Church banned from Freshers’ Fair successfully challenges ‘discriminatory’ policy

A church that was banned from a university’s freshers event has successfully defended its right to book a stall there, following an intervention from The Christian Institute.

Grace Church Greenwich had been attempting to reserve a place at Goldsmiths University’s Freshers’ Fair, but were told by Native – the external company responsible for the booking process – that “due to a recent update in our company policy, we are no longer able to facilitate bookings for religious groups at these events”.

Good News for Everyone, formerly GideonsUK, reportedly experienced similar problems at multiple universities around the UK.

Restrictions on Christian teaching

The church has paid for a stall at local freshers’ fairs for several years, with the aim of connecting with Christians and interested unbelievers alike as they start university, offering them free coffee and speaking about Jesus.

Minister Andrew Sach said: “Some of these campuses have no Christian Union, so stalls like ours are the only gospel witness to the thousands of students who attend.”

Following the rejected booking, Sach responded to Native, explaining that the policy could constitute unlawful discrimination, but the company maintained its position.

It said religiously-affiliated groups working on secular initiatives would be permitted, but that it could not support “campaigns that explicitly promote specific religious teachings”.

Speaking to Evangelicals Now, Sach commented: “So it’s okay to be there as a Christian organisation as long as we don’t do or say Christian things?”

Policy suspended

Grace Church contacted The Christian Institute for assistance, and the CI’s In-house Solicitor Sam Webster, sent Native a formal letter which argued that its actions constituted “direct discrimination on grounds of religion or belief contrary to sections 13 and 29 of the Equality Act 2010”.

He argued that both Grace Church and Good News for Everyone “have grounds for a claim under the Act”, but that legal action could be avoided if Native agrees to allow all future bookings from Grace Church and other religious groups.

Following the letter, the company suspended its policy of restricting bookings from religious organisations with immediate effect, but did not make any admission of liability. As a result, both Grace Church and Good News for Everyone are now in the process of booking their Freshers’ Fair stall for September 2026.

Sach said he was sharing the church’s story, “to encourage other churches to stand up for the religious freedoms that we currently enjoy under UK law if you find yourselves denied a platform on similar grounds”.

He also hoped the outcome would “draw attention to the excellent work of The Christian Institute, to whom we are full of gratitude”, and would prompt people “to give praise to God for keeping the door open for the message of the gospel. We pray that next autumn many freshers would hear of Jesus”.