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SPIRITUAL CURIOSITY A Christian guide to understanding the world of crystals, manifesting, tarot and sharing faith in this moment

This resource was produced by the Evangelical Alliance and Being Human. It was written by Katherine Brown, who co-leads Being Human. We’re grateful to the many people who shared their stories, experiences and wisdom in helping bring this resource to life, and in particular for the support and insight of Nay Dawson at Passion for Evangelism.

© Evangelical Alliance 2026 All rights reserved. No part of this booklet may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

CONTENTS Introduction: spiritual curiosity

What is New Age?

This cultural moment

A biblical framework

How do we respond?

Conclusion

Next steps

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INTRODUCTION We’re living in an age of spiritual curiosity

The cultural moment we’re living in is one of remarkable spiritual curiosity. The new atheist movement, which once seemed to signal a permanent shift in human history, now looks like a temporary phenomenon. We have returned to a place, like most of human history, where it’s not seen as strange to believe that the material world is not all that there is, and where people are asking questions about life, faith and meaning and searching for the transcendent.

The signs are everywhere. Bible sales have risen to alltime highs, up 134% from 2019 to 2025.1 Attendance on Alpha courses in 2025 was up 31% from 2024.2 Many churches are seeing people walk through their doors full of questions. Conversations about faith that once felt unwelcome now seem to open more naturally. We are living in a time of spiritual openness, which is both encouraging and exciting.

1 https://spckpublishing.co.uk/blog/why-people-are-turning-back-to-the-bible.html 2 https://impact.alpha.org 4

Spiritual Curiosity

However, it is not just Christianity that people are turning to in their search. The spiritual curiosity is splintered in all directions. For some, the hunger for something transcendent is leading them to alternative spiritualities, trying out things like tarot cards, crystals, manifesting and psychedelics. It’s not uncommon to hear a celebrity talk about having manifested their dreams, the tarot card they’ve pulled, or which crystals they carry with them. All these practices would fall under the banner of New Age, although the people trying

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these practices would most likely not see themselves as subscribing to the New Age as a religion, group or system. They would describe themselves simply as being ‘spiritual’. The supernatural realm is plausible to many again, and for us as Christians, the battle between darkness and light is very evident.

This is the moment many churches are navigating right now. The question for many people is no longer whether God exists;

the question now is – which God?

At the Evangelical Alliance, as we have travelled and spoken with church leaders, youth workers and student workers from different contexts and denominations, a pattern has emerged. More and more congregations are encountering people who arrive with a background in alternative spiritual practices. Many church leaders are discipling young Christians who are being tempted to try these other forms of spirituality after seeing compelling content online and aren’t sure what to do.

This booklet is a short, practical guide that attempts to define what New Age spirituality is, while unpacking the cultural moment we are living in, and offering a biblical perspective on what we are seeing. At the end we’ll suggest some pastoral and evangelistic responses. Along the way you will read real stories of spiritually curious people who have found Jesus.

Our hope is simple: that you finish this booklet feeling more confident and compassionate, and better equipped to engage with this cultural moment of spiritual curiosity.

Spiritual Curiosity

LUCINDA'S STORY

Lucinda was raised an atheist; it wasn’t until a personal crisis that she found herself searching for something more. The New Age seemed to offer exactly what she needed: healing, wholeness, hope. For a while, it delivered. She felt spiritually alive. But the inner desperation didn’t go away. The tools and practices that had once seemed so powerful began to feel hollow, and the ache beneath the surface remained. She describes having to pull into lay-bys while driving, overcome with tears, crying “help me” into what felt like an empty abyss. That desperation became the beginning of a deeper search for

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truth; she started watching YouTube videos about Jesus and then reading the Bible for herself. Lucinda made the decision to become a Christian by herself. It was six months before she set foot in a church, partly because the New Age had taught her to distrust institutions. What she found instead was a humble, welcoming community that disarmed her suspicions completely. She describes her journey as an intense spiritual battle at times, yet even through the turbulence, a current of joy and peace ran steadily underneath. Today, Lucinda knows a wholeness she had been chasing for years and recognises that all along she had been searching for Jesus and had been looking in the wrong places.

WHAT IS NEW AGE?

The term New Age is generally used by people outside this community to describe those within it. Many who engage with generic forms of spirituality don’t identify as pagan or as a member of the occult. Those exploring these practices would more likely describe themselves as ‘spiritual’: people on their own journey or path, rather than subscribing to any particular group or community. Engagement also varies widely. At one end are curious dabblers who treat manifesting as a selfhelp technique; at the other are people deeply immersed in witchcraft, some of whom have built entire careers 8

around it. This range makes the terminology slippery, since the same word can mean very different things depending on how seriously someone takes it. Regardless of where someone falls on that spectrum, though, we see these practices as dangerous and opposed to the way of Jesus. That’s why it’s worth taking time to understand the core beliefs and common practices beneath the New Age umbrella, whether someone is just dabbling or fully immersed, so we’re equipped to share our faith with them or disciple new believers from these backgrounds. Spiritual Curiosity

Angel Numbers

Breathwork

Repeating number sequences, such as 111, 333, or 1111, are believed to carry spiritual messages. They are seen as signs that something beyond the everyday is communicating, offering guidance, reassurance, or confirmation. For example, someone might notice a clock just as it turns 11:11 and make a wish or read that as a sign of the universe trying to communicate with them. This idea falls under the broader category of numerology, which pop star Taylor Swift has spoken extensively about, noting that her lucky number is 13.

