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It is obvious that there is a lot of anger and fear around that is contributing an increase polarisation. As a follower of Jesus, I feel compelled to respond by seek to bring healing into the current epidemic of hurt and pain. I therefore offer a few thoughts that I hope you find helpful.

Firstly, let us not make individuals representative of a whole community. A Sikh criminal doesn’t mean all Sikhs are criminals. A single terrorist who claims to be a Muslim doesn’t mean that all Muslims are out to undermine society. An individual with Autism who does something evil doesn’t mean we have to be cautious of all who are Autistic. The list goes on. If someone from your community did something horrendous you wouldn’t want others to feel that you are somehow to blame or even feel you have to apologies and distance yourself from someone you do not know and have not even met. Don’t treat others differently than you would want to be treated.

Secondly, let us seek to continually seek to be looking for truth behind sensational headlines. Awful things happen in the world, in our nation and in our town. It is the result of the fall. We need to join our God in lamenting the state of the world, the state of our nation. It is not how God intended to be, it is not how it will be in the future because God is bringing in a new heaven and a new earth where there will be no more crying, no more pain, no more tears, he will make all things new. The awful things are done not just by one type of person, not just by immigrants or ethnic minorities but by all sorts of people, even by people like you and I. However, the crimes of some sections of our communities are given greater profile than others. This can give a distorted view. Let us not fall for it, let us not magnify the crimes of one section of society over others.

Let us join with God in bringing in His new kingdom, by reaching out to others who are different from ourslves, showing solidarity with others, those who feel unsafe and unwelcome because of the actions of people they have nothing to do with.

Tony Thompson

Elder of Hope Church, Luton

I hope this finds you well! As you’ll hear in the video below, we are taking a moment to thank God for how Catalyst has matured and developed. We are now a family of over 1000 churches across more than 40 nations, and what is especially encouraging is not just the scale of what God is doing, but the depth and quality of the work. We are thrilled to be training church planters, translating leadership resources, and serving churches in both some of the poorest and some of the wealthiest nations in the world. I’m sharing this video because we want to celebrate that together, but also to be honest about where the work has grown and why that requires us to think again about how we resource our shared mission as a family of churches.

Catalyst is not an organisation but a family of churches on mission together. Our local ‘hub groups’ of churches rightly own the life and leadership of the movement, and they are doing the apostolic work on the ground so well. At the same time, as Catalyst has grown globally, we’ve needed to strengthen the central support team that serves the whole network – ensuring we function well together as an international family. The central team helps the network stay connected, stay resourced, stay accountable, and move forward together.

Part of being a big church family is our commitment to one another through our finances, and I’m sharing a video below to clarify our heart and our ask in this area. In the video I outline a simple, shared framework for thinking about giving beyond the local church. This isn’t a rule which we’re imposing, but a helpful guide that we’d like to ask all churches to consider to help us own our shared mission together. We’ve asked church leadership teams to prayerfully consider how your church can partner with us in this.

One-off Giving – Catalyst Festival Offering

Later in the year there will also be an additional, one-off ‘ask’ linked to our Catalyst Festival offering, which happens every two years. At the previous Catalyst Festival in 2024, we raised over £340,000 !!  As a result we have been able to specifically fund the following projects, among many other things:

• Seed funding for the Train1000 global church planting initiative, aiming to train 1,000 church planters, now launching in the UK, Africa and being translated into multiple languages.

• International leadership development investment, including gathering and supporting church overseers serving in some of the toughest nations for Christians, with a leaders’ gathering in Albania.

• Contribution to a business redevelopment fund, supporting church planting and sustainable livelihood projects in rural Laos.

• Vocational training initiatives in Laos, including fish farming, mechanics, sewing and tourism training to support local communities and church planting.

• Provision of 400 Bibles for outreach work on the Laos–Vietnam border, supporting new believers and baptisms through local outreach teams.

• Vocational and ministry training for at least 10 leaders in Laos, equipping them with practical skills to sustain themselves while building the church in some of the poorest areas of Asia.

• Purchase of a permanent church building in a Middle Eastern nation, enabling daily ministry and official recognition of the church in a highly persecuted context.

• Equipment for a home recording studio for Kurdish worship leaders, resulting in 20 newly recorded Sorani worship songs shared online.

• A five-day Encounter camp for around 200 people from deprived backgrounds, where over 20 people committed their lives to Jesus and many experienced physical and emotional healing.

• The graduation of 30 new church leaders in Uganda and Rwanda, through theology and ministry training.

• Support for Christian artists, enabling them to continue being salt and light in creative industries.

• An East Africa regional leaders’ gathering, bringing together around 40 leaders from 14 language groups for training, mentoring and spiritual renewal.

We will continue to be transparent with Catalyst Finances. Our desire is that Catalyst would continue growing in health, depth, and impact – starting and strengthening churches that multiply disciples and see God’s kingdom fill the earth – and we are deeply grateful for the way you already pray, give, partner, and serve with us in that.

