Over two weekends in June, more than 15,000 people were able to hear Franklin Graham preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ at two of the largest cities in the United Kingdom—Birmingham, England; and Glasgow, Scotland. More U.K. evangelistic events are scheduled for 2025. But only months ago, those opportunities for Gospel proclamation were in doubt because of legal and cultural opposition.

Attempts to shut down BGEA evangelistic events in the U.K. began in 2018, when bus ads promoting a Franklin Graham Festival in Blackpool, England, were removed by local government leaders. The challenges continued in 2020 when seven of eight U.K. venues canceled BGEA events after caving to the demands of left-wing activists.

BGEA challenged those cancellations in court, aiming to preserve the opportunity for Christians to publicly proclaim the Gospel. BGEA eventually prevailed, with each of the legal disputes resolved and around $650,000 in legal costs recouped.

On June 22, while preparing to preach in Glasgow, Franklin announced the creation of the Billy Graham Defense Fund, designed to “encourage Christians across the U.K. to keep living out and sharing their faith freely and boldly,” he said.

“We’re going to use these funds that came from this battle against cancel culture to help other Christians who may be threatened into silence,” Franklin said. “This is a victory, not just for us, but for all Christians and churches across the U.K. 

“There are so many problems in our society, and people are looking for hope. We know that true hope can only be found in Jesus Christ, so we need to support one another in getting the Good News of Jesus Christ out, whatever it takes.”

Cases of religious discrimination in the U.K. are prevalent. For example:

• In recent years, Christians have been harassed, intimidated, arrested and even charged with crimes for merely praying silently near abortion clinics. 

• Late last year, a local politician in North Northamptonshire was arrested at his home for expressing support on social media for a fellow politician who was under fire for calling homosexual “Pride” celebrations sin.

• In 2020, a street preacher was arrested for alleged “homophobia” for proclaiming in public what the Bible says about the eternal fate of the unrepentant, including homosexuals. 

• Numerous teachers who work with children and teenagers have been threatened or fired for refusing to comply with classroom policies or curricula that affirm LGBTQ values that conflict with Scripture.

Justin Arnot, BGEA’s general counsel, said the legal needs of Christians in the U.K. who face prosecution as they seek to live out the Gospel too often go unmet. “The establishment of this fund really reflects Franklin’s heart for the church and for Christianity in the U.K., and it also reflects the love his father had for the country. This is an answer to prayer.” ©2024 BGEA

Above: Franklin Graham preaches at the Lancashire Festival of Hope in Blackpool, England, in September of 2018, after the Blackpool Borough Council and Blackpool Transport Services removed bus signs advertising for the Festival.

Photo: Ron Nickel / ©2018 BGEA