A range of intentional breathing techniques used for physical, emotional, and spiritual purposes. Some forms are straightforwardly therapeutic, while others use intense breathing patterns to induce altered states of consciousness that practitioners describe as spiritual experiences or encounters with other realms. Fearne Cotton teaches breathwork as a spiritual practice as part of her ‘Happy Place’ world, which includes a podcast listened to by half a million people every month.

Astrology The belief that the positions of stars and planets at the time of a person’s birth shape their personality, relationships, and life path – star signs are its most popular form. Astrology has become one of the most mainstream expressions of New Age spirituality. Tinder reported that star signs were the most common descriptor used on dating profiles by Gen Z in 2023.3 Why? Because they believe there are certain star signs you are more naturally compatible with.

Chakras Energy centres believed to exist within the human body, originating in Hindu tradition and widely adopted in New Age practice. Subscribers believe there are seven main chakras running from the base of the spine to the head. Many New Age practices, including yoga, reiki, and crystal healing, are framed around ‘balancing’ or ‘unblocking’ these believed energy centres. Pop star Katy Perry has shared about her use of crystals to unblock her chakras.

https://filecache.mediaroom.com/mr5mr_tinder/179342/Copy_of_FOD_Report_2023_FINAL.pdf

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Consciousness In New Age spirituality, consciousness is a term used for spiritual awareness. The goal is to become more ‘awake’ or aware through things like meditation or psychedelics, getting closer to a feeling of oneness with the universe. New Age belief often holds that there’s no real separation between you, other people, and God, that everything is part of one big consciousness (an idea borrowed from Hinduism). Some people talk about reaching ‘Christ consciousness’, but this doesn’t mean they have become a Christian. It means seeing Jesus as someone who reached the highest level of spiritual awareness rather than as Lord. It’s still all about you becoming more enlightened, not about surrendering to Jesus. It’s close to the truth but misses the heart of the gospel, though it can be a useful door into a conversation about who Jesus really is.

Crystals Minerals or rocks believed to carry specific ‘energy’ or healing properties, with different crystals associated with different qualities and promises. People have these in their homes, wear them as jewellery, or hold them as they manifest.

Frequency / vibration The belief that everything in the universe vibrates at a particular energetic frequency. Higher frequencies are associated with love, gratitude, and spiritual connection;

lower ones with fear and negativity. New Age practices are understood as ways of raising one’s vibration so that the practitioner can experience more positive feelings or ‘vibes’. You might hear people describe others as ‘high vibration people’.

Karma Drawn from Hindu and Buddhist traditions, karma is the belief that a person’s actions generate corresponding consequences: “Do good and good will return to you”. Some can come into exploring Christianity assuming that this is the message of the gospel: do good and God will be happy with you. We have a real opportunity to share the good news that it’s not about what you do, but all about what Jesus has already done.

Law of Attraction This is the belief that like attracts like, similar to karma, but which goes further and declares that the thoughts a person thinks will be reflected back in the form of experiences and circumstances. That your very thoughts can control and change the future, that if you think something enough, with enough ‘intention’, it will happen. Popularised enormously by Rhonda Byrne’s book and film The Secret, it sits at the heart of the manifesting movement. It is one of the most widely held beliefs when it comes to New Age spirituality.

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Manifesting The practice of repetitive thinking, journalling or speaking out intentions as a way of attracting desired outcomes, usually around personal gain like a relationship, a job or finances. Manifesting has become enormously popular on social media. Ollie Watkins, the footballer, spoke about manifesting a goal; Dua Lipa spoke about manifesting her headline performance at Glastonbury. Manifesting promises that you are in control, that you have the power to shape your own future. That if you do enough, the universe will give you what you want. This is very different to prayer, as for Christians, prayer is coming into line with God’s will and asking for His kingdom to come, not our own. Prayer is a conversation with God, not a way to make God give us the things we want.

Medium A medium is someone who claims to communicate with the spirits of the dead. For many people the motivation for visiting a medium is grief, a longing for reassurance that a loved one is at peace. They might claim to relay a message from a dead relative.

We see a fascinating example of this in 1 Samuel 28, which we unpack further in the biblical framework section of this resource.

