A conference scheduled to be held in Portadown Town Hall this Saturday (October 17) by an evangelic “non-denominational” charitable organisation has been cancelled by council with immediate effect.
The preaching conference entitled ‘The Islamic Invasion of UK & Ireland’ was set to be held this weekend by a charity known as ‘The Lord’s Work Trust’.
According to its website, The Lord’s Work Trust was founded in 1986 by Clifford and Julie Barker, primarily as a non-denominational charitable organisation to be used for the distribution of Bibles to those in need of them (see the website for our statement of faith).
Then in 2005 The Lord’s Work Trust saw a “tremendous need in the UK for sound, biblical Gospel tracts and booklets for use in evangelism”.
Today, they cite their aims as “reach the lost with the Gospel; to help equip and train Christians in the work of evangelism and other areas of vital importance and to produce high quality, sound, Gospel tracts and literature to reach this generation with the Gospel.”
From 9.45am to 4pm, the organisation were set to host four sermons addressing what they referred to as “the most pressing issue”.
They said the free event was open to both “Christian and non-Christian, concerned citizens and church leaders”.
However, the event has now been cancelled with the group claiming ABC Council had been “pressured” to make the decision by “hard Left Marxist agitators”.
Issuing a notice to the public via their social media platforms, The Lord’s Work Trust said: “Regretfully we have been informed by ABC Council who run Portadown Town Hall that the venue has been cancelled.
“Obviously here at LWT we are devastated. We have over the years formed a very professional and respectful working relationship with the Town Hall, holding multiple events at their excellent and historic venue.
“Sadly though it appears after some ‘complaints’ the Town Hall administers under pressure have made the decision to cancel the venue with immediate effect.
“From posts online we understand that the orchestrators of this organised shut down are the same ‘Free Palestine’ ‘Anti-Racist’ hard Left Marxist agitators who have been involved in the recent pro Palestine/Hamas march through Scarva and the Drumcree Orange march blockade.
“And so it appears that left leaning mob pressure continues to force its agenda upon the people of Portadown and Northern Ireland at large.
“We note with interest that the online posts consistently refer to Northern Ireland as ‘the North of Ireland’ indicating a strong Republican leaning amongst this crowd also.
“So it seems that cancel culture and the shutting down of lawful free speech is a recurring theme in Portadown at this present time.”
The organisation went on to say they view the move as an “open and direct attack upon free speech” and also as an “attack upon the historic Protestant faith”.
They asked their attendees to take the matter to prayer and await further updates.
Most recently the group has confirmed “multiple” alternative venue options and one “provisionally booked”.
While the charity insinuate that Council was pressurised to make the decision, a spokesperson has confirmed that they did, in fact, make the decision without duress.
A spokesperson for Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council said: “Council accepts bookings for the use of its facilities from a wide range of groups including church and faith groups. All bookings are, however, required to comply with its standard terms and conditions.
“The advertised title and proposed content were not included in the information provided to the Council at the time of the booking.
“Following a review of the booking information and promotional material against its conditions of hire, the Council cancelled the booking with immediate effect.”
