Displaying items by tag: Evangelism

In this feature article, Jason Mandryk from Operation World, also a member of the IPC’s Leadership Team unpacks a number of growing issues affecting the United Kingdom that have been highlighted by Franklin Graham’s planned evangelistic visit. 
A number of secular UK venues have refused to host Graham’s events.

While the flooding and inexorable spread of CoVid into the U.K. hold the attention of most of us here, the reaction to the planned Franklin Graham tour should not go unnoticed. All of the original venues booked to host Graham’s preaching tour have cancelled, after numerous complaints of the American preacher’s alleged homophobia, Islamophobia, and right wing politics.

A Creeping Prejudice

We are seeing the accelerating trend of Christians being the ones against whom such discrimination is happening. Some have argued convincingly that the cancellations of venues on Franklin Graham’s crusade are examples of such discrimination, and of violations of religious freedom/free speech. Can there truly be free speech when a self-labeled ‘inclusive’ worldview bans people who have convictions different from their own? When we (in this case, Christianity in a nation with centuries of having a state-sponsored Church) are no longer the bully but the bullied, there is a powerful cognitive dissonance. This is happening, not just in the U.K., but across much of the English-speaking world.

Christians in the U.K. should be alarmed at the rapidity of this reversal, and indeed the willingness – eagerness even - of secular society to look the other way, or to pile on, when it’s Christians suffering discrimination. History has taught us, that when these things turn, they often turn fast.

Astute observers will also have noted that there has been a rapid tonal shift from the LGBTQ+ activists. Only a few years ago, such activist groups were pointing out cruel violence and persecution against a small minority, and asking to be allowed to simply exist, to be left alone, to be accepted for who they were. Today, entities like Stonewall and PinkNews are on the offensive. They demonstrate no mercy to those who do not agree to their manifestos. Savvy manipulation of our media and of outrage/victim culture, the weaponization of vocabulary and of Karl Popper’s “Intolerance Paradox”  are just some of the tools of the trade.

How, then, do we respond? Well, tens of millions of Christians who have lived in countries with fundamentalist Muslim, Hindu or atheistic governments are deeply familiar with the experience of persecution and of suffering at the hands of an intolerant majority. Some have endured for generations, or even centuries, in these contexts. It may be that in the years to come we will have much to learn from these brave sisters and brothers in Christ. It may be that our recourse to lobby groups, legal actions, and culture wars will be exposed as fruitless. It is likely that our most important lesson will be to learn how to turn the other cheek, and how to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matt 5:44).  Jesus did promise his disciples, “you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake” (Matt 24:9). 

However, the disruption to Franklin Graham’s intended crusade cannot be laid entirely at the feet of those who oppose his visit.

Franklin Graham is not his father

There are two important aspects to Franklin Graham’s approach that are worth noting. Firstly, how the two men made their choices about where and when to do preaching tours differs. Church of England ministers Ian Paul and Paul Eddy write about how Billy Graham “would only go preach in cities after considerable prayer, and after invitations from a wide spectrum of churches in those cities.” An admirable, spiritual, consultative process! The article goes on to explain that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) no longer operate that way. It appears that Franklin Graham’s decision to come to the U.K. was a private decision between him and God, rather than a relational process involving the U.K. church.  The lack of an outcry about the cancellations by the U.K. church is hardly a surprise, then.

Public politics is another issue where the two Grahams significantly differ. One of the hallmarks of Billy Graham’s preaching is that he focused on the gospel.  Billy learned to avoid most politics and kept the main thing, the main thing (after well-publicized and painful lessons through his relationship with Richard Nixon).  It is a part of why he had the respect of and access to so many communities and leaders around the world. Who else could have had the chance to share his faith personally with everyone from Queen Elizabeth to Johnny Cash to Martin Luther King Jr. to Kim Il Sung to the King of Jordan?

Politics and religion

Regardless of whether you agree with his convictions or not (and he makes no bones about hiding them), it is undeniable that Franklin Graham has very deliberately chosen to mix his politics with his faith. This politicization of religion is controversial enough in America; it sits less well in a Europe that suffered through some incredibly destructive religious wars before the USA even existed. In addition to his right wing politics, Franklin Graham has also been outspoken on his views about LGBTQ+ and on Islam – two already charged issues.