Past lives The belief that a person’s soul has lived multiple previous lives and that experiences, relationships, fears, or gifts from those lives can carry forward into the present. Someone who believes in this may speak of themselves having to heal from experiences they feel they had in a previous life. Or they may point to their behaviour or personality as a signal that they had previously lived in a certain time period or have lived a number of lives before. You might also hear people describe others as ‘old souls’.

Psychedelics Substances such as psilocybin mushrooms (often known as ‘magic mushrooms’), LSD, DMT and Ayahuasca are increasingly used by people seeking a spiritual experience. One local church we spoke to saw three men join an evangelistic course after a spiritual experience while taking psychedelics left them wanting to explore the Christian faith.

Necromancers Necromancers are slightly different to mediums, in that they seek to conjure spirits from the dead. Rather than relaying a message, they would want to invoke the soul from the dead to directly communicate with the seeker.

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Psychics

Universe / Source

A psychic, often conflated with a medium, is someone who, rather than speaking to the dead, seeks to give you insights into your current life, relationships, your prospects and the ‘energy’ or ‘vibration’ surrounding you. Many pubs across the UK host regular psychic nights, which points to a real spiritual curiosity in our nation.

The Universe, sometimes called Source, the Divine, or simply Energy, is seen as ‘god’ in New Age spirituality. The Universe is generally described as an impersonal energy field rather than a God that you can know personally and have a relationship with.

Tarot cards A deck of 78 cards used for divination and fortune telling. The key cards are: The Magician, The High Priestess, The Lovers, The Wheel of Fortune, Death, and The World. Practitioners believe that the cards you pull out of the deck hold huge significance in the direction of your life and future. Tarot has seen a significant resurgence in recent years, with Netflix using tarot imagery in its promotional material and celebrities like Emma Watson speaking about how they use the cards, while thousands watch people doing tarot readings on TikTok live.

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WitchTok A growing witchcraft community on TikTok, which has amassed billions of views. Users are taught how to cast their own spells, create potions and do rituals. WitchTokers lead live tarot card readings and draw others into witchcraft. Because of the way algorithms work, this kind of content is widely promoted. In our survey of 600 Christian under-35s, 60% of women reported being shown content promoting alternative spirituality online without searching for it.4

https://www.eauk.org/resources/our-resources/reports/faith-in-action-report Spiritual Curiosity

JESSICA'S STORY Jessica describes being born with an ability to see the future, and to see spirits and entities that weren’t of this world. She believed that she must be psychic, a medium. She couldn’t find anything else to explain this; the occult seemed to be the only place with open arms to her and her experience. Jessica started to practise witchcraft and divination and became very popular in that part of the online world. She describes how one night during a ritual, she felt a presence she hadn’t before, one that seemed light. From that moment, Jesus started revealing Himself to her. She began to read the Bible and went to church with her family. There she met a Christian who had a similar background and helped her discern what was demonic and evil and what was of Christ.

Jessica speaks of one experience where she was engaging with her spirit guides that helped her with her psychic work. She had been told the spirit guides were actually demons deceiving her. She didn’t believe this but decided to test it. While engaging with these spirit guides, she prayed: “Show yourself in the name of Jesus Christ”. She explains that what manifested after that left her with no doubt that the spirit guides were demons. Once she saw the truth, she never went back. She shut the doors on all mediumship there and then. She prayed and asked God to take away her ability from her and He did. God saved her and now she is helping other witches see the reality of what they’re doing and come to saving faith in Jesus.5

Craft to Christ – Jessica Murray

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THE CULTURAL MOMENT

Alternative spirituality is no longer a fringe interest tucked away in corners of markets and festivals; it has gone thoroughly mainstream. WitchTok racks up billions of views, celebrities talk freely about how they manifest, many pubs host psychic nights and high street bookshops sell tarot cards with guides on how to use them. To understand the spiritually curious times we’re living in, and the rise in popularity of practices like crystals, manifesting, and tarot cards, we need to understand the cultural waters we are all swimming in because this hasn’t happened in a vacuum. The spiritual cravings of this generation are influenced by these cultural waters. 14

Three cultural stories in particular have shaped this moment: a secular story that removed God from the foundations of society, an individualistic story that made the self the centre of everything and the ultimate authority, and a postmodern story that deconstructed what truth is. Understanding these cultural stories helps us to understand what leads people to New Age beliefs and some of the underlying desires and questions.

So how did we get here? Spiritual Curiosity

The secular story: removing God from the foundations For centuries in the West, the Christian story provided the framework within which most people made sense of their lives. Secularism’s aim wasn’t to erase God, but to question all beliefs. For a while many claimed that the trajectory of the Western world was a slow, but inevitable march toward a new world without belief, without transcendence, without God.

That is not quite how it has played out.

