A Whisper of Revival in the UK
By Ellis White, Senior Pastor
I wish you could have heard the way her college pastor told the story—slowly, gently, still moved by what God had done.
A young female student in Oxford had grown up in the occult. Her health was unraveling. Her life felt fragmented and empty. She was searching for meaning anywhere she could find it. One night, high on weed, she heard a voice speak to her with startling clarity: “I am the God you’ve been looking for. I am the Father of Jesus.”
Startled and shaken, she did what any student might do in a moment like that—she pulled out her phone and googled churches in Oxford. She chose St Aldates and went.
During the worship service, someone stood and shared a word of knowledge: “There’s someone here who was smoking weed and heard a voice telling them to go to church.”
She froze. Then she came forward, received prayer, and surrendered her life to Jesus. She has since been healed of the health battles that had tormented her, and just two weeks ago, she was baptized.
Hearing her story—raw, supernatural, unmistakably Jesus—became the lens through which we saw everything else on this trip. God is at work in the UK in ways both quiet and astonishing.
A Growing Partnership
One of the primary reasons for our trip was to bring EPC leaders—both from the Office of the General Assembly and from our larger churches—to experience Alpha where it began. Alpha has shaped our ministry here at Chapel Hill for years, helping countless people explore faith, ask honest questions, and step into relationship with Jesus.
But encountering Alpha in its birthplace was something different. We watched the way they host, welcome, and create space for the Holy Spirit to move. We saw the beauty of long obedience—how decades of faithfulness can create a culture where people far from God feel safe enough to come close.
By the end of the trip, an official partnership between Alpha and the EPC had been established. This will be a major resource for the health, revitalization, and evangelistic strength of churches across our denomination. And Chapel Hill had a front-row seat to that moment.
And credit goes to Pastor Julie Hawkins, who played a crucial role in making this possible. She coordinated with our national leaders, handled the countless logistics behind the scenes, and helped ensure that the right people were in the room. Her work paved the way for meaningful connection and shared vision.
A Quiet Revival Underway
Everywhere we went, in both Oxford and London, we heard the same refrain:
“Young people are just showing up.”
Not invited. Not marketed to.
Just walking in—hungry, unsettled, spiritually restless.
They’re tired of cynicism.
Tired of empty promises.
Tired of the cultural noise that offers much but satisfies little.
And they are encountering Jesus.
We heard stories of students gathering for all-night prayer. Youth asking if they could skip the fun games and go straight to Bible study. Congregations overflowing with young adults who have no church background but an unmistakable hunger for God.
It’s not flashy.
It’s not headline revival.
It’s something quieter, deeper—like spring thawing long-frozen ground.
And standing in those sanctuaries, listening to those pastors, I found myself whispering, Lord, do it again. And do it here.
Learning from a Movement of Multiplication
Another major part of our time was spent with the Revitalise Trust—an organization launched from Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) that has planted or replanted nearly 200 churches across the UK.
Their work is remarkable not just in scale, but in spirit.
They plant large “resource churches” in strategic university cities—churches big enough to raise up leaders and support smaller congregations. But they also pour deeply into rural parishes, lower-income neighborhoods, and struggling churches that will likely never be large but are absolutely vital to the witness of the gospel.
They’ve built a leadership pipeline that includes not only young, educated planters, but also leaders from marginalized backgrounds and men and women in or near retirement. In other words: they are raising up leaders for every kind of church in every kind of place.
We left our conversations with Revitalise inspired and eager to learn more. We already have a follow-up call scheduled with members of their team to explore what insights might serve us here at Chapel Hill as we continue to discern our own role in church planting and multiplication.
Coming Home with Hope
If I had to capture the heart of the trip, I would say this:
God is not done with his church.
Not in the UK.
Not in America.
Not here in Gig Harbor.
We traveled to build relationships, to learn from thriving ministries, and to listen for the Spirit’s leading. We came home with expanded vision, renewed expectation, and a deep sense that the same God calling students out of the occult and into baptism in Oxford is the God who is moving here, too.
That young woman’s story—her encounter, her healing, her baptism—isn’t just her testimony. It’s a signpost. A reminder that Jesus is pursuing people in powerful, surprising ways.
He’s doing it there.
And I believe he wants to do it here.
Pastor Ellis