Franklin Graham is certainly entitled to air his views, and the truth is that many faithful Christians in Europe will actually agree with most of them. Yet there needs to be a recognition that the European context, and specifically the U.K. context, requires its own approach for evangelists, especially for high profile ones. One size never fits all when it comes to spreading the good news of Jesus cross-culturally. This is lesson number one for all aspiring missionaries! You wouldn’t try to evangelize a Muslim while eating a pork sausage and drinking a beer, after all. Europe is profoundly different from America, and our evangelism must reflect that. Remember, this is a Europe that has endured centuries of deep antipathy between religious powers, the spiritual baggage of state churches, and the trauma of state-sponsored atheism.

Franklin promised to focus on the gospel in his evangelistic endeavours in the U.K., and I have confidence that he would keep his word if he gave it. He is a gifted evangelist when he preaches the good news. However, the unfortunate truth is that Graham’s evangelistic platform – in Europe, at least – will never be free from the impact of his very public politics. It appears that influential groups in the U.K. are intent on letting Franklin Graham know that they consider him a homophobic, Islamophobic, right wing, Trump-idolizing crackpot and if that’s the Jesus he offers, then thanks-but-no-thanks.

Europe - white unto harvest?

Yet, the U.K.’s reticence to welcome Franklin Graham’s own crusade should not be associated with a rejection of the gospel of Jesus Christ. True, the fires of religious fervour burn most weakly in Europe among all continents. However, for a number of years, missionaries, ministers, and youth workers in “the prodigal continent” have been saying that there has been more openness to the person of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit – especially among the younger generation – than there has been in a long time. This is not even including the many on-fire migrant churches from Africa, Latin America, and Asia, nor the spiritually hungry and desperate migrant populations from places like Afghanistan and Iran (oddly enough, all the above are the groups most likely to resonate with Franklin Graham’s particular blend of religion and politics!) In many places in Europe, the spiritual harvest is ripe. Many who live on this continent will question, though, whether an American mass evangelist with conspicuously right wing politics is going to be the most effective worker in that harvest field.

Franklin Graham has stated that he intends to come to the U.K. anyway. I am glad that my brother in Christ is not cowed into cancelling his campaign simply due to the cancellation of public venues. We can all hope that his visit brings much spiritual fruit, even if the venues are churches instead.

How can we pray?

Pray that U.K. Christians would become aware of the accelerating secularization happening in their midst – not to engage in fruitless culture wars, but to redouble their efforts to fearlessly share the good news of Jesus, no matter the consequences.

Pray that the schemes of the enemy to attack the body of Christ and to degrade British society would be exposed. The devil prefers to fight dirty. May the people of Jesus wage war in the spirit of Jesus, who sent His disciples out “as lambs among wolves”.

Pray for great wisdom, discernment, and humility for public Christian figures in the U.K. This includes people like Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby, Evangelical Alliance CEO Gavin Calver, British evangelist J. John, and even visitors like Franklin Graham.

Pray, as always, for a spiritual awakening in this nation with a history of spiritual awakenings. The U.K. needs revival on the scale of the Wesleyan or Welsh revivals. May the Holy Spirit pour Himself out on His people once again!

Join the discussion at www.ipcprayer.org

Christian Aid Mission has many Bible schools in China offering one- and two-year programmes, with training primarily focused on evangelism and the cost of discipleship. Seven days a week, faculty led morning prayers at 5 a.m. and evening prayers at 9p.m. Every Saturday, students divide into groups to evangelise their community. Due to the school’s excellent standing, home churches often invite students and faculty to preach and lead worship. They travel in pairs on bicycles to over forty house churches in the school’s vicinity. Over 120 students graduate from this Bible school each year. Students become teachers at the school, return to serve in their home churches, or plant new churches in various regions throughout China.

Franklin Graham is scheduled to preach the gospel in eight cities across the United Kingdom later this year, but one of those stops is now in jeopardy after the venue cancelled the 12 June booking over his biblical views on LGBTQ issues. ACC Liverpool, an arena and conference centre, said, ‘Over the past few days we have been made aware of a number of Graham’s statements which we consider to be incompatible with our values. In light of this we can no longer reconcile the balance between freedom of speech and the divisive impact this event is having in our city. We have informed the organisers of the event that the booking will no longer be fulfilled.’ Graham, though, said that everyone is welcome. ‘The Gospel is inclusive, I'm not coming out of hate, I'm coming out of love.’ A Change.org petition that labelled Graham a ‘homophobic hate preacher’ had gathered more than 350 signatures as of 28 January.