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The new atheism of the early 2000s, led by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris, seemed to represent the logical conclusion of the secular story. Science and reason alone would be enough; religion would quietly fade into the background of society, but that’s not what we’ve seen happen. Being told that we are collections of cells here by accident with no inherent value, purpose, morality or eternal destiny, increasingly seemed unbelievable for many.

Secularism hasn’t produced a generation of contented atheists; it has produced an anxious, morally confused and lost generation with a deep longing that has not been fulfilled. It has produced an age of spiritual curiosity.

Spiritual Curiosity

The individualistic story: “It’s all about you” Western culture has undergone what sociologists call a turn toward expressive individualism: the idea that the self is the ultimate authority, that truth is found within, and that humans are each on a journey of discovering and expressing their authentic inner selves. It declares that we are each the author of our own story and we each get to decide what is true for us. This is the perfect cultural soil for alternative spirituality to grow in. New Age spirituality is, at its heart, deeply individualistic. There is no authority, no doctrine, no community you must submit to. You take what feels right to you and leave what doesn’t. You can blend different religions and practices together, in whichever way you like. Many people would even reject the New Age title altogether, as that would feel too confining, too prescriptive for them. This form of spirituality is the perfect match for expressive individualism as it is all about doing whatever feels right to you, doing what you will, and expressing what you view as your authentic self. It offers you a spirituality you can manufacture and engage with on your own terms without having to submit to any form of outside authority.

Above: Echo and Narcissus, John William Waterhouse Evangelical Alliance

The postmodern story: “Live your truth” Postmodernism taught a generation to be deeply suspicious of any single overarching truth claim and replace it with millions of personal truths. It also rejects any sense of absolute authority. Personal experience and objective truth got confused, and truth became subjective. Your truth and my truth peacefully coexist even if it doesn’t logically make sense for them both to. New Age spirituality flourishes in the postmodern story as someone could blend Buddhism with manifesting, see Jesus as God while using a set of tarot cards and watching WitchTok and see no contradiction whatsoever. The postmodern story celebrates and encourages this kind of spiritual pickand-mix, and rejects ultimate truth claims as arrogant. 17

Three stories collide and clash These three stories: secularism, individualism and postmodernism clash and collide and have created a spiritually curious, unmoored generation searching for the transcendent.

Secularism dismantled the framework, but exposed deeper longings. The new atheist movement promised that reason alone would be enough to satisfy the longing, and the generation that inherited that promise found it to be hollow and wanting. The human hunger for transcendence, for meaning, for the sense that we are known and that our lives matter, did not disappear when God was removed from the foundations; it went looking for answers somewhere else. Individualism then told that same restless generation that the answer must lie within; that they are their own authority, their own compass. Postmodernism handed them permission to construct whatever truth they felt they needed, without any overriding authority. New Age spirituality is a fruit and symptom of these three stories. 18

It offers transcendence without repentance, community on your own terms, a promise of a universe that will bend to your will and wants, and worship that you can self-create. In an age of social media, this form of spirituality has gone thoroughly viral. This should lead us to compassion for the people in our communities, our families and our lives who are drawn to these things. They are spiritually hungry people who have been formed by cultural waters that make New Age spirituality seem like the most natural place to find satisfaction. We want to understand what the deeper reasons are that mean so many people are drawn to alternative spirituality. To recognise and affirm people’s longings for meaning, for transcendence, for belonging and hope, and then point them to Jesus, the only one who could ever fulfil those longings completely. Spiritual Curiosity

LYDIA'S STORY

Lydia walked away from Jesus as a teenager, embracing atheism, but the bigger questions wouldn’t leave her alone. What is life really for? Is there something more? Rather than leading her back to church, those questions led her into self-help, then meditation, spirituality, and eventually a world she would only later recognise as New Age. For years, Lydia immersed herself fully in the world of spirituality. Manifesting, breathwork, psychedelics and retreats; it became her life and her work. But beneath the surface, something was shifting. A personal crisis

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cracked her world open, and in that vulnerable space she had an unexpected encounter with Jesus. Shortly afterwards, she had a friend visiting who asked Lydia to go to church with her. She said yes. What followed was extraordinary. Within just two weeks of deciding to follow Christ, Lydia describes how Jesus reshaped her entire life and worldview. She felt such a conviction to leave her world, work and spirituality behind to follow Him. Today, Lydia is deeply rooted in her local church and is helping others find their way out of the New Age and into a relationship with Jesus.

