American Pastors investigate "Unite the Kingdom"

On May 16th I made the decision to attend the Tommy Robinson's "Unite the Kingdom" march in London, England. What I encountered stirred my heart.

I was already in the UK on a visit with my dear friend and fellow church-planter, Coral, when I heard about the rally. He is an American who moved just outside Birmingham to "reintroduce Christianity to the UK." I don't follow UK politics, but it seemed like this event would be an excellent way to immerse myself and also to perhaps share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with some people who have time on their hands to talk.

We took some time to pray about going. There were concerns of terror attacks and of draconian, anti-free speech enforcement popping up in the UK. We also had warnings from fellow pastors- beware of the racists and rhetoric. But after some praying, we decided to go. What I encountered amazed me.

I have a theory about Western conservatives. In Mark 12, a scribe and Jesus have a conversation about which commandment is the most important. Jesus contends that these are the most important: to recognize that there is one God, to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength," and "love your neighbor as yourself." Remarkably, the scribe completely agrees. And so Jesus says of him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." The was not far from the Kingdom because he recognized the values and principle of the kingdom, even though he did not yet recognize the King. My theory is that Western conservatives are not far from the Kingdom of God.

Lots of Israel and Iranian flags about. Not exactly what you would expect from racists and xenophobes.

Western conservatives have a sense that there is something very wrong with the Western world, and that civilization has departed from something good. They aren't wrong. The evidence is all around them. But, they haven't connected the dots that the greatest aspects of Western civilization are fundamentally built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

One of the foundational principles of Western civilization, the uncompromising drive to know the truth, stems from the values taught by Jesus himself- "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). But we are experiencing truth forsaken. With the lapse of Christianity in Europe, it seems truth has also left the West. Europe has lost grip on even the most basic biological, economic, and governmental truths.

Nietzsche predicted that the Western Enlightenment would eventually undermine Christianity, ethics, and the West itself. "As the will to truth thus gains self-consciousness ― there can be no doubt that morality will gradually perish: this is the great spectacle in a hundred acts reserved for the next two centuries in Europe ― the most terrible, most questionable, and perhaps also the most hopeful of spectacles" (On the Genealogy of Morals 1887). What Nietzsche got right was that morality perished in Europe and there has been a terrible spectacle of it. But what he got wrong was the assumption that Christianity wasn't true, rational, or valuable. Much to the contrary,...

Indeed, some of today's strongest academics are questioning whether there is something deeper to the Christian faith. Perhaps "something did happen" at the resurrection as Tom Holland concluded. Perhaps atheism is actually the absurd faith, as Ayaan Hirsi Ali or Larry Sanger would now contend. But you don't have to write a thesis on fine turning to know it. The evidence of a maladaptive society departing from God is a strong clue. The conservatives stand over the corpse of a great and good society and are analyzing the forensic evidence. It doesn't take much to connect the dots.

By miracle we met this young man at the beginning of our trek to the march. And later somehow we met him again in the middle of it. In the time between our encounters he decided he does believe in God and the resurrection of Christ. We prayed for him to receive salvation on the spot. He asked to be baptized.

The conservatives we met in the march were not far from the Kingdom of God. We spoke openly about God with at least 100 of them. Nearly every one said they didn't believe in God. When we asked why, an equal amount could not give a good reason, but acknowledged that Christianity was good and was missed. When we gave good reasons to believe in God, we easily convinced quite a few. Everyone was receptive to prayer. There was not one person who was repelled by our challenges.

One man who was openly pagan and wearing runes rejected our offer to pray for him. We spoke for another five minutes and began to move on when he stopped us. "Hey, aren't you going to pray for me!?" It was a fast turnover. We ran into another group with a sign that said "Rejoin your local church," but the man holding the sign did not attend a local church. We encouraged him to take his own advice. And we also ran into christians. One young man had been recently baptized. Others carried crosses and Christian flags.

The Gospel was also preached from the stage before the entire crowd. I heard it proclaimed several times and we even enjoyed a worship band. Pastor Steve Maile gave a gospel presentation and led the audience in a prayer of salvation. This was the pastor who was arrested while street preaching at Watford Town Centre back in April- something that should make a patriot of anyone who understands that a christian society (and a civil society) can only exist where there is free speech. Events like these are working like sign posts that England needs to repent. They are clues that are leaving many of the British very close to the Kingdom of God.

After several hours of shoulder to shoulder marching, the crowd was able to spread out and we were able to walk freely. The crowd was massive. I've been in crowds as big as 100,000. This dwarfed those crowds. I would say there were at least 250,000 if not half a million in attendance- at least.

I'm sure there is plenty to be wary about in these types of movements. Despite Prime Minister Keir Starmer's video statement (which featured various video clips of himself an emotional piano ballad) portraying the movement as led by "convicted thugs and racists peddling hatred and division," we did not encounter such hatred, racism and division. In fact my co-pastor was black and didn't even so much as hear a comment. We did encounter one group of young men who could be regarded as such, but they received correction from us. Other than that, this movement seemed to be people genuinely concerned with the state of the nation.

Perhaps the leaders of this movement are inappropriately appealing to Christianity and hijacking Jesus for their cause as I have heard whispers about. But doesn't everyone do this? Don't progressives hijack Jesus when they say He affirmed homosexuality and polyamory? Don't muslims hijack Jesus when they claim He was a muslim who did not die on a Roman crucifix? Do we not bring the gospel to them as well despite their misrepresenting us? Weren't the hippies in the 1970 the most repugnant drug-addicted heathens leading a misguided movement? Yet God worked mightily among that generation.

My conclusion is simple. I have been sharing the Gospel since I was 14 years old. I have never encountered a more open group. In my estimation, the UK is ripe for a revival. Will the church mobilize to bring the Gospel to a fertile soil? Or, will there be fear of being associated with the racists, nationalists, and sinners? Will evangelists and pastors risk their reputations and address the felt need? I pray and I hope that this generation returns to Christ in the UK. If that happens, the people will find their souls restored, and perhaps their nation as well.