Nigel Farage, the Reform U.Ok. member of Parliament for Clacton, has expressed help for a British church preventing an area council’s bid to ban its avenue preaching ministry, assembly with the church’s pastor to debate their case.
Bread of Life Group Church, primarily based in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, shared {a photograph} of Farage assembly with Pastor Stephen Clayden and stated the pair mentioned “Jesus, evangelism and the Bible.”
“Bread of Life Community Church is grateful for his support,” the church stated in a Fb put up. The church is difficult a Group Safety Discover, or CPN, a legally binding civil order beneath U.Ok. anti-social habits legal guidelines, served on the congregation by the Safer Colchester Partnership.
The discover prohibits the church and all its members from utilizing amplification throughout its weekly outreach in Colchester metropolis middle. Breaching a CPN is a felony offense.
In compliance with the discover, preachers had stopped utilizing microphones and have been as an alternative counting on unaided voice projection, The Telegraph reported, saying the council’s discover cited complaints from members of the general public who stated they have been advised they have been “going to Hell” and uncovered to language “likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.”
The church has rejected these claims and maintains that authorities are focusing on the substance of its message moderately than its methodology.
Reactions amongst residents and native companies stay divided, in line with the Telegraph.
Some passersby expressed help for the church’s proper to evangelise, with one resident calling the message “good news.” A teenage atheist was quoted as saying that he didn’t thoughts being approached.
Others raised considerations about “obstruction” and “disruption.” An aged resident was quoted as saying that the preachers made it troublesome to stroll alongside the pavement, whereas employees at a long-running unbiased bookshop reported that, earlier than restrictions have been imposed, amplified preaching could possibly be heard even within the store’s basement and was affecting prospects.
Greater than 11,000 individuals have signed a petition calling on Colchester Metropolis Council to withdraw the discover. The petition states that no proof of harassment has been produced and calls the church’s outreach the peaceable train of free speech and spiritual follow.
The advocacy group Christian Concern stated the CPN is unprecedented as a result of it targets the complete church and its membership moderately than particular person preachers.
Bread of Life Group Church says it had preached in Colchester for six years with none formal complaints till native officers started making use of stress.
Wardens initially requested church members to cease or scale back their amplification, regardless of there being no ban on amplified sound within the Public House Safety Order, or PSPO, protecting the realm. The council then reportedly raised considerations not solely about quantity but in addition about doctrinal content material, together with references to judgment and hell.
A non-legally binding Group Safety Warning adopted in November 2025, together with threats of fines, earlier than the legally binding CPN was issued.
Pastor Clayden was quoted as saying that the church information and livestreams all of its outreach exercise and that no proof of harassment exists. Preaching takes place outdoors a closed retail unit, not close to energetic companies.
“We have preached the Bible lawfully and peacefully in Colchester for six years,” Clayden stated, in line with Premier Christian Information. “We will not be intimidated into abandoning the Great Commission. No council has the authority to silence the Church.”
The church formally appealed the CPN at Colchester Magistrates’ Court docket, with help from the spiritual freedom regulation agency Christian Authorized Centre, asking the court docket to cancel the CPN in full or strike out any necessities it says unlawfully limit protected spiritual expression beneath Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the Human Rights Act, which defend freedom of faith, expression and meeting.
Andrea Williams, chief government of the Christian Authorized Centre, stated public-order powers designed to handle real anti-social habits are getting used to clamp down on Christian preaching.
“Today it is amplification; tomorrow it is the content of the message itself,” she stated. Williams additionally stated freedom of faith and speech within the U.Ok. are in severe jeopardy if a church may be criminalized for proclaiming the gospel.
“Well bless their hearts.”
