Franklin Graham’s message to the UK: God loves you

Franklin Graham has returned to the UK for 2 more stops on his God Loves You Tour.

The American evangelist is in Birmingham on Saturday night, where he can be joined by music guests Michael W Smith and former Hillsong worship leader, Taya.

He will then be in Glasgow on the OVO Hydro on 22 June. Thousands are expected to listen to him preach at each events, that are freed from charge.

Ahead of his Birmingham stop, Graham spoke to Christian Today in regards to the message he’s bringing and why he keeps coming back to the UK.

CT: Are you completely satisfied to be back within the UK?

FG: Absolutely, I’m completely satisfied to be back. We’ve been looking forward to this and it’s a terrific privilege to be on this city.

CT: You don’t just do one event but your organisation, BGEA, partners with local churches within the run-up. How has that been going?

FG: It’s been going extremely well. The demographic make-up of this city and indeed across the UK could be very different from when my father [Billy Graham] was here 60 or 70 years ago. And there’s a complete recent group of churches which might be evangelical, excited and soul-winning. Almost 500 local churches are involved on this event and so they’re participating on a level that we have not seen before. It’s incredible.

CT: What do you wish for Saturday’s event?

FG: I need people to listen to and understand that God loves them and that Jesus Christ shed his blood and died for our sins, but was raised to life on the third day and if we put our faith and trust in Him, God will forgive our sins and cleanse us and provides to us the gift of everlasting life. That’s what I need for one and all that comes; to know God’s love and to experience His forgiveness and to have that hope of everlasting life through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

CT: This isn’t your first UK tour date, it’s a part of an extended ongoing tour. What form of impact are you seeing because the tour has progressed?

FG: Last 12 months and the 12 months before that we were in London and that went extremely well, and we can be there again next 12 months, so it is a constructing process. What we desired to do these previous few years was to take time going to different cities and communities and preaching the Gospel.

It’s one thing to discuss evangelism and it’s one other for somebody to return and see an indication of it – to see the straightforward preaching of the Gospel and an invite being given, and folks getting out of their seats to return forward and confess their sins and put their faith and trust in Christ. My prayer is that there can be young pastors and young men and girls on the market who will see that and get a call of their heart from God that that is what they need to do with their life.

CT: The first time you got here to the UK the reception was hostile, quite a lot of venues cancelled your bookings, and also you took legal motion which you won. How has the reception been this time, especially from venues?

FG: Well, the hostility was not from the churches, it was from the venues, but all of that has been cleared up. We’ve got relationship with the venues and I believe God has used all of that to offer publicity and to encourage people to wish, and that is so essential. People began to wish and we have seen God work out every venue and each problem, and all those things have been rectified. So we’re excited to be here.

CT: What keeps you coming to the UK? What needs do you see here?

FG: First of all, the UK has had a big impact on my country. So many pastors and missionaries got here from this country to the United States, so I feel that we now have an obligation to take a position on this country the best way that it invested in us. And every generation is recent and changes, and needs to be evangelized. The UK has seen great cultural and demographic shifts within the last 40 to 50 years so it is important that we establish relationships with the churches to return and stand beside them and help them on this area of evangelism.

CT: So a part of your mission appears to be evangelistic on the one hand, reaching those that aren’t Christian yet, and on the opposite strengthening those which might be?

FG: Well, it’s sharing God’s word with individuals who’ve never heard it. Then, it’s sharing God’s word with individuals who have heard it but have not made a choice. And then it’s encouraging the churches and helping to strengthen them. That’s essential since it is the local churches that do the follow-up and discipleship with the individuals who come forward to make a choice for Christ.

CT: There are big elections coming up on either side of the Atlantic this 12 months and in each the US and the UK there are quite a lot of divisions. What role can Christians play on this critical 12 months?

FG: The very first thing is to wish. Most of the world doesn’t have a likelihood to vote or it will possibly vote however it doesn’t suggest anything because they are not counted. But within the US and UK we now have a possibility to vote and I believe it is important to vote for candidates that best represent Christian values.

We often take into consideration those that are running at the highest of the ticket for president or prime minister, but there are elections further down which might be extremely essential. For example within the US, we will vote for individuals who sit on school boards and I believe those are a few of an important elections. We have seen some terrible shifts in our country because people haven’t been taking note of local school board elections. Christians should run for office and get control of the college boards.

CT: You were a really strong supporter of Trump last time. Will you be voting for him this time?

FG: I used to be strong for his policies but I didn’t campaign for him, not in 2016 or 2020, and this time round we do not know, he may be in prison! The politics in our country is so tousled and it is very concerning but still we want to wish that God’s can be done in leadership, not only within the US but here on this country as well.

CT: There’s quite a lot of upheaval in our world in the meanwhile. What would you say to someone who’s asking ‘where’s God in all this?’

FG: God’s in the identical place He’s all the time been: knocking at the guts of every individual. He wants to return into your heart. When we take a look at all the issues on this planet, we won’t blame God because we turned our backs on God. God continues to be here; we just have not been listening to Him. But He is knocking on the guts of each individual and He desires to are available if we’ll let Him. That’s why we’re here in Birmingham. We’re praying that many individuals will open up their hearts to God.