“A quiet revival occurring in Vermont,” church leader says

By Guy Page

The number of evangelical Christian Vermonters doubled between 2010 and 2020, a phenomenon one church leader is calling “a quiet revival occurring in Vermont.”

The Green Mountain State has the highest number of evangelical Christians, and the fastest growth rate, among the six New England states, a new study based on U.S. Census data reports.

And compared to 1990 totals, the 2020 numbers more than tripled. Vermont has 245 evangelical Christian congregations, the Association for Religious Data Archives study claims. 

“According to ARDA findings, in 1990 Vermont was the least Evangelical State in the nation with only 2.04% of Vermonters claiming to be Evangelical. There has been slow growth since then, but even in 2010 Vermont ranked 47 with 3.62%,” said Pastor Russ Rathier of Grace Bible Church and a leader in Baptist outreach in Vermont. 

The numerical growth may reflect an influx of ‘mission’ efforts from other states, as well as a growing focus on Vermonters’ own missions-mentality, Rathier said.

“We have seen in the past decade an uptick of not only partnerships and mission teams coming to help the Vermont churches, but we have also seen a rise in Vermont churches going to serve God’s Kingdom around the world.  The results of the partnerships coming and going, the pouring into Vermont church revitalization as well as church plants has resulted in a quiet revival occurring in Vermont,” Rathier said. 

Vermont ranks #42 in the nation and leads all New England states in percentage of Evangelicals, the ARDA study says.  The percentage has doubled from 2010 to 2020 from 3.62% to 7.25%.

ARDA notes that “Evangelical Protestant denominations and churches emphasize conversion and evangelism, hold biblical authority in high regard, and tend to seek more separation from the broader culture. Evangelical Protestantism is usually seen as more theologically and socially conservative than mainline Protestantism.”

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