Silver Jubilee brings humanitarians together.

On Tuesday 16th June, the Conservative Christian Fellowship celebrated their silver Jubilee.  Guest speakers included: Dave Burrowes MP Political Secretary of CCF, David Urqhart Bishop of Birmingham, and Canon Andrew White aka the vicar of Baghdad.

The meeting was interspersed with some wonderful worship, including performances by Chen Wang, Noel Robinson, Dave Bilbrough and Trinity Baptist Choir (West Norwood).  

Our Chairman Wilson Chowdhry, who was invited in his capacity as leader of the British Pakistani Christian Association, was surprised to be invited since he follows his convictions at any given time and does not confine himself to party politics.  However, he was extremely pleased to see how the CCF were working towards bringing Kingdom values to UK politics and that groups such as Christians on the Left, an equally strong campaigner for Christian values in politics, were celebrating 50 years of operation during a video recording and message from Stephen Timms.

In his key note speech Canon Andrew White, spoke of his work in Iraq and gifted a wooden cross made by the Iraqi children to Tim Montgomerie the founder of the CCF. He spoke of three young canons who started off on their journey at the same time; Justin Welby, David Urqhart and he.  One became Archbishop of Canterbury, the other Bishop of Birmingham and he became vicar of Baghdad.  In jocular fashion he asked a rhetorical question to the audience, which role would you prefer?  The audience laughed but you could feel the deep contemplation and huge respect they all had for a man whose sacrifice upheld his stature as one of the most loved Christians of our time.  

Canon Andrew White was selling his books at the end of the event and Wilson Chowdhry bought one.  He asked Canon Andrew what he felt about churches in Pakistan being armed with gunmen to prevent the killing of innocent parishioners.  He described the recent attack on a church in Lahore at which young Christian men limited the fatalities to 29 by stopping bombers at the gates of the church.  Wilson suggested armed security men could have stopped the bombers at a distance saving even more lives.

Canon Andrew White suggested any gunmen deployed should be military men, trained professionals that could safely stop the terrorists from a distance.  When Wilson explained that the government and authorities in Pakistan were insouciant to the concerns of the victims and often complicit, Canon Andrew White shared a knowing look and smiled.

Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, said:

“It is essential that Christians enter into the world of politics and champion Kingdom Values and for that I am grateful for groups such as Christians on the left and Conservative Christian Fellowship.  I pray that groups such as these with a strong prayer and scriptural backing will prevent our Christian politicians falling prey to the corrupting influence of wealth, power and authority.”

He added:

“Meeting with Canon Andrew White for me was a real blessing and spiritually uplifting.  His personal sacrifice for Christians in the Middle East is humbling, and his passion for God something to aim for. I will relish reading his book which I will do with great fervour and will keep his ministry in my prayers.”

Wilson Chowdhry and Chen Wang