In recent days, many Christian leaders have lamented the darkness we witnessed in Parliament with the so-called “Week of Death,” with MPs voting in favour of abortion as much as birth and assisted suicide. Such moments stir grief and urgency within the hearts of many. But these policies weren’t unexpected. They are the fruit of seeds sown over a long time.
It’s price reflecting, not in accusation, but in honesty: Were we, the Church, watchful within the months and years leading as much as this? Did we speak with clarity and consistency on the worth of life, on the sanctity of God’s image in every human being? Did we provide truth in addition to love and hope?
At Christian Concern, we’ve been calling attention to those issues knowing that faithfulness to Christ includes standing for truth in the general public square. Before the recent votes, there have been opportunities for the Church to interact more actively. With greater unity and resolve, perhaps the consequence might have been different. Not all churches disengaged, but many struggled to prioritise these matters as central to gospel witness.
To those asking “What now?” we provide this invitation: let’s talk. Let’s work together. For a long time, we and others have sought to serve the Church in chatting with culture with compassion and courage. What we regularly lack just isn’t conviction, but resource and a Church fully engaged and united in purpose.
My own journey began as a young barrister in 1988. I loved sharing Jesus, hosting carol services, leading evangelistic efforts. But as I stepped into the legal world, I started to see laws shaping culture in ways in which deeply contradicted God’s truth. Speaking concerning the sanctity of life, family, and freedom to talk the gospel often brought resistance, not only from culture, but sometimes and more painfully from inside the Church.
Words like “passionate,” “shrill,” or “divisive” were sometimes used to explain this sort of public witness. Yet over time, it’s grow to be clearer to many who these weren’t fringe concerns. They were, and are, gospel issues.
We now live in a moment where unborn children could also be denied protection as much as the purpose of birth. Where the elderly, vulnerable, and mentally broken are in danger, not of care, but of being offered death as dignity. We must ask ourselves again: how did we get here?
Too often, we’ve declared vital issues as “secondary” or “too divisive,” and stayed silent. But when culture redefines life, family, and truth itself, these should not distractions from the gospel they’re opportunities to proclaim it more fully.
Is it a coincidence that this ‘Quiet Revival’ has taken hold at the identical time that public figures, often outside the Church, have spoken clearly about moral and social issues? When the goodness and wisdom of Jesus Christ’s ways are publicly proclaimed – even on contentious issues – it sets the national mood and temperature. That’s what makes abnormal people reconsider Christianity as a viable option.
All this time, the Church’s silence has not produced salvation. Our culture has not softened toward the Church. Instead, the worldview shaping our society has hardened, leaving generations uncertain of their value, their identity, even their humanity.
And then, only one week after Parliament voted to strip protections from the unborn and the vulnerable, many gathered again for the Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast. It looked like an incredible event and I actually have immense respect for a lot of people who I saw attended and spoke. But it also gave the impression to be ‘business as usual’. Speeches got, prayers said, dignitaries applauded.
My immediate response: where was the general public repentance?
Where was the national lament for what had just taken place in that very constructing? There must have been weeping. There must have been deep soul-searching. A national challenge to the Church and people governing us to show back to Christ and his ways.
Instead, Zöe Franklin, a Liberal Democrat MP who voted for each abortion decriminalisation and assisted suicide the previous week, led the gathering in prayers. With no hint of irony, she prayed that those there would “seek to treat all individuals with the dignity and price that they’ve as individuals made in [God’s] image”.
How can a Christian witness in Parliament be taken seriously when the leaders of prayer are self-professed Christians who voted for death the very week before?
And yet there may be hope.
A latest generation is rising, eager for truth that is sensible of all the things. They hunger for justice, for clarity, for Jesus. And they’re asking: Why did nobody ever tell me this? They should not afraid to call for a Moral Reformation.
They see that protecting life within the womb, honouring God’s design for family, and defending the vulnerable should not fringe concerns, they’re at the guts of loving our neighbour and honouring our Creator.
The Church has not failed because Christ has failed; He never will. But we’ve, at times, lost our prophetic voice. We’ve traded courage for comfort. We’ve chosen acceptance over righteousness. And now, as in the times of Jeremiah, we must recognise that God is asking us not simply to worship within the temple, but to weep over the state of our land.
This is a call to awaken, to not despair, but to rise with conviction, repentance, and purpose. Jesus Christ, the Lion and the Lamb, just isn’t a muted saviour. He reigns in righteousness. And He calls us to proclaim His truth without compromise.
To those that caution against being “too political,” we are saying this: Jesus is Lord of all, including the political. He shapes nations and defines eternity. And His truth should be spoken in every sphere, irrespective of the fee.
The ground is indeed shaking but King Jesus is our Rock.
Now is the time to lift our heads. Now is the time to open our mouths. Now is the time to be brave.
Church: Awake. Arise. The hour is late. But our God is rarely late.
Andrea Williams is chief executive of Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre.
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