Thank you for being with us on this significant journey

Simon Holley

WHO WAS CHARLIE KIRK?

There have been many different reactions to the assassination of Charlie Kirk last Wednesday (10/9/25.)  He was a figure well known as a Trump ally and supporter within the USA, but outside the USA he was much less known, as he had no official government position. Often seen as a divisive figure, he clearly claimed to have a strong Christian faith.  His faith often seemed to be fuel his passion and drive in politics.  Even as his bereaved wife gave her short statement following his death, the foreground banner displayed ‘may Charlie be received into the merciful arms of Jesus, our loving Savior.’

But different opinions quickly appear when we look at how his Christian faith seemed to inform his political beliefs. Whilst many Christians would agree with an anti-abortion stance, and might stand against the advance of a trans-agenda, or agree with the principle of male headship, something about the hard extremity of his views, and the lack of grace and compassion within his views, made them all feel christian-in-name-only.  It didn’t exactly feel like Jesus with the woman at the well. 

Perhaps most explosive of all were his views on race. Although never making an outright statement of racial superiority, he denied the existence of white privilege in American society, was casual with his derogatory language in relation to black people, and sought to present those pursuing racial justice as pursuing a boring woke agenda.  Apparently those views are un-American, un-Christian and just for Democrats. He genuinely seemed to think that non-white Americans hadn’t experienced any racial prejudice in their current/recent national history.

WHAT ABOUT THE UK?

For me,  I see clear parallels with what is happening in the UK.   Many people in the UK feel that the issue of migration is out of control, with large numbers of asylum seekers, large amounts of resources to support them, and the uninvited imposition of society becoming more multi-cultural.  As a result, the UK is also experiencing a rise in support for right wing political views, that we should protect and prioritise a traditional, white majority, western mindset.  In this sense we are facing similar challenges and having similar reactions to our American friends,  just with Reform UK and Unite the Kingdom, instead of a strong right wing Republican party seeking to Make America Great Again.

For Brits, this is summed up in the emergence of the English St George’s cross flag being flown, painted, or paraded in different roundabouts and streets,  or by protesting outside asylum seeker hotels.   And like many of Charlie Kirk’s arguments, this is all presented as reasonable political action and heart-warming national pride.

WHAT IS THE OUTCOME HERE?

Just because I didn’t mean to hurt my friends feelings, doesn’t mean I don’t recognise it, say sorry when it happens, and try not to do it again. Any adult, or child for that matter, knows this.  And the trouble is, while many people may have legitimate grievances and honourable intentions, the tone, the lack of compassion,  and the lack of consideration for ethnic minorities, means that – whatever your motivation – almost all of this activity comes across as racist.  Maybe not to us as white people, but certainly to non-white ethnicities who have faced explicit and/or implicit prejudice throughout much of their lives.  It’s a statement that our desire for a white western society is more important than how you feel and your place in the UK. Ouch!  This is the feeling of the vast majority of people from different ethnic minorities that I have asked about this.  We may not have a racist bone in our bodies, but our actions are conveying a very different message. 

CONCLUSION

I have made many mistakes in my life, and at many times acted in a sexist or racist way. I’m sorry for that. In terms of my current political views,  I believe that our asylum-seeking process is unsatisfactory and most likely being exploited by many, and I also think that’s wrong.  But my views on politics need to be carefully managed and should never take precedence over the God’s basic instruction that we honour Him, and love our neighbour.  For those reasons, while I grieve the loss of his life, I refuse to be associated or positively connected with the so called Christian actions of Charlie Kirk.  And likewise I refuse to be associated or connected to the so called patriotic displays of the St Georges Cross flag here in the UK. We cannot pretend these things are not hurtful, unwelcoming, and damaging to individual people of ethnic minority, as well as causing increasing division in our multicultural societies. Whatever our heart motivation, and whatever the legitimacy of our concerns, in today’s political climate I’m afraid all this just stinks of white supremacy. 

Jonathan Adams

Hope Church, Luton. 

An article SUPPORTIVE of Charlie Kirk

An article AGAINST idealism of Charlie Kirk

An article containing some of his more extreme STATEMENTS

In the Sunday service on September 21st, for those of you who were not able to attend in person or online, we had a moment of reflection and prayer regarding the recent events in our country, including the “Unite the Kingdom” protest. 

During that portion of the service, Jon and Tony made reference to two different statements that have been issued: one from Churches Together in Luton and an open letter written by Christian leaders at a national level. The Churches Together in Luton statement can be read here while the national statement can be found in the article here.

If you have not been able to watch the service yet, you can do so here and hear more from Jon and Tony on this topic. 

Please continue to pray for our church, our town, and the nation. May we be pointing people to truth, reconciliation, and, most importantly, to Jesus during this time.