Could I become a Christian in a year?

After two friends unexpectedly converted, Lamorna Ash discovered a new generation of young people turning to faith. As she investigated the phenomenon, one of her first steps was to spend a week on a working retreat on Iona. And then something strange happened…

It started in the most earthbound, airless way. I was at my desk in a bedroom overlooking the hardscrabble surrounds of Harringay station in north London. It was early 2021, so there was nowhere else to be. All I wanted was something to write about. In my notebook were four ideas for potential essays and three of them were non-starters. The other was a piece of gossip. A comedy double act from my university days had simultaneously converted to Christianity. More: they both wanted to become priests. Comedians to Anglican priests. That was something. I sent an email, asking if I could interview them.

My interviews with the two recent converts took place over the course of a year. Do you believe in the resurrection? I asked them. In heaven? Where do you stand on demons? But what I saw of the two young men’s faith, finally, was not through their answers to my generic questions about Christianity. It was reflected in their faces and enacted in their gestures as I attended religious services beside them.