A new Gospel Coalition for the UK and Ireland could help those with ‘broadly Reformed and complementarian convictions’ develop ‘new and dynamic partnerships,’ Affinity’s Graham Nicholls says.
Speaking to en, and in the wake of the most recent meeting of the advisory council of Affinity – an evangelical umbrella group uniting 1,200 evangelical churches and organisations which succeeded the old British Evangelical Council founded by Martyn Lloyd-Jones – Nicholls said no other organisation was quite filling that gap at the moment.
He told en: ‘We want to preserve the long-term and precious unity in diversity that we have built within Affinity, as well as the good work for the gospel and the goodwill shared with our partners, members, and supporters.
‘At the same time, we believe there is value in moving forward to seek the formation of The Gospel Coalition (TGC), covering the UK and Ireland, united around TGC’s gospel confessional statements and sharing resources and experiences from TGC globally. Affinity aims to be a constructive participant in this process, supporting it as a complementary organisation.
‘Some might ask “do we really need another Christian organisation?”. I would answer, no we do not! The local church is the only essential Christian organisation and the primary agent for evangelism and discipleship. All other bodies whether denominations, networks, mission agencies or publishers are optional and should only be maintained in order to serve the local church in its mission.
‘However, we do firmly believe there is an opportunity for TGC-UK & Ireland to develop new and dynamic partnerships amongst believers with broadly Reformed and complementarian convictions which we do not believe any other organisation is doing at present.’
A press release from Affinity said there had been a ‘fruitful discussion and decision about plans to support the forming of The Gospel Coalition in the UK and Ireland (TGC-UK & Ireland),’ adding that ‘there was also a stimulating presentation from James Robson from Oak Hill about the state of training for leadership and pastoral ministry, and from Simon Calvert from the Christian Institute about the principles of government and some of the issues with the new Labour government and how best for ordinary Christians to engage with politicians.’
Affinity says it is gathering together a ‘founding group to seek God’s help, and hear from each other about what would bring blessing to UK and Ireland churches, to listen to counsel from each other and to enter deeper dialogue with TGC leadership.
Affinity’s announcement attracted some criticism on social media platform x.com (formerly Twitter), with one contributor, Peter Byrom, stating: ‘Give all the lip service you want to “prayer” and “God’s guidance”, but this smacks of having had the end in mind from the outset. At a time when UK ConEvangelicalism (sic) has been diagnosed as “a culture of fear” you seek to import the equivalent from the US. You get no support from me.’
But other online writers have been more supportive, with blogger ‘Adsum Try Ravenhill’ at The Raven’s Writing desk saying earlier this year: ‘If you’ve written off working with TGC(UK) because of what has gone before, you’re all but condemning the future of the organisation to continue down a path you wish it wouldn’t...
‘You can choose to stand against that, or join in order to try and pursue unity here in the UK, and perhaps even nudge them in the right direction from time to time.’
