King Charles sends 'good wishes' to evangelistic campaign sharing the Good News as only 20% of UK citizens believe Jesus is Son of God

Britain's King Charles III wearing the Imperial state Crown, waves from the Buckingham Palace balcony after viewing the Royal Air Force fly-past in central London on May 6, 2023, after his coronation. - The set-piece coronation is the first in Britain in 70 years, and only the second in history to be televised. Charles will be the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned at the central London church since King William I in 1066. | OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images

King Charles III has expressed his support for the “Shine Your Light” campaign that aims to galvanize 100,000 Christians in the U.K. to take part in pop-up carol singing, Nativity plays and other creative efforts to help people know Jesus is the King of Kings.

In a letter sent to the organizers, the king expressed “warmest good wishes” and lauded the efforts to “bring many Christian denominations together, and share in faith this festive period.”

The letter, made public on the Shine Your Light campaign website, added that the Charles had been “most touched” by the success of the previous campaign in 2023 and sent his “wishes for a Happy Christmas and a peaceful year ahead to all who attend this year.”

Some 75 church leaders publicly backed the campaign with 1,000 events planned nationwide, according to Rachael Heffer, head of mission at the U.K. Evangelical Alliance and Jonathan Oleyede, convener of the National Day of Prayer U.K. Preparations to promote the initiative started in October this year when Christian Daily International noticed filming taking place by the duo for a promotional video asking Christians to get involved in evangelistic activities.

Heffer said the aim of the campaign has been to call on every local church to take the Word onto the streets throughout the Christmas season. She pointed out research by Talking Jesus that showed some 20% of the general population in the U.K. do believe that Jesus is the Son of God — and challenged people to share the message that “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

The vision has been to connect the life-transforming Good News of the Christmas message with people in their towns and communities.

When asked about the filming, Heffer told CDI that “Shine your Light” is a national campaign, involving many mission agencies and church networks, seeking to rally the U.K. Church to take the Good News of the Christmas message out to non-believers.

“During Advent 2023, over 78,000 people got involved with the ‘Shine your Light’ campaign, resulting in many pop-up carol services on streets around the country, bands, street cafes with live music and the Good News of the Christmas story presented to young and old,” she said.

“Hundreds gathered in Trafalgar Square for an amazing medley of music, worship and speaking of the revelation of Christmas.”

The rallying of a hopeful 100,000 Christians for the campaign aims to utilize “creative, simple, but effective ways to make Jesus known to those around them,” according to Heffer. 

“The dream is to encourage thousands of local Christians and church leaders to take the message of the Good News out onto their streets in any way that suits their community. It can be very simple and pop-up ... [is] often the best way.”

This article was originally published at Christain Daily International 

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