Mixed response to Gospel Coalition UK announcements

Evangelicals in the UK are reacting to the news that the launch of a Gospel Coalition in the UK is definitely going ahead. (See existing en coverage here and here.)

Plans for “TGC-UK” had previously been put forward for discussion and consultation, but have now been firmed up, with a launch planned sometime in 2026. The story was broken exclusively on the en website on 9 December 2025.

TGC-UK’s initial 39-member council contains a number of high-profile names, including John Stevens of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC), Robin Sydserff of the Proclamation Trust, Affinity’s Graham Nicholls, CofE complementarian bishop Rob Munro, AMiE bishop Lee McMunn, Lizzie Harewood of the Association of Christian Teachers, and others. A full list is published on the en website here. There are 35 men and four women. Representation is drawn from a varied mix of denominational groupings, and from across the four nations of the UK.

Reactions have been mixed, with some welcoming it, and others voicing a series of concerns. These concerns include: the question of why it is needed when there are so many existing evangelical groupings; the wisdom of taking it forward given recent scandals in conservative evangelical culture such as around abuser John Smyth; issues and problems that have arisen in The Gospel Coalition in the US; and its theological ethos.

In a press release sent out to media organisations, TGC-UK said its aim is “to convene groups of like-minded Christians to create fellowship links and serve as a rallying point for mission and developing national resources and initiatives. TGC-UK will publish web-based, multi-media and social media content – primarily from British authors – intended mainly for a UK audience. This will include theological and practical tools to tackle the challenges of pastoral leadership and public witness.”

en approached TGC-UK and spoke with three of its organisers: Andy Mason, Mission Director of London-based church-planting movement Co-Mission; Lizzie Harewood, Executive Officer of the Association of Christian Teachers (ACT); and Graham Nicholls, Director of evangelical umbrella group Affinity.

Nicholls is welcome told en: “Anyone to engage with us … Mostly what we need is for people to pray, and if they have any questions to find their way to one of us.

“We are commencing a significant fund-raising exercise so we can hit the ground running, especially with the content curation and creation element of TGC-UK.”

And Mason stated: “This is an open thing for leaders of Reformed Evangelical backgrounds. If people are interested, there’s an invitation – the wagons have not been circled – to come and find out, by contacting Graham. Or someone might think they want to be involved with the council. They could chat with Graham.”

Asked about how TGC-UK would relate to existing local gospel partnerships, of which there are already many in the country, and existing evangelistic organisations, Mason said: “The key issue is partnership. It is drawing together brothers and sisters from a wide range of backgrounds, but who can gather [around] a common set of theological positions.”

He added: “There’s an ongoing conversation with the gospel partnerships, and that has not ended. But this is a chance on a national level to bring together evangelicals with Reformed convictions. That’s really exciting; that’s really brilliant. I don’t think there’s any other organisation that quite does that.”

Asked whether TGC-UK was effectively Affinity with a rebrand, Nicholls rejected the idea: “This is not Affinity rebranded. It is a new group built from the bottom up. The future of Affinity is up to Affinity, depending on how TGC develops.”

In relation to the Evangelical Alliance (EA), Lizzie Harewood said: “I work with the EA a lot with the work I do in education. And there are evangelicals in the EA who hold to more Reformed and complementarian positions who will be very supportive of this. The profiles of the two organisations are distinct but complementary.”

Asked about accountability, given the plethora of recent conservative evangelical scandals, Nicholls said: “It’s a really important question. I was involved with Affinity in writing a book about abuses of power called Challenging Leaders.

“We would obviously want to put in place all the best practice that charities in general, and Christian organisations in particular, would have in terms of clear lines of accountability – policies in place for safeguarding in general, anti-bullying, whistleblowing policies, and so on. In the end, these things are a matter of culture as much as anything else. We want to foster a culture of openness and accountability. The council of 40 is quite a big accountability group, and any individual is accountable to them.”

Asked about how a smaller leadership team might come about, Nicholls said: “The leadership team will be appointed by the council. The council was brought together by me and others talking to loads of people, and it was convened from anyone suitably qualified and interested. No-one who wanted to be on it couldn’t be on it.”

TGC-UK’s position theologically is to be complementarian, but not have a definitive view on other issues. Nicholls said: “We’re not taking any lines other than the TGC confessional statement, so not taking lines on creation or spiritual gifts. There will be people who have been described as charismatics. By definition non-complementarians wouldn’t join, because they wouldn’t adhere to the confessional statement.”

Asked whether TGC-UK would be adding another conference to the already-packed schedule of evangelical gatherings each year, Nicholls said: “We will have whatever conferences are needed to supplement, not duplicate.”

Reacting to the news, Gavin Calver of the Evangelical Alliance told en: “I have met with Graham Nicholls a couple of times around this and look forward to hearing more.

“At the moment the information is limited, but I am always hopeful about anything that will help the church share the gospel more effectively. The Evangelical Alliance is here to serve all evangelicals in the UK and as such we will continue to do all we can to support and serve complementarian, Reformed Evangelicals into the future too.”

Dr Daniel Johnson, Theology, Worship, and Music programme leader at London School of Theology, described it as “very sad news”. Writing in a personal capacity on X, he said: “TGC has a track record of enabling and platforming abusive leaders – and when questioned, they put responsibility with the local church and just carry on. That is the last thing conservative evangelicalism in the UK needs.

“For people who seemingly ‘get the gospel right’, they should apply it to their churches, relationships, leadership cultures, and patterns of ministry. There’s an assumption that the fruit might be bad, but the tree is healthy.

“Conservative evangelicals in the UK aren’t doing the hard work of reflecting and repenting, but instead charging ahead into a new venture, tethered to a pattern (TGC) which is demonstrably flawed. This is why so many oppose this move.”

Also on X, retired bishop Pete Broadbent posted: “We really don’t need their dysfunctionality this side of the pond. There’s enough of it in the English complementarian tribe already.” And IVP Publishing Director Thomas Creedy stated: “It’s ok to say that TGC can do good things whilst also saying the current proposal for a UK chapter/ version/franchise/iteration is a terrible idea.”