BIBLICAL FRAMEWORK

We are not navigating uncharted waters when considering this topic. The Bible speaks frequently in ways that clearly apply to the world of alternative spirituality and New Age practices. The landscape the early church found itself in had all sorts of spiritual complexities; you could say that the early church formed and grew in similarly spiritually curious times. Where there was an awareness and acceptance of a supernatural or spiritual realm and people were not asking the question whether there is a God, but which god? The good news is that Jesus does offer the answers that people are searching for, an end to the restless seeking, a 20

way to live and be, and a way to be deeply known, loved and cherished. All these other forms of spirituality promise to answer questions and longing but fail to do so. Many of those we spoke to during the research for this resource shared this sentiment: I thought spirituality was working, I thought these practices were helping, but then they didn’t and it got dark. The gospel doesn’t offer a few random practices to pick and choose from; it fulfils all our longings fully and finally and gives us a framework to understand everything in our past, present and future. The following is just the beginning of a framework for understanding how the Bible speaks into this topic. Spiritual Curiosity

In the beginning: creation In Genesis, God speaks creation into being. He brings order out of chaos and life out of emptiness. He creates men and women in His image; we are the pinnacle of His creation, designed for relationship with Him. From the very beginning of the human story, there is a recognition of the spiritual realm and reality. We are not objects, matter or animals; we are created to reflect God’s image to the world around us, we are created to be in relationship, and for communion with God. But in Genesis 3, it all goes wrong. Humans reach for something outside of God; they look to become God, to know everything, to have more power. God set the boundaries, but we stepped Evangelical Alliance

outside of them. The result of this is a fracture: with God, with each other, and with all of creation. Within all of us, there is a longing for what we were created for, a perfect relationship with God, but we are tempted to look to fill this longing in all sorts of different ways. What we see in the New Age movement is, in many ways, the same reach that we see in Genesis 3. The same restless human attempt to find meaning, connection, and transcendence outside of the God who made us for Himself. The desire to be elevated to ‘god-like’ status, to define our own boundaries, to live however we want, to have power without submission. 21

We live in a world that is not spiritually neutral One of the things the Bible makes unmistakably clear is that we do not live in spiritually neutral territory. From Genesis to Revelation, the scriptural story is set against the backdrop of conflict between darkness and light, between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the enemy. The consistent witness of Scripture is that we live in a spiritual battle. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) The Bible does not assume that other spiritual practices are powerless or imaginary. It makes clear: there is a spiritual realm, there is darkness, there is light, there is a spiritual battle around us. In Deuteronomy 18, God speaks directly to His people about the nations around them; nations who practise divination, sorcery, interpret omens, cast spells, and consult mediums and necromancers. These practices are described as detestable not because they are harmless nonsense but because they represent a deliberate turning away from God and toward other spiritual powers. A turning away from the kingdom of God and a turning towards the kingdom of darkness. The Bible takes the spiritual world seriously.

“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 18:9-13) In 1 Samuel 28 we see this vividly. King Saul, having once driven all mediums and necromancers from the kingdom, had turned away from God. He visits a medium and asks her to summon the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel. What follows is one of the most striking and unsettling passages in the Old Testament. Samuel does appear, and he speaks. There is a recognition here that the spiritual world is real, that these practices are not empty, and that this is precisely why they are dangerous. Saul’s visit to the medium is the final act of a man who has turned his back on God, and it leads directly to his destruction.

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The early church in a spiritual world When we turn to the New Testament, we find the early church navigating a world full of alternative spiritualities. The culture of the first century was saturated with spiritual practice: magic, divination, sorcery, and the worship of countless idols, gods and spiritual powers. Paul and the apostles were not sharing the good news of Jesus in a secular world that dismissed the spiritual; they were very much ministering in a world full of spiritual searching, hunger and curiosity.

This is a key point for the church today. The invitation of the gospel is not to add Jesus to an existing spiritual toolkit. It is not Jesus plus crystals, Jesus plus manifesting, Jesus plus tarot. It is Jesus as Lord, as Jesus leaves no room for any other way of viewing Him. Jesus declares in John 14:6: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

In Acts 19 we see something remarkable. As the gospel takes hold in Ephesus, a city famous for its occult practices, a number of new Christians who had practised sorcery bring their scrolls together and burn them publicly. The value of those scrolls was enormous. They recognised that in coming to Christ they were leaving behind something that needed to be fully renounced, so they made a radical declaration of turning away from their old life and stepping into new life with Christ. They understood that they couldn’t add following Jesus into their spirituality. It was a complete overhaul of what they had previously believed and practised, a total life change from worldview to behaviour. The bonfire at Ephesus is a picture of genuine repentance, total transformation.

Right: The Preaching of St Paul at Ephesus, Eustache Le Sueur Evangelical Alliance

You cannot hold Christ in one hand and New Age practices in the other. Jesus requires total allegiance and obedience to His will and way.

