We have now entered the new year – but what a year 2024 was!
Critical legal cases were fought in the battle for Christian freedoms, we stood tirelessly for life against abortion and assisted suicide, and we equipped the Church to respond to these challenges and more with courageous faith in Jesus Christ, our true Hope.
Below is just a small amount of what our supporters enabled us to do last year, by the grace of God.
Be sure to join this movement and enable us to do even more together in 2025 by signing up for email updates.
Our clients
Our Christian Legal Centre supported many important and high profile cases last year.
One of the biggest was the Darlington Nurses, who were forced to share a changing room with a man who identifies as a woman. When they complained about his inappropriate behaviour, they were told they needed to be re-educated, to change their mindset and be more ‘inclusive’. Over 49,000 people signed a petition supporting them, leading to meetings with politicians and the real chance to change nation-wide policy.
We continued to support Kristie Higgs as her case was finally heard at the Court of Appeal in October. She lost her job for posting on Facebook her concerns about inappropriate sex education that promoted transgender ideology to young children. The result in her case will be highly significant for free speech, particularly for Christians.
We also helped the family of Sudiksha Thirumalesh, who died in 2023, win their case at the Court of Appeal. In a victory for life, the court overturned a previous judgment that suggested the 19-year-old was delusional and that she shouldn’t be allowed to choose to keep fighting for her life.
The Abbasis and Lanre Haastrup saw their case go to the Supreme Court, seeking to make sure justice in end of life cases is done in the light. Our previous work supporting families in these situations also led to a baby with a heart condition at a Nottingham hospital being flown to the Vatican for continued specialist treatment.
We kept on supporting Bernard Randall who lost his job as a school chaplain and was blacklisted from ministry. He was cleared by the DBS and 40,000 people signed a petition asking the Archbishop of Canterbury to apologise to Bernard and give him his life back.
Social worker Felix Ngole saw partial victory in his free speech case, after losing out on his ‘dream job’ because his would-be employers discovered his Christian beliefs about marriage. We are helping him appeal the controversial ruling which did not properly uphold his freedom.
After losing her job for raising concerns about a child’s gender transitioning, ‘Hannah’s’ legal case went to the Employment Tribunal but was postponed due to the recusal of three panel members to avoid the ‘perception of bias’ – this resulted in one of the Tribunal members being formally rebuked for not declaring bias.
Victoria Culf pursued legal action after she was cancelled and reported to police for questioning in a conversation whether children should take puberty blockers.
Councillor King Lawal was vindicated when the Conservative Party rejected a complaint against his posts challenging the Pride movement, saying ‘Objecting to the Pride movement is not homophobic’.
We also supported education behavioural specialist Gozen Soydag after she was sacked from her role at a Catholic school for social media posts supporting marriage.
Rev. Dr Patrick Pullicino was vindicated by the GMC after being investigated for three years for giving a pro-life medical opinion in a life and death case.
Street preachers Andy Nix, John Dunn, Sean O’Sullivan and Hatun Tash were all vindicated with the support of our team, some of whom were paid settlements by police.
We’ve enabled a group of independent Christian schools, parents and pupils to pursue a judicial review of the government’s VAT policy which will disproportionately affect low-cost Christian schools.
This only scratches the surface; we continued to support theologian Aaron Edwards, teacher Joshua Sutcliffe, actress Seyi Omooba and many more Christians with their cases.
For all this support and more, we never charge a single penny.
Campaigns and politics
Last year, we were hard at work engaging with Parliament and the wider culture to see our nation transformed for the glory of God and the good of all.
We tirelessly campaigned for life, showing through public displays and media commentary that Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill would harm the vulnerable. We particularly engaged the Church, equipping and persuading Christians to play their part in opposing the bill with videos, livestreams and practical resources. Although MPs voted for the bill at its second reading, it was much closer than initially expected and there is a real chance that the bill can be stopped in 2025.
Earlier in the year, we spoke against divisive progress pride flags that promote transgender ideology. A legal challenge we led saw these flags removed from Lewisham Town Hall and we successfully helped supporters challenge the use of these flags around the country.
Ahead of the general election, we provided resources to help people understand the issues of life, family, freedom and our Christian foundations, showing how they are much more fundamental to our nation than many realise. Our videos and articles analysing parties’ manifestos were widely watched and read, helping people decide how to use their vote.
Christian Concern stood for unborn life by speaking up against abortion ‘safe access zones’ and organising a large pro-life rally outside parliament that protested attempts to legalise abortion up to birth by decriminalising abortion.
We also highlighted how Christians now risk being deemed ‘extremist’ under the government’s definition of ‘extremism’ and exposed how the proposed ‘Islamophobia’ definition targets free speech and is in conflict with the Equality Act.
With the support of Christian Concern, Christian parents Nigel and Sally Rowe urged the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to scrap the church’s dangerous transgender affirming guidance for socially ‘transitioning’ children that is used in thousands of schools.
Our consistent stand against a ‘conversion therapy’ ban continued as we demonstrated how several different proposals in Westminster and Holyrood were egregious attacks on free speech, banning legitimate conversations and prayer.
Equipping and mobilising
A crucial part of our work is equipping the Church to believe wholeheartedly that Jesus Christ is good news not just for individuals but for our nation, and to act on that glorious truth.
In 2024, we spoke at and organised many events designed to train, equip and encourage church leaders, our supporters and the next generation of Christians. We hosted our annual training week for young adults, Wilberforce Academy 2024, as well as the second Wilberforce Academy in South Africa.
Christian Concern hosted conferences across the UK. Our inaugural Education Revolution conference in March was deeply encouraging, outselling its original venue.
Members of the Christian Concern team also spoke at many other events and rallies, both here on our home turf and overseas. One of the most significant of these was the South Korean rally Andrea Williams spoke at, ‘Happy Families. Holy Nation’, that saw over 1 million gather for Christian values. Christians around the world are seeing our work and being inspired to stand in their own countries.
We also exhibited at various conferences and festivals throughout the UK and were able to raise awareness about the key issues facing Christians as well as promote the mission of Christian Concern.
Our online resources tackled many of the key issues in our culture, equipped Christians to respond to proposed legislation, and encouraged churches to engage in society and speak up for the truth of God’s word.
And the numbers of people receiving and reading our emails, including Christian Weekly News, grew significantly, equipping Christians to bring the change our nation needs.
Bringing hope in 2025
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Let’s make 2025 even more fruitful, together.
