Thousands of Christians have taken to the streets of Belfast proclaiming Jesus is King.
On Saturday, an estimated crowd of nearly 10,000 marched to Belfast City Hall in what was described as a “large-scale, non-political, family-friendly public event celebrating the Christian faith”.
Pastor John Ahern from All Nations Church in Dublin, one of the organisers behind the event, said it aimed to publicly “lift up the name of Jesus Christ and to give him the honour that belongs to him as God”.
Pastor Ahern said that the march served as “a call to our generation to come back to Christ and to embrace the love and forgiveness and freedom that is found in him and him alone”.
He added: “There’s many things that divides us, but there’s one person that unites us and that is Jesus Christ our Lord.”
David McClay, Church of Ireland Bishop of Down and Dromore, said he attended the march “because I am longing to see God move—right across Europe actually—and right across Ireland”.
Participant Deborah McCracken from Ballymena, told the BBC: “We’re all here in unity to celebrate Jesus and to let people know that he is the hope of the world.
“Jesus changed my life and I believe he can change the trajectory of what this nation stands for.”
Another marcher stated: “At a time like this there’s a lot of darkness, in Jesus there’s the light, there’s the hope, there’s salvation.”
Thousands attend 'March for Jesus' in Belfast: Organiser Pastor John Ahern of All Nations Church in Dublin says today's gathering is significant, and that "the answer to society's problems is not going to come through politics or philosophy or ideology." pic.twitter.com/XMUyjrar1u
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A new study from the Evangelical Alliance (EA) explores what Evangelicals think about their place in British society. ‘Confident faith, contested culture’ reported widespread confidence in the legal rights and freedoms enjoyed by Christians, but warned of growing concern over the “relational, cultural and reputational” cost believers face.
The EA said that over 88 per cent of respondents felt they could “freely live out their faith”.
However, almost half indicated that “it has become harder to practise their faith publicly in the past five years” and felt that it is increasingly difficult “for Christians serving in public life”.
The EA’s Director of Advocacy, Danny Webster, stated: “Evangelicals in the UK have considerable freedom to practise their faith, and to practise it in public. Whether that’s meeting to worship without fear of reprisals, or preaching in the street, or talking about your beliefs at work, the freedom of Christians is real, meaningful and worthy of gratitude.”
Today, some Bible-believing Christians have grown uncomfortable with describing themselves as Evangelical. They may feel it has been politicised or become synonymous with a lack of doctrinal robustness. Or they may conclude that it is now claimed or applied too broadly to be meaningful, extending to people whose lifestyles are inconsistent with biblical ethics.
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