I am profoundly grateful for the Christian values that were nurtured in me as I was growing up. At the time, I didn’t always see it as a gift. As a child, being part of “the religious family” sometimes felt like a burden — there were Sundays when I would have much preferred not to be in church twice, sometimes even three times. But now, with the gift of hindsight, I can see what a foundation was being laid for me. From an early age I was taught not just what Christianity is, but also what it is not.
That grounding has stayed with me. It helps me recognise the difference between faithfully contending for the Christian faith and being drawn into a political project that claims to defend “Christian values” but, when you look more closely, often distorts them. Whenever so-called Christian values are reduced to fear of the “other,” hostility towards the outsider, or an obsession with defending our own tribe, we have moved far from the gospel that Jesus proclaimed — a gospel of grace, love, and welcome.
My own political leanings have never been a secret, and over the years I have tried to live with integrity about them. But I have also been careful, in my role as a pastor and preacher, never to use the pulpit to tell people which party they should vote for. That is not my calling.
And yet, there are times when Christian leaders must speak plainly — not to direct people toward one political party, but to help them discern when an ideology runs contrary to the gospel itself. I believe we are approaching such a time. Over the coming months, I will not apologise for urging us all to weigh carefully any movement that trades in fear, division, and resentment. We must measure everything — including our politics — against the teaching and life of Jesus Christ.
For at the heart of our faith is the cross: the place where Jesus gave himself, bearing the weight of our sin and shame, so that every single person — every neighbour, every stranger, every so-called “other” — might be restored to dignity as someone made in the image of God. That is the hope we carry, the good news we proclaim, and the calling we share: to love as we have been loved, to welcome as we have been welcomed, and to bear witness to a kingdom where grace is stronger than fear and where Christ is Lord of all.
