obviously, such figures must be taken with caution, as altar call conversions have not always led to consistent Christian living afterwards. Nonetheless, the high number of people responding suggests that Christianity is back. And the fact that these respondents are mainly young people is all the more remarkable.
Circuit Riders
Who are these young evangelists? The Circuit Riders (see box at the bottom for more information) are all trained in California in a centre of YWAM (Youth With a Mission). Although many members of the teams are obviously Americans, several are actually Europeans who paid to be trained in the U.S.A. before returning to participate in the evangelistic tour in Europe.
“I was an aircraft mechanic before doing this,” says eighteen-year old Jamil Wiklund from Södertälje in Sweden. “I had no plans of going to a Bible school or doing a Discipleship Training School, but when I met the Circuit Riders for the first time, I saw that they were carrying something that I had never seen before. But still, I didn’t plan to go. It was the Lord that somehow directed me to go to California and be part of the team.”
Linus Johansson from Borås had a similar testimony to share:
“I became a Christian when I was ten years old. I have attended some Bible schools from the time I was fourteen. When I was about to graduate at high school, I started praying, asking God if and where I should go for Bible school. I felt the Lord talking to me about YWAM, and He led me to join the Circuit Rider.
Before going to California, I had the word to break off the Nordic culture of self-abasement. I think that is specifically why God sent me to California. Had I stayed in Sweden, I would have not been able to see our own cultural pitfalls.”
For Sebastian Sjöö, it was not the first time to take part in the evangelistic campaign. But this year, he received the responsibility to lead the Nordic team for the first time.
“I joined Carry the Love in 2023. I had heard about it so many times from my friends and I wanted to join them. But every time I tried, something came up against my plans. However, instead of complaining about that, I started attending regular small worship events in Stockholm.
Then one day, I was affected by the sense of insecurity caused by the war in Ukraine, in particular because my fiancée is Ukrainian. That evening, I went to one of these worship events and I received a clear word from the Lord in Isaiah 33:6: “He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.” At that moment, my heart broke for Sweden and for Europe in general. I joined the Circuit Riders because I saw that these people loved Jesus, and that they carried something different.
First, I followed them, hanging around with the team. I knew that this was what I was supposed to do. Soon after that, my fiancée wanted to join as well, and eventually God called her too. So, a few financial and administrative miracles later, we finally travelled to California and got trained. Now my fiancée leads another team of Circuit Riders while I am here in the Nordic nations.”
Main influencer
Obviously, the Circuit Riders are not the only evangelistic teams that are travelling Europe in order to evangelise. But the obvious rising interest in Christianity among young Europeans seems hard to miss. Numerous reports attesting that young people –men in particular– are interested in Christianity have been reported in Finland, Norway or Britain. A recent Swedish news report attested that Jesus is set to become Sweden's main influencer among young people in 2025, according to data compiled last year. So, how can we explain such a rising interest in Christianity?
From a Biblical standpoint, the answer is straightforward. It is the Spirit of God who draws people to Jesus. Moreover, prayers for the revival in Europe have been going on for many years. We should not be surprised to finally see God answering the prayers.
But what about these young people? What could have attracted them to church? The woke agenda that is being forced on them in state schools can very well be one of the causes. Having myself lectured in some conferences on education, I have heard numerous testimonies of teachers who found out that young people react against such indoctrination.
Time will tell whether these decisions to follow Christ were genuine or not. Nonetheless, the local churches have now the responsibility to shepherd young people. It is a fantastic opportunity to teach (and maybe learn again) the distinct Christian worldview which informs all areas of life.
About the Circuit Riders
Carry the Love was organised by a missionary movement called Circuit Riders. Their name is a reminder of John Wesley’s countless kilometres of circuit riding Britain on horseback during the eighteenth-century revival.
The founder of the Circuit Riders, the American Andy Byrd, received a vision of lines of fire shooting across his nation more than a decade ago. Byrd understood that God was about to move in the United States. This led him to begin training teams of young people who would then go across the country to evangelise. These evangelisation campaigns were called Carry the Love. And as a result, many responded to their altar calls.
Eventually, Byrd received a second vision similar to the first. But this time the lines of fire were crossing the Atlantic Ocean and began to reach Europe. Faithful to the vision, Byrd decided to develop a plan to spread the Carry the Love events to the Old Continent.
For about five years now, teams of young people invest about two months of their time to tour across Europe in order to make God known to the Europeans, in particular to the young people. Over the years, the number of young people answering to their call of following Jesus has ever been growing. This year, there were 24 teams spread all over the world, and the result of their evangelistic campaigns reported just over 6000 people.
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