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The supremacy of Christ In a world full of alternative spiritualities and other religions, we need to recognise that Jesus is not one spiritual power among many competing for attention. He is Lord over every power, every authority, every spiritual force in the universe. In Colossians 1, Paul describes Christ as the one in whom all things were created: things in Heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. “For in him all things were created: things in Heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him.” (Colossians 1:16) In Philippians 2, Paul declares that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in Heaven, on Earth, and under the earth. “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on Earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)

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Jesus rules and reigns over every spiritual power and principality. One day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess, every person will see that Jesus is Lord. This matters enormously for how we approach New Age spirituality. We do not engage with people exploring these practices from a place of anxiety or fear; we engage from a place of real confidence and biblically grounded assurance. The spiritual battle is real, but it is not evenly matched; in fact, the battle has already been won. As Paul reminds the church in 1 Corinthians 15, every ruler and every authority will ultimately be brought under the feet of Christ. “Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.” (1 Corinthians 15:24) Throughout the Gospels and Acts, we see this confidence in action. There are many moments where people are experiencing demonic oppression or have engaged with dark spirituality. On meeting Jesus, they are set free from their demonic oppression, they are delivered, and they turn away from their old way of life and submit their lives to the way of Jesus.

From creation to new creation: the end of the searching

We have good news

When we get to the end of the Bible, we see the fulfilment of what all our stories and lives are pointing towards. In the new creation, we will be with God and He will be with us in perfect communion. All other spiritual powers will be put to death. In the new creation, there is no more fracture, no more searching, no more grasping after transcendence because God Himself dwells among His people. In Revelation 21, John describes the new Jerusalem coming down from Heaven, God making His home with humanity, wiping every tear, ending every longing. The enemies of God’s creation are judged decisively for eternity, and those who love Him enjoy union with Him forever.

The people we are trying to reach are not our enemies. They are fellow image bearers, who are searching and longing for meaning, life, truth, healing, and answers, but they have been handed counterfeits that could never satisfy. We know the One who can, and so we have a real opportunity to make Jesus known in this time.

Spiritual Curiosity

ROSS' STORY Ross grew up around witchcraft. His mother and grandmother both practised it, and the spiritual world was simply part of the fabric of family life from as far back as he could remember. At university a close friend experienced a devastating loss. Wanting to care for her in the way he knew best, Ross offered to hold a séance: a way, he thought, of helping her feel connected to the friend she had lost. He was surprised when she said no. She explained she was a Christian, and so was the friend who had died. She was grieving, yes, deeply, but she already had an assurance of where her friend was. She then asked whether Ross would like to talk more about faith and spirituality. He said yes. What followed was a long journey. Ross started going to church, was invited to an Alpha course, Evangelical Alliance

and developed a growing web of friendships with people who loved Jesus and were willing to take his questions seriously too. Ross gave his life to Jesus. In the weeks leading up to his baptism he noticed something unsettling; he still had a sense of access to the dark spiritual realm. He didn’t want to access it, but the awareness of it was there. Then he was baptised. He describes what happened when he came up out of the water as like a light being switched on in a dark room. The access was simply gone. It has not returned. Ten years on, Ross is still following Jesus and still committed to his local church. The road has not been easy. Living for Christ in a family that practises witchcraft has brought hard conversations, painful moments, and real cost. 27

HOW DO WE RESPOND?

What would you do if, in conversation tomorrow, a friend, a colleague, or a neighbour shared how they manifest, or they showed you the crystal in their pocket, or told you about the medium they went to see? Would you know what to say? Would you feel equipped to engage in conversation with them, to know how to point them towards Jesus?

with Christians and churches who are actively sharing faith and discipling people who have engaged in New Age practices. We are grateful for their honesty and their wisdom. We are confident that no one is too far from Jesus to meet Him, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God for salvation, and it is more than sufficient for every person we will encounter.

The following has been shaped by conversations with people who have come to faith from a New Age background, and

So how do we reach people engaged in New Age spirituality, how do we share faith, and then disciple them well?

Spiritual Curiosity

Get to know the person in front of you Take time to genuinely understand the person in front of you. If someone shares that they manifest, believe in karma, or have had their tarot cards read, don’t assume you understand what they mean, or rush to correct them or to explain that those practices and beliefs are dark. Showing you are interested in the person and care for them isn’t the same as affirming their beliefs; it helps build trust and relationships. As Phil Knox, evangelist and author of The Best of Friends, says: “The gospel only travels at the speed of relationships”. As a starting place, you could ask questions like:

When did you first start...? What led you to turn to...? What do you find helpful about...? Where did you first learn about...?

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You will almost always find that underneath the crystals and the tarot cards lies a set of human longings for meaning, for healing, for connection. Those longings are not obstacles to the gospel; they are the exact places the gospel speaks to. There will be threads that, if the conversations continue, you’ll be able to pull on to open gospel conversation, but this starts with asking good questions and listening well. Jesus came for the searching, the broken, the lost and the confused. It is worth remembering that the person in front of you, however unfamiliar their spiritual language, is someone for whom Christ died, someone who is made in God’s image. Approach these conversations without dismissing or diminishing what someone has experienced. As we have seen in the biblical framework, the spiritual realm is real. We do not help anyone by suggesting their experiences were imaginary or made up. What we can do is gently and clearly draw the distinction between darkness and light, between spiritual power that is not from God and the surpassing power of the Holy Spirit, and point people towards Jesus. Often when you spend time listening to someone else’s story and experience, they will ask you about yours, and then you have an opportunity to share what Jesus has done in your life.

