Update on Affinity and The Gospel Coalition UK

On Tuesday, 9 July 2024, Affinity invited a number of key evangelical leaders to come together to discuss and pray about whether further steps should be taken to launch The Gospel Coalition UK. This follows a statement in April from Affinity and numerous one-to-one consultations within and beyond Affinity members, Council, and Trustees. Notably, well over half of those attending were from outside the current Affinity network.

The meeting was led by Graham Nicholls, Director of Affinity, who set out a vision for a UK version of The Gospel Coalition. There was also a video from Tim Savage, the International Director of The Gospel Coalition, emphasising the need to focus on working together for the gospel – the only hope for our broken world – and noting the spiritual hunger across Europe, particularly among young people.

A healthy discussion and debate ensued on the pros and cons of TGC-UK, followed by an opportunity to pray together for wisdom and for our nation at this time of a new government.

The conclusion of the meeting was that the overwhelming majority of those gathered wanted to invite Affinity to do further work towards establishing The Gospel Coalition UK while recognising some of the risks and limitations and of course subject to the agreement of TGC in the USA.

Graham Nicholls from Affinity commented, ‘We give thanks to God for a constructive meeting. Our humble prayer and desire is that this can in some small way support the gospel mission of the church in the UK to make and teach disciples for the glory of Christ.’

Anyone who would like to contribute to the ongoing discussions is invited to contact Affinity.

Further details will be shared in a special edition of the Affinity Talks Gospel podcast on Friday, 19th July.