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Following the terrorist attacks in London last week, Britons acted characteristically. "This is nothing," one victim said as she headed up the stairs from the Underground. In a report the day after the attack, Anthony McRoy wrote, "Al Qaeda needs to learn what we taught Hitler—Britons don't do cowardice."

The archbishop of Canterbury also responded characteristically. In his statement on the attacks, Rowan Williams said, "We in the faith communities will have to continue to stand and work together for the well-being of our nation and for our shared understanding of the life that God calls us to." Undoubtedly a brilliant man and a devoted Christian, Williams failed to mention Jesus or anything uniquely Christian in his statement on behalf of the Church of England.

As head of the state church, Williams holds a position unfamiliar to Americans. He represents the state church of a nation that no longer believes. Ironically, the nation that has spiritually bequeathed so much to American Christians is now more secular than the United States, where church and state have been separate for more than 200 years. Yet Americans have been, and continue to be, spiritually fed by British Christians, many of them Anglicans.

One modern example is J.I. Packer. Though now a Canadian, Packer, like others in the Commonwealth, is thoroughly British. An Anglican who has fought to maintain orthodoxy in his Diocese of New Westminster in British Columbia, Packer studied at Oxford while C.S. Lewis was teaching. A brilliant theologian and caring pastor, Packer has impacted thousands through his books and seminary courses at Regent College.

But Packer stands in a long line of faithful Anglicans. One of the best-known Christian literary clubs included Anglicans C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield. These Inklings wrote spiritual literature read by millions.

The Church of England essentially gave birth to modern evangelicalism. John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield started the movement in the 1730s in both England and America. They were joined by a much larger group of clergy and laity that included pastor and former slave trader John Newton and social reformers like William Wilberforce.

Contrary to the common assumption that the Victorian era was one of skepticism and unbelief, churchgoing dramatically increased, especially among the burgeoning middle classes. Even intellectuals were not so atheistic as is often assumed. But the foundations for a decline in religious observance were being laid.

The Church of England was becoming more of a status faith. "Social class was a major determinant of who was in what church . . .  throughout the Victorian period," Ronald A. Wells writes. "The vicar of the parish was most often the social better of those in his parochial charge, and this disparity increasingly rubbed the working classes the wrong way." In 1851 most churchgoers were attending the Church of England. Only 50 years later, that was no longer the case.

The 20th century marked a significant decline in British Christianity. In 1900, there were 5.4 million practicing Protestants, but by 1990, there were only 3.4 million. At the same time, the Church of England dropped from 2.8 million to 1.5 million. Today, 86 percent of adults in Britain do not attend any church.

In 1997, Books & Culture outlined what happened to religion in Britain. First, the Church of England couldn't attract and hold working-class men. "Liberal clergy who sought relevance at the expense of orthodoxy" were also to blame. Conservatives, Wells says, did a better job at "recruiting and holding their own offspring," but their successes have not significantly changed the largely faithless country.

Another problem is the state church. "Empire had brought with it a consciousness of British responsibility to the world, and the decline of the imperial idea—first in Ireland, later elsewhere—caused a decline in evangelical responsibility," Wells writes. As part of an empire, Anglicanism failed "precisely because the church was the Church of England, whereas the nation was the United Kingdom. Catholic Ireland was always causing political trouble for England, but it caused spiritual questioning as well. "The Home Rule crisis in Ireland was a profound shock throughout all Britain. In short, if English nationality and religion are not coincident with the British state, then thinking about both religious and national identities is due for revision."

Another problem might be Protestantism itself, Wells suggests. The Protestant shift of religion to a personal, experiential faith may have doomed that brand of Christianity. "A religion that has lost its social meaning and exists only in a private, 'religious' sphere may not be Christianity at all, but its echo and memory."

Fortunately, a numerically small Christianity is no proof of a dead faith. In a nation where Luis Palau could be disinvited from a city celebration due to his "extreme evangelical beliefs," British evangelicals are preaching the gospel faithfully and effectively.

Again, evangelical Anglicans are reviving religious faith. The Alpha course began at Holy Trinity Brompton in 1977 to instruct new Christians about the faith. But after Nicky Gumbel restructured the course for non-Christians in 1990, the program took off as an evangelical outreach tool.

"Global growth rates for the number of Alpha courses and attendees initially stunned Gumbel. 'It was an amazement to us that it would work in any other church outside our own,' he says. In 1991, four Alpha courses drew 600 people. In 1997, an estimated 500,000 attended courses around the world. Gumbel and Alistair Hanna, a former corporate consultant and now head of Alpha North America, believe that by the year 2001 some 50,000 Alpha courses could be held yearly in the United States and Canada."

In typical evangelical fashion, Anglicans are no longer the only ones involved now. "Alpha courses have been held in about 50 countries. Although many have been held in Anglican, Vineyard, or independent charismatic churches, Alpha is gaining a foothold internationally among Roman Catholics, Baptists, and other faith groups."

The course does more than get people in the door of the church. It changes lives. Don Macdonald, an accountant, was a self-described atheist before his wife challenged him to take the Alpha course. "By the time he finished, 'I just couldn't believe there wasn't a God.' From there, salvation through Christ resulted. 'My heart finally convinced me.'"

Christians involved in politics have long looked to William Wilberforce's opposition to the slave trade as an example of faithful political engagement. But today, evangelicals can look across the pond for a similar example.

As the year 2000 approach, the Evangelical Alliance (the British National Association of Evangelicals) learned only one in six Britons knew the year 2000 signified the end of the second millennium after Christ's birth. So they began Anno Domini, a project to inform Britons about the significance of the anniversary of Christ's birth.

The EA does more than celebrate anniversaries, though. "Over the past 15 years [before 1996], the church in Britain has experienced remarkable renewal and outreach into British society. The alliance, under the unifying leadership of Clive Calver, has grown significantly during this time. When Calver [who later became president of World Relief], took over in 1983, he and his team established a two-track strategy: (1) to develop greater credibility with the larger evangelical community in the U.K. and (2) to achieve visibility and credibility with the media and political leaders in Britain."

Calver largely succeeded in his goal. Today, "members of the media began routinely to contact EA for its views on a broad range of issues. And the alliance became highly respected because it was nonpartisan, and it always did a thorough job of researching issues for its theological and public-policy implications."

And the alliance is effective. It "has joined conservatives to lobby Parliament to protect children from access to adult videos, and it has joined progressives in lobbying for greater government assistance for the disabled. Since it seeks to define its position from Scripture and conscience rather than from political ideology, it is respected on both sides of the political aisle in Parliament."

American evangelicals can continue to learn from those across the pond who are faithfully proclaiming the gospel in a secular culture. Tom Sine, who wrote about the EA for Christianity Today, asked, "Should we [in America] not allow Scripture to move us beyond partisan politics and ideology as we work for the common good? Couldn't we be reminded by the alliance that the primary way the Bible teaches that God changes society is not through politics but by proclaiming and demonstrating the gospel of Jesus Christ?"

Rob Moll is online assistant editor of Christianity Today.