Welcome them into your community Having understood something of the person and their story, invite them in. Community is one of the most powerful gifts the church has to offer. People who have come to faith from a New Age background often share that it was the warmth of Christian community that drew them in. There are many communities within the New Age, but you generally have to pay to be part of them or participate in them. The fact that church was free to go to and you could just show up was a significant witness to many of the people we spoke to. The church, gathered around Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, is the most extraordinary countercultural community on Earth. We are a family, and one with open arms; all are welcome to come. We should be radical with our invitation and our welcome.

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Give people time Our time is precious, and many of those we spoke to shared how a Christian gave them lots of time with no strings attached. They felt they could ask all their questions, could pick up the phone and talk about life. They felt genuinely loved and cared for. Our Finding Jesus report, which studied 280 new Christians’ journeys to faith, shows the same thing: genuine care, time, and patience from Christians played one of the most helpful roles in leading them to Jesus.6 Sometimes this happened one-to-one, but this also happened in small groups, informal gatherings, and courses outside of Sunday services. Having these extra meeting moments can help support people coming out of the New Age, as becoming a Christian isn’t just a shift in worldview, belief and allegiance; it also means a total rejection of their previous community and daily practice. There is a real relational cost to choosing to become a Christian for someone from this background.

eauk.org/resources/our-resources/reports/finding-jesus Spiritual Curiosity

Share testimonies regularly As people spend time in community, one of the most powerful things they will encounter is the stories of others. Hearing these are always powerful, but for someone contemplating becoming a Christian having been immersed in alternative spirituality, hearing from someone who has come to faith from a New Age background helps them feel like they’re not alone. If your church has people with this story, create space for them to share it: in a Sunday service, in a small group, in a one-to-one conversation with someone who is searching. As well as the testimonies in this booklet, many others have shared their story online. We’ve collected some of these at: eauk.org/spiritual-curiosity

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Invite people into an embodied faith One of the things that draws people to New Age spirituality is that it is not merely cerebral – it gives you lived, daily practices. There are things you can do that promise to make you feel better. The Christian faith isn’t meant to be purely cerebral; it is embodied, it’s experiential. Our faith is intellectually robust, but it is also something that we experience and live out. There are many Christian practices that we can invite people into as we disciple them, things that God has provided for us to help us live his way and grow more into his likeness. These are practices like prayer, fasting, silence, sabbath, generosity, hospitality, scripture reading, gratitude, and sung worship. All these practices help people to learn how to live out the Christian faith, a faith that isn’t just logical but liveable too. We’ve created a resource to help spiritually curious people: Ethos, a digital pathway. You take a short quiz and the results suggest a spiritual practice to try. It’s a way for people to try out Christian practices before they even believe. We think this pathway will help anyone who is spiritually curious, but also those coming from New Age backgrounds.

Try Ethos

ethos.beinghumanlens.com

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Consider what healing and deliverance look like in your context Many people find their way into alternative spirituality because of real trauma. This is a common thread through a lot of the stories of people coming to faith from this background. The practices of New Age spirituality often offer something that feels like comfort, healing, and a measure of control in the face of overwhelming circumstances. When someone shares their story with you, there is a good chance they are carrying hurt and trauma. Know where you can point people for professional support and care when it is needed, and have those signposts ready before you need them. Although there is a spectrum of engagement with New Age practices, they open people up to the demonic. Those who have engaged in alternative spiritual practices have engaged with real spiritual darkness, so they will need the church to walk with them into freedom in Christ, and there will likely be a need for deliverance. As the church in the West, this is an area where we need to continue developing our theology and practice together, particularly as more people arrive with significant experience of demonic practices. Some of the people we interviewed commented that they

were aware when they became a Christian that they needed deliverance. It wasn’t a foreign concept to them as someone who had engaged in New Age practices. When they realised that what they had been exploring was spiritual darkness, they wanted freedom in Christ and to be delivered from it. They were also surprised that the church didn’t seem to know what to do or felt a bit awkward when talking about deliverance. We would encourage you in your local church communities to work out what this looks like in your context and develop a theology around it

Commit to praying Whether you have encountered anyone who has been open about their exploration into New Age spirituality or not, you probably have noticed spiritual curiosity around you; whether that is the psychic night advertised at your local pub, celebrities talking about their spirituality, or the online content you see. This should all provoke us to pray for God to soften hearts and open eyes, and for opportunities to share His light in the darkness. This is a spiritual battle, and so prayer is our best response. Your small group might be a good place to discuss this resource, notice what you’re seeing in your local area and online, and pray together for God’s kingdom to break in.

