| Abbreviation | LCF |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1852 |
| Type | Christian legal network |
| Headquarters | Temple Normanton, Chesterfield, United Kingdom |
| President | Mr Justice Mark Hedley |
| Key people | John Scriven, Chairman Mark Barrell, Executive Director Hilary Lyndon, Director of Administration and Finance |
| Website | www.lawcf.org |
The Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship is a Christian organisation in the United Kingdom which professes a membership of more than 2,000 Christian lawyers.[1] The organisation has a wide-ranging vision,[2] including evangelism, discipleship, prayer, integrity and cultural engagement.[3] They also seek to influence social change by actively lobbying the British Government on issues that are central to its Biblically informed value system: these issues include abortion, gay rights, sex before marriage, and the enforcing of laws relating to blasphemy. In 2008 they attempted to influence the outcome of voting on the passing of the Human Fertilisation and Embryo Bill.[4]
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The Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship was founded in 1852 as the Lawyers' Prayer Union, and was subsequently renamed Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship. The LCF states on its website that it has a long history of uniting and equipping Christian lawyers and witnessing to members of the legal profession. The LCF, in its 150 years of activity, is reported to have impacted both individual lives and the wider legal landscape through an uncompromising commitment to the Bible‘s teaching. Since its inception as a prayer union, the scope of LCF’s work has grown with the support of such patrons as Lord Denning and Lord Mackay of Clashfern.[5]
The LCF professes an expanding membership of more than 2,000 Christian lawyers, with a network of regional groups spanning Britain.
The work of the LCF has developed into four main areas; the legal workplace, amongst law students and young lawyers, internationally and in relation to public policy.[6]
Local workplace groups meet across the UK to study, pray and encourage evangelism.[7] There are approximately 1,200 students and young lawyers, and approximately 30 groups, meeting in universities and law schools throughout the UK. Two annual weekend conferences are held by the LCF for general members and for students and young lawyers.[8]
The LCF has particularly strong international links in East Africa,[9] where the organisation partners with Christian lawyers and legal aid projects in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. The support from the LCF includes sending interns, teams of law students and practitioners, and financial support. The LCF also has links with Christian legal groups in the US, Europe and Burundi and Mozambique, as well as a partnership with Philemon Ministries.[10] The LCF states that its public policy work is in a period of transition.[11] The LCF has previously sought to influence the tabling of amendments on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill 2007-8 (now the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008).
According to the LCF website, its members aim "to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8). They state that through Biblical principles their vision has been constructed: uniting and equipping Christian lawyers in their common calling; witnessing to the Gospel through evangelism; taking action to uphold justice; and building unity through fellowship, prayer and the fellowship's commonly held beliefs. It means ensuring that a body of Christian lawyers will be well placed to give everyone in the legal profession the opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel.
The LCF also believes in enabling its members through information, teaching, and support to fulfill their full potential as lawyers for Christ. They believe in witnessing to the legal profession by speaking of the Christian gospel and demonstrating God’s character of justice and compassion by upholding Christian values in the administration of law at home and overseas.[9]
In May 2008, the British current affairs programme, Dispatches, presented a feature entitled In God's Name. The programme explored the growing influence of the Christian evangelical movement in the UK and highlighted LCF's involvement in lobbying the UK Government on issues such as abortion, gay rights and laws relating to blasphemy. The activities of the then LCF Director of Public Policy, Andrea Minichiello Williams, were examined; including footage of her meetings with Conservative politicians Norman Tebbit and Nadine Dorries. On camera, Williams was seen to make a number of controversial statements, including claims that the Human Fertilisation bill was 'the work of the devil', that abortion should be illegal, homosexuality is sinful and the world is just 4,000 years old.[12][13]
On September 6, 2010, the BBC World Service documentary The Legal World[14] highlighted the CLEAR project of LCF and its partner, the Ugandan Christian Lawyers Fraternity, in the Ugandan criminal justice system. BBC reporter Brian King met the UCLF Acting Project Director Eunice Nabafu as she advised clients, prepared cases and appeared in court. The programme followed the case of one man, Beyonce Alam, as he awaited trial for defilement. The project represented Alam free of charge in the absence of any state-funded defence. King spoke to Edward Sekabanja, President of UCLF, the head of the Ugandan Prison Service, Dr Johnson Byabasaija and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Richard Butera about the impact of the project.[15]