News of a little spat concerning the Keswick Convention has been circulating in the Christian media. It concerns a small, anti-abortion organisation called Brephos who organised what they refer to as a “public education” event to coincide with this year’s convention in Keswick town centre.
It seems like their event caused a bit of upset and controversy in the town itself and the Convention have released a statement distancing themselves from Brephos and expressing disappointment at Brephos’ approach.
There has been some kickback from Brephos, amplified by others basically suggesting that the Convention is soft on right to life issues and is more concerned with its own reputation than with standing up for what is true. At first glance, it looks like a small, authentic Christian body standing firm whilst Big-Eva crumbles. Given that I’ve not been an enthusiastic supporter of Christian festivals and conventions in recent years, you might expect me to side with Brephos.
Well, before you take sides, it is worth checking out what is really going on and what agendas are at play. There are a few questions you might want to ask. The first is whether or not, Keswick are soft on ethical issues? The evidence is clear that they are not and they have a long history of providing seminars and events offering cleat Biblical ethics. I know because I’ve attended such in the past.
So, the next question must be why Brephos were in the town and what were they hoping to achieve? If their aim was to provide public education or to campaign in the town and were seeking to reach locals and tourists, then you would say fair enough. The Convention doesn’t own Keswick or even Christian mission into the town. The organisers may find it frustrating from time to time when people seem to latch onto the convention and turn up there seeking to do evangelism using approaches that might not always seem wise as has happened. However, such things are not really their business and I’d not expect them to comment on them.
So, it is helpful to see how Brephos themselves answer the question. They state that they have attempted to have an exhibition stand at the convention and have been turned down. So, they decided to set up in the town centre, not to reach locals or tourists but to communicate with Convention goers.
At that point, it does become the convention’s business. There are two reasons for this. First, I think that the Convention are permitted to indicate which organisations they work with and which they find unhelpful so that convention goers may know. It’s worth noting that there are organisations for whatever reason, perhaps simply because of space, do find ways to be present in the town by using church halls or other spaces.
It may be that for some it is that they don’t quite align with the culture and approach of the convention. There is nothing to stop them doing the same as others and finding space in a local church hall. At the same time, in such cases, the Convention can choose whether or not to advertise “fringe” events or whether to distance themselves in some cases. Now, when the Convention say that they don’t share a particular approach, strategy and tactics, this does not mean that they are soft or liberal on the issue. It simply means that they would not approach the issue in the same way. It is possible to share the same ethical or doctrinal position but find that the way some people approach it is unhelpful, distracts from the central message of the Gospel and even undermines the argument on that issue. I’m not making an assessment here on whether or not Brephos fall into that category, I’m simply saying that Keswick are permitted to make that assessment of them. This does not in any way undermine Keswick’s commitment to ethical issues. In fact it is disingenuous to do so.
Furthermore, the Convention operates in the town at the good will of the local community. It hasn’t always had a good relationship with locals and has worked hard on improving it. The result is that I believer that something that was becoming a negative witness to locals and tourists may be having more of a positive Gospel impact locally again. The reason why the Convention has struggled was nothing to do with people being opposed to its message but rather, the sense that at times, it has caused a lot of nuisance without always bringing local benefit.
One way that the Convention may become seen as a nuisance is when it attracts people whoare focused on the Convention without any regard to the local community around it. The point being that unlike say Spring Harvest which happens on a holiday resort, the Convention does not happen in a vacuum but in a local community. When people turn up to protest the Convention as I’ve seen happen before (there used to be a guy who stood outside with a banner associating NIV reading with all kinds of abominations), they fall into that category. In effect,t hey make use of the town without regard to its people.
If Brephos’ aim is not to engage the local community nor to protest and picket the convention but rather to educate Christians, then surely it can accept that such education is already provided by other organisations and individuals. They have no right to expect the Convention to accommodate them and if the Convention chooses not tto, nor do they have the right to draw inferences about its position. If they are serious about educating Christians about abortion, then they should focus on that.
I’m updating with a postscript because I did not realise when I originally shared this article that Brephos has prior history of this kind of behaviour
Check out this article in Anglican Ink free m a few years back. This time it’s a church, St Helen’s Bishopsgate that is on the receiving end. Notice exactly the same tactics. There’s the initial offer of CBR UK’s approach. If this isn’t taken up for whatever reason, next comes the pestering. Then there is the emotional blackmail and then there are the attacks and insinuations on Christian Social Media.
Faithroots 
1 comment
Comments are closed.