Spiritual Curiosity

CONCLUSION We are living in an age of spiritual curiosity. People are hungry for the transcendent, no longer asking whether there is a God, but which one. Some have been pulled towards crystals, tarot, manifesting, and the wider New Age world because, for many, nothing else has offered them a language for the longing they feel. Our prayer is that this resource has helped you see that hunger as an open door for gospel proclamation. When Paul stood in Athens in Acts 17, he found a city crowded with altars, shrines and competing spiritualities. Rather than condemning their searching, he pointed to an altar inscribed “to an unknown god” (verse 23) and used it as a bridge to proclaim the God who can be known. We are living in similar times and have opportunities, like Paul, to walk around the ’marketplace’, develop an understanding of the culture we live in and then, with boldness, introduce people to Jesus. The crystals in someone’s hand, the tarot cards in their bag, the manifesting journal by their bed, all point to spiritual openness, a searching, a longing for something more. Our calling is the same as Paul’s: to introduce people to the God who can actually be known. Evangelical Alliance

The stories woven through this booklet – of Lucinda, Jessica, Lydia, and Ross – are a reminder of what’s possible. Each of them spent years searching in places that promised wholeness and could not deliver it. Each of them found, often unexpectedly, that Jesus was the one their searching had been pointing toward all along. Their stories are not the exception; they are a pattern we believe God wants to repeat again and again in this cultural moment. This is not a moment for the church to retreat in fear or to relax, enjoying the many stories of people exploring faith. It’s a moment of real opportunity to step forward with bravery and kindness in equal measure as we make Jesus known. Bravery because the victory has already been won, and kindness because the person across from you is someone made in the image of God, whom Jesus deeply loves. You don’t need to have a complete understanding or all the answers before you start the conversation. You simply need to be willing to ask good questions, to listen well, to speak the truth in love, and to trust that the gospel really is good news, sufficient for every spiritually curious person. May this resource leave you a little more equipped, and a lot more hopeful, for what God is doing in this moment and His call to you personally to go and make Him known. 33

NEXT STEPS → Visit our webpage We have built a webpage around this resource that points you to other resources: books, articles and podcasts that are helpful on this topic.

→ Discuss this resource Going through this resource in a small group setting will be helpful. You could ask people to read it in advance and then go through these questions: What stood out to you most while reading this booklet? Was there anything that surprised or challenged you?

Where have you encountered New Age ideas or language: in friends, family, social media, celebrities, or your own story?

Read Acts 19:17-20. What stands out to you in the response of those who had previously been involved in what we would now describe as New Age practices?

We also have interviews and stories with thought leaders and some of the people mentioned in this resource. You can find that at: eauk.org/spiritual-curiosity

Have you ever had an evangelistic conversation with someone who is interested or immersed in New Age practices? How did it go? How would you go about sharing your faith?

Is there anyone in your life right now who might be spiritually curious? What might it look like to take a next step toward them: a conversation, an invitation, ongoing prayer?

After discussion, spend time praying for many people immersed in alternative spirituality to come to know Jesus and for opportunities personally to make Jesus known.

Spiritual Curiosity

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The Evangelical Alliance is made up of hundreds of organisations, thousands of churches and tens of thousands of individuals, joined together for the sake of the gospel. Representing our members since 1846, the Evangelical Alliance is the oldest and largest evangelical unity movement in the UK. United in mission and voice, we exist to serve and strengthen the work of the church in our communities and throughout society. Highlighting the significant opportunities and challenges facing the church today, we work together to resource Christians so that they are able to act upon their faith in Jesus and to speak up for the gospel, justice and freedom in their areas of influence.

The Being Human project exists to help you understand our cultural moment, live for Jesus within it, and invite others in. Alongside our podcast, book and small group resource, we offer Ethos, a digital pathway for those who are spiritually curious. Rooted in the ancient practices of Jesus, Ethos gives people a way to try out the Christian faith before they even believe.

Working across the UK, with offices in London, Cardiff, Stockport, Glasgow and Belfast, our members come together from across denominations, locations, age groups and ethnicities, all sharing a passion to know Jesus and make Him known. As a membership organisation, the strength of our voice in government depends on how many individual members we have. Join us today and help us speak up on the issues that matter: eauk.org/joinus

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You can find us on Instagram @beinghumanlens, or to book a speaker, get in touch at beinghuman@eauk.org. If you want to go deeper into how adults are coming to faith today, take a look at Finding Jesus, research by the Evangelical Alliance into the spiritual and missional landscape of the UK. It asks the questions we're all asking: who are the people finding Jesus as adults? What prompts them to start searching? What does that journey look like, and what helps them along the way? By understanding what's causing people to buck the cultural trend, the research aims to equip and encourage the local church and individual Christians as they share the good news. Read it at findingjesus.co.uk

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