We celebrated our 170th anniversary as an Evangelical Alliance in mid-August and not surprisingly we will be holding a massive birthday party in London in mid-November. We have much to be thankful for and much to celebrate from the launch of Tearfund (which does an amazing work with the poor) to our continuing stress on the beauty and joy of ethnic diversity. As current general director Steve Clifford says: “We exist to serve the church across the United Kingdom, a church that we’re convinced is far more effective when united in one mission. We’re about unity, we’re about advocacy and we’re about mission. Put these together and it sees the church working to see spiritual, social and physical transformation across our country.”

And a key to the Alliance’s success has been its continued release of engaging and helpful publications, ranging from its regular magazine IDEA to its more focused attention on issues of national and international importance. I was discussing one of these earlier this week with a pastor whose church engages in a lot of what used to be called open air work, that is he and his church do a lot of their work outside their church walls (sounds a little bit like the church of the New Testament to me!). And he was stressing how helpful one of our latest publications have proved for him and his church. Entitled ‘Speak UP,’ it offers a wide-ranging and very helpful guide to the law and current ‘Gospel Freedoms’ answering such questions as ‘What does the law say about sharing the gospel in work,’ ‘What do we know about our advertising and the printed materials we use?’ and ‘What can I say on social media?’

These are important questions and we need to know our rights if we want to share our faith confidently in our increasingly secular ‘Don’t do God’ culture. More than that though, we need to be reminded that for all our failings we live in a highly tolerant society and still enjoy the benefits of our hard won freedoms. A fresh look at our chequered history not least under the Tudors and Stuarts will rapidly show us that. As the booklet rightly says: “Evangelism is not a problem for our society it is a sign of its health and freedom, it should be celebrated not denigrated.”

But we need to be wise of course. We do well to respect the views, the feelings and the background of those with whom we would share our faith. A parent who has recently lost a child may well not want us talking about an all loving all powerful God when they are in the depths of despair. And a devout Muslim may well be offended by our emphasis on the uniqueness and finality of Jesus. And we do well to remember that ‘most of Jesus’ hard words were reserved for the hypocritical religious hierarchy.’

Having said that though, we must never forget that the Christian message has always been, and will always be offensive to some people and some cultures because it asserts that the story of Jesus is no fairy tale and must not be confined the Christian ghetto. For if the Christian claim is true, he is a challenge to us all whoever we are and, if need be, whatever the law might say.

Rob James is a Baptist Pastor broadcaster and writer who currently operates as a church and media consultant for the Evangelical Alliance Wales. He is available for preaching and teaching throughout Wales and can be contacted at [email protected]