Businessman and peer Lord Edmiston reflects on faith, stewardship and global mission

British businessman and peer Lord Robert Edmiston has spoken about using wealth, influence and recent technology within the service of Christian mission, saying evangelism has remained the central focus of his private and non-private life.

In a recent episode of Evangelical 360, hosted by Brian Stiller, Lord Edmiston and his wife, Lady Tracie Edmiston, discussed how their faith has shaped their involvement in business, politics, charitable giving and global outreach.

Lord Edmiston, who is thought within the UK for his work as an entrepreneur, philanthropist and member of the House of Lords, said his Christian faith began in his teenage years after receiving an invite to church through his letterbox.

He described that moment as life-changing and said it redirected the course of his life after what he characterised as a troubled and rebellious youth.

Although Edmiston said he believed, after receiving what he understood as a word from God in his youth, that he was being called to function a missionary in Africa, his life unfolded in another way.

Rather than going overseas in that role, he went into business and later got here to see that his success had enabled him to advance the work of mission in one other way – by funding, supporting and sending others to share the gospel on a big scale around the globe.

During the interview, he reflected on the early struggles of his working life, including balancing family responsibilities, night study and multiple jobs while training as an accountant.

“But even in that crisis, God had a plan,” he remarked.

He later rose through the motor industry and went on to construct a business that, he said, enabled him to support missionary activity on a much wider scale than he had first imagined.

Lady Edmiston said that sense of purpose regularly shaped the couple’s vision for ministry.

She recalled helping to ascertain Christian Vision, the organisation they founded, after sensing through the guidance of the Holy Spirit a must support evangelism at scale, particularly in places and contexts where churches or other ministries couldn’t easily operate alone.

She said the ministry aimed to not duplicate existing efforts, but to discern where God was leading them to serve in ways that would strengthen Christian witness through modern methods and media.

Over time, that strategy developed from shortwave radio into digital outreach, social media and emerging technologies.

Lord Edmiston said certainly one of the guiding principles behind their giving has been obedience to the gospel mandate to evangelise Christ, quite than attachment to wealth itself.

On wealth, he said: “I never made it my god … and I believe that is a test God gives you … we must always all honour God with our wealth, whether it’s big or small … and it’s God that offers us the ability to create wealth anyhow.”

He continued: “If we’re following Jesus, that is His command, so we can’t be improper saying we will deal with evangelism … And I knew that that was what God wanted us to do. So as soon as I got control of the business, I knew to whom much is given, much is anticipated.”

He argued that generosity should flow from love and gratitude to God quite than mere duty and said this conviction has shaped how he thinks about philanthropy.

“He loves a cheerful giver and if our heart is stuffed with gratitude to Him, then it is a blessing when you may give that way,” he highlighted.

He added: “I believe we’re faced with the alternatives in life, what we do with our life. At the top of the day, all of us stand before God and need to answer for what we have done with the things He’s given us, just like the servants, you already know, who got the abilities.

“And I’m very aware of my very own mortality, particularly as I become old. And the things that I presently possess have little intending to me because we’re all after what we’ve not got. But still, there’s something missing should you do not have God.

“Billy Graham, I believe, put it this manner, ‘Within all and sundry there’s … a god-shaped void inside us and only God can fulfil that.’ So, if you think nobody can look into the face of Jesus and say the value is just too high because He paid the last word price. So, it’s only a pleasure for us to have the ability to present to Him.”

The couple explained that their organisation has increasingly focused on reaching people in places where access to churches or Christian teaching is proscribed.

This includes work in countries with restricted religious freedom, in addition to online communities where traditional types of outreach could also be less effective.

They said digital media has created recent opportunities to have interaction individuals with Christian content, measure response and develop long-term “faith journeys” quite than simply counting one-time interactions.

Lady Edmiston noted that this has also opened up recent types of collaboration with other ministries in search of to grasp how people move towards faith in several cultural settings.

Lord Edmiston said the aim just isn’t to construct a personal empire or create dependency, but to serve the broader Church and strengthen the dominion of God.

Where possible, he said, people responding to Christian outreach must be connected to local churches, though in some settings digital communities would be the only realistic option.

Reflecting on the state of the world, Lord Edmiston acknowledged the discouragement many Christians feel within the face of political upheaval, conflict and cultural change.

Even so, he said he stays hopeful, pointing to signs of renewed spiritual interest amongst younger generations and to the unprecedented reach offered by digital communication.

He said Christians should remain attentive to how God could also be working even in periods of instability, adding that modern communications technology now offers possibilities for global evangelism that previous generations could scarcely have imagined.

He explained: “Jesus has the clue; the Holy Spirit has the clue to how we must always do things. We can just follow him. We cannot push it ahead at a rate beyond which he’s working … unless the Lord construct the home we labour in vain. So, we want to work with him … We need to look beyond the situation to God who’s above and beyond all those situations … There’s so many issues and we’re only a bit of a part of the cog. God’s using the church.”

Lord Edmiston has also been involved within the Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer project.

Construction on the landmark was scheduled to start in November 2025 after its initial £40 million fundraising goal was met.

The land was given by IM Properties, the Midlands-based company owned by Lord Edmiston, which also made a major financial contribution towards the construct.

Explaining the vision behind the project, he shared: “It is a testament to present and future generations of the creator of the universe who has answered quite a few prayers over centuries past and still is answering them today. If we don’t remember the God who stood by us in our darkest hours as a nation, then we’re condemned to have a future absent of his divine guidance and protection.”

The monument is anticipated to open to the general public in 2028.

Lord Edmiston concluded within the Evangelical 360 episode: “Everything we’ve got, we give away. And if we have a project, we’ll give it away to someone who can do it higher than us. There’s no tribalism here. I’m not attempting to construct a neighborhood church. What we’re doing is attempting to construct the dominion of God.”