“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” is the opening line of Charles Dickens’ famed novel The Tale of Two Cities. Written in 1859, it is often cited as one of the top opening lines of any book.

Unfortunately, this line in some ways describes what is happening in Christianity today.

The Best of Times

On one hand we have a report coming from the YouVersion Bible app that it set a record this past Easter for downloads.

The popular Bible app was downloaded an average of 18.7 million times during Holy week.

It peaked at 21.5 million downloads on Resurrection Sunday. This marked the highest number of a single day download in the app’s history, since its introduction in 2008.

Matthew 28:6, was also the most widely read verse this Easter: “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.”

Every region of the world reported an increase including sub-Saharan Africa that saw a 37% increase and Latin America which had a 22% increase. Overall, this year represented a 15% increase over last year’s record download.

“Over the last several months, worldwide interest in the Bible has continued to increase,” said YouVersion founder Bobby Gruenewald in a news release. “It’s encouraging to see people searching for and consistently coming back to Scripture for guidance, encouragement and answers. We especially see this at Easter where more people are either reflecting on their faith or trying to understand who Jesus was for themselves.“

The YouVersion Bible app was created in 2008 by Life.Church, a multi-site church pastored by Greg Groeschel in Edmond, Oklahoma. It was one of the first 200 apps released in Apple’s app store that was set up that same year. The app, which now provides Bible translations in 2,400 languages, is approaching one billion downloads.

The Worst of Times

But in the midst of this, some believers are experiencing ‘the worst of times.’

In Nigeria, 22 Christians were killed in two separate attacks over Easter. Seventeen people were killed during a Saturday church service in Nigeria’s northern Benue State .

Five people were killed in an attack on an Easter Sunday service in Kaduna State. The Nigerian army’s quick response blocked the Islamic extremists attempt to kidnap 31 members of the congregation.

In Britain, a recent report found that churches in that country were robbed, vandalized, etc over 10 times a day in 2025. The data was uncovered through an access to information request by  Countryside Alliance to UK’s 45 territorial police forces. Unfortunately, this does not present the full picture as 8 of the police departments did not provide data.

So while a darkness creeps over the earth, God is moving in the hearts of people around the world.

In the midst of this, there will be good times and bad.