Andrea Williams reflects on her visit to Colombia, Christian Concern’s longstanding partnership there, and the importance of equipping Christians to shape their nation for Christ
I have returned from Colombia with a heart full of gratitude—and a renewed sense of urgency.
During the past week, I met members of the new cabinet of the new president President of Colombia Abelardo de la Espriella. I met with cabinet ministers, senior politicians and leaders of the Capital Bogotá’s City Council.
Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office on 7 August 2026, succeeding the highly progressive former president Gustavo Petro. The new generation of politicians in power are the new radicals prepared to speak openly about their faith in Jesus Christ and their desire to serve their country in accordance with his truth.
It’s a different world. Wherever I went we spoke about protecting life and personhood from the moment of conception, strengthening families, integrity in public life and the freedom to live and speak as Christians.
For someone who has spent so many years seeing Christian truth trampled on, sneered at in British public life, these conversations were deeply moving. There was an openness to hear what has happened in the United Kingdom, to learn from our battles and to consider how Colombia will now take a different course.
I came with encouragement. I also came with a warning: do not assume that what you cherish today will still be there tomorrow.
Years of faithful partnership
Christian Concern’s involvement in Colombia is part of the global movement we are building. This has come about by God’s leading as we have responded to those who have reached out to us for help over the years.
We now have an established Christian Concern Colombia team which is vocal and visible at the heart of public life in Colombia. I am blown away when I go there and witness it.
We come alongside them with the experience we have gained through our legal cases, public policy work, communications and efforts to equip the Church.
In 2019, after visiting Colombia I wrote about gathering with Colombian pastors, lawyers, educators and people working in politics and the media. Even then, there was a determination to build a coordinated Christian response to the pressures facing their nation.
Those relationships have continued to grow.
Last year, I toured with Christian Concern Colombia; a five-city tour at which thousands attended. The purpose was to awaken the Church to ahead of this year’s elections where there was a clear choice for the country – to choose a hard secular progressive agenda, or to choose one where hundreds of candidates were exalting Christ.
Last year I also had the privilege of addressing a gathering convened by pro-life members of Colombia’s Congress, bringing the warning of what happens when a nation turns away from God’s good purposes. Just imagine, being so prolife on the floor of the equivalent of the House of Commons, invited there by members of the house.
We cannot measure the outcome of years of Christian witness simply in votes, nor claim an election result as our achievement. But we can thank God for answering our prayers and for being witness to a miracle because that is what I believe we are part of in Colombia.
The warning Britain has brought to Colombia
My warning to Colombia comes from experience.
In Britain, we have seen how quickly institutions can become hostile to the Christian convictions that helped to shape them. Through our Christian Legal Centre, we stand beside people who have faced investigation, disciplinary proceedings or the loss of their livelihoods for expressing and living out their faith.
Behind every case is a person, a family and often years of costly struggle.
That experience gives weight to what we share overseas. We know what it means to defend Christian freedom when the pressure has already reached the classroom, the hospital ward or the workplace.
My plea to our Colombian friends is to act while there is opportunity. Teach the next generation why human life is precious. Help parents and teachers explain God’s purposes for marriage and family. Equip lawyers to recognise threats to freedom. Encourage Christians in public office to serve with honesty, competence and courage and to speak of Christ and His pattern without fear or shame.
This change of government in Colombia brings opportunities. It’s not a moment to relax but rather a moment to take back the ground for God’s perfect purposes – his good structures for governance and public life. Leaders need prayer, wise counsel and accountability. Churches need to keep teaching. Families need support. Young people need a foundation strong enough to withstand the ideas competing for their allegiance.
The Wilberforce vision
This is why the Wilberforce Academy matters so much and why I was so excited to be present to provide the keynote presentations at this year’s Wilberforce Academy Colombia 2026.
Through the Academy, we equip young Christians to understand how their faith shapes their work and responsibilities. Whether they enter law, medicine, education, politics, business, media or the arts, we want them to serve Christ thoughtfully and faithfully.
The Wilberforce Collective sustains that vision through a community committed to seeing society transformed by Jesus.
Its relevance reaches far beyond Britain. In September last year, Colombian delegates joined Christian leaders from other nations at our international symposium in London. They learned from our legal work, shared the pressures facing their own countries and explored how Christians can respond together.
The influence grows through teaching, relationships and example: helping Christians recognise that their vocation is a place of service to God and their neighbour.
What I saw in Colombia renewed my conviction that we must keep investing in that work. A nation needs Christians prepared for years of faithful service – in ordinary workplaces as well as positions of public responsibility.
The heart of it all
One encounter during the visit brought everything back to its foundation.
A senator invited me to speak at her church. Only about an hour before I stood up did I discover that I would be addressing 2,000 young people.
As I spoke, I was overwhelmed afresh by the love of our Father: the God who knows us completely, who entered our world and gave his Son for us.
Afterwards, the pastor invited people to give their lives to Jesus. Ninety responded.
That is why I get up in the morning. I long for people to know Jesus, to receive his forgiveness and to discover the life for which he made them.
That same love compels our work for justice, our defence of Christian freedom and our desire to see children and families flourish.
Please pray for our Colombian team, for those serving in government and for the young people beginning to understand their calling. Pray that this moment of opportunity will bear lasting fruit.
And pray for us here in Britain, that we will persevere with the same faith and courage we seek to encourage in others.
I believe in miracles. I’ve just been living in one in Colombia. God bless Colombia and thank you Jesus for the privilege of a life and ministry that serves this nation. I believe that if she remains faithful Colombia will rise in Latin America; that we will see a ‘city on the hill’ – an end to the dominance of drug cartels and corruption and the rise of a nation that loves Christ, pursues holiness, and lives in prosperity and all the blessings that flow from him.