Islamic scholar and Christian Dr Antony McRoy said that there is something wrong in the basic philosophy of de-radicalisation programmes for terrorists; the London Bridge killings by Usman Khan are evidence of that. McRoy says that we are treating them as criminal offenders like serial car thieves or bank robbers, but we need to think a bit more like serial murderers or serial sex offenders who obviously have got something psychologically wrong with them. ‘But it's even more complex than that. These people are motivated by an ideology which says that the infidel, anti-Islamic West, is basically an agent of Satan, oppressing the Muslim world.’ He argues that the governments putting these programmes together represent a regime that its participants cannot get behind. ‘The people it is supposed to address are not going to take it seriously. These schemes cannot be effective without the supernatural intervention of God’ - like the transformation of the apostle Paul.

23 people died following cartel gun battles in a town near the US border. Mexico’s murder rate is up 2% this year, but God’s Spirit is moving. Recent evangelistic meetings in Sonora attracted 1,500+ people, 100 became Christians, and 75,000+ Spanish Bibles and Christian resources were distributed. As a leader walked to his car after an event, a man approached him saying, ‘I was behind the stage drinking Heinekens, and I heard you talking at the evangelistic meeting. I spent 10 years in Pelican Bay because I killed two people. I don’t know why I do bad when I want to do right.’ The man sobbed and was given a comforting embrace. ‘Then I led him in the plan of salvation. He gave his life to the Lord Jesus Christ. We gave him a free Bible and got him introduced to a local pastor.’

Christians will soon celebrate Christmas, BUT hundreds of millions of people have not yet heard of Christ. The great revivals and mission advances throughout church history followed the pattern of prayer preceding evangelism. Now, tens of thousands of churches with hundreds of mission organisations and prayer movements are joining forces for an epic prayer and mission initiative, unlike anything the world has known, called GO 2020. The goal is to reach one billion unreached people with Christ’s Good News. By May 2020, GO 2020 aims to have mobilised 100 million Christians to pray that unreached people groups, at home and abroad, will come to know the Lord, as mission agencies preach and teach. No one organisation can accomplish such a feat, but many can flow together like tributaries into one unstoppable river. To get involved, go to

Kanye West's Jesus is King album has prompted the American Bible Society to offer 1,000 free Bibles. ABS said that curiosity about Christianity has soared since the US rapper released his first Christian album: ‘When we saw an influential cultural figure like Kanye inspiring young people to seek out answers to their faith questions, that was an opportunity to provide God's word and point people to it as a source for their questions about faith.’ Up to 1,000 copies of the Good News translation are available to fans who apply on the ABS website. According to Google Trends, online searches for ‘Jesus’ and ‘Christianity’ shot up significantly in the USA after West released his album on 25 October.

The mission of an evangelism boot-camp will be to equip, train, and launch radical evangelists, whose hearts burn to touch the world with the Gospel, onto the front lines of the harvest field. The first ever bootcamp by Christ for all Nations will launch in January 2020. This six-month intensive training is a fast track to the field which will open the door for Christians to preach the gospel in Africa alongside a gospel crusade team. Not for the faint of heart, this programme will include rigorous components of study and service. In only a few months participants will be prepared mind and spirit to fulfill the plans that God has for them to reach the lost! This first training school is limited to only fifty students. But its launch will be a step to an extended school coming soon, with additional training requirements for work in the field. 

Hope Youth (formally Hope Revolution), the youth arm of Hope Together, seeks to engage young people from across the church in mission and evangelism. Hope Youth has numerous partners including but not limited to the Church of England, Alpha, Limitless, Youth for Christ, Scripture Union, Message Trust and the Pais Movement. Collectively this group has facilitated the creation of various initiatives and resources including Mission Academy, Mission Academy Live, and Amplify, part of Advance 2020, an evangelistic movement to promote and stir up the gift of the evangelist building towards a cross-country outreach in 2020. Alongside this they are praying and planning together for what an intentional, strategic, and spirit-filled year of mission will look like in the UK in 2020, taking the gospel to the nation on an unprecedented scale. See

The Methodist Church has launched a series of practical resources in a bid to equip churches more effectively for evangelistic ministry. They will focus on four key areas - a new website of online resources and information, starter grants for new outreach projects, a mission-planning guide to encourage church planting and a Church-wide strategy for growth. Trey Hall, the Methodist Church's Director of Evangelism and Growth, said, ‘We heard the call to reclaim evangelism as a core dimension of our mission and identity as a Church. These resources are a direct response to the needs and hopes of the many who have engaged with us over the past year.’