The new moderator of Churches Together Britain and Ireland (CTBI) has said Christians need to find a united prophetic voice to speak out on divisions caused by migration and exclusion.
Rev Dr Adrian Burdon, who took on the role this week, told Premier Christian News that seeking unity between churches and “ensuring that everyone has a place at the table [is] not an optional extra, but the work of the Gospel”.
Having worked in mission in the UK and overseas, Rev Burdon has served as a presbyter in the Methodist Church in Britain since 1988 and is currently based in Telford. He has also chaired the CTBI Week of Prayer for Christian Unity writers group for a decade.
Speaking to Premier after a wave of anti-migrant protests on the south coast, Rev Burdon said CBTI had the opportunity to respond to a growing “militant” and “intimidating” movement by strengthening relationships at a local level.
He said this could help ensure that people are not “pushed to the edge of society”.
Asked whether churches should become involved in debates that are often politically charged, Rev Burdon said: “This is absolutely central, critical work, isn’t it? Reaching out in society, Jesus did it, the raising up of people who were fallen, the people beyond the boundaries. The challenging of the status quo, it’s the stuff of the Gospel.”
He warned that some activists were “bombarding us with less healthy ways of thinking about Christian faith” that focused on marginalising others.
Rev Burdon said people working on CTBI initiatives could themselves be vulnerable, having faced “challenges” from those who reject the church’s involvement in “giving a space to those people who other people would exclude”.
He asked Christians to pray for their “safety and wellbeing”.
“In our minds, it is what Christ would have us do, isn’t it? But other people look at that and say, you shouldn't be doing that. And it can be quite challenging for some of those who are on the front line actually doing that work,” he added.
Drawing on his Methodist background, Rev Burdon encouraged churches to be a “justice-seeking community and being inclusive of all people” within congregations and local communities, and to be aware of how, for example, people with neurodiversities or dementia engage with church.
He also pointed to interfaith work in areas where international conflict had strained relations, particularly Israel and Gaza, and how churches could “seek to build community to support relationships [and] continue exploration of how best to be together as human beings.”
He also said there was scope for churches to continue strengthening relationships with one another, particularly in communities where sectarian divisions have traditionally been strong.
The aim, he said, was to “work together for the common good of the Gospel”.
He was inducted to the board of directors at the Church of Scotland’s New Town Church in Edinburgh, taking over from Rev Cannon Dr Graham Sparkes who had been in post for six years.