Father's House Blog

As the general election approaches, I thought it would be good to share where we stand as a ministry. Let me begin by saying that we are not a party political organization. We are not as a Trust signed up to any of the major parties in the UK. But we do have a mandate from heaven to engage with our culture in a way that is in line with our vision, and our vision has political ramifications: it is to take the Father’s love to the fatherless and to bring an end to the global pandemic of fatherlessness.

How does this vision impact the world of politics? The answer is simple. We are looking as a ministry with keen and prophetic interest at what is going on in contemporary Britain. Let me share some facts with you. Britain’s record on family breakdown is now the worst in Europe. Three quarters of the households on social housing estates in the UK are now headed by lone parents, usually mothers. Only 15% of social renting households are headed by a couple with children. Nationwide, 15% of babies are currently born without a resident biological father and approximately 7% are born with no registered father on their birth certificate.
 
The consequences for children are toxic. It is now an established fact that children who grow up without fathers, in a lone parent environment, are 75% more likely to fail at school, 70% more likely to be drug addicts, 50% more likely to develop an alcohol problem, 40% more likely to have serious problems with debt, and 35% more likely to experience unemployment and a need for social welfare.
Fatherlessness is now reaping a whirlwind of destruction in UK society. We should not be surprised to hear that there has in recent years been a tripling of children murdering children, that 70% of young offenders come from fatherless homes, that in 2008 11,000 children were treated for addiction to drugs and alcohol, that the UK has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe, and that it is also witnessing an unprecedented surge in street gang membership in its inner cities.

To cap it all, UNICEF’s 2007 report on childhood development found that Britain is the worst country for a child to grow up out all of the industrialized nations (it came 21st out of 21) – far worse than all the other countries in terms of poverty, happiness, relationships and risk.

The truth is healthy families build a healthy society. Where marriage is undermined and fathers are absent, society slips towards lawlessness and violence as children resort to substitutes, such as gangs, as an alternative to family (as a place where they can belong and find value and identity). We have not unjustly been dubbed ‘Broken Britain’ and broken Britain is a very dark landscape indeed.

Why is it that there seems to be so little concern about the issue of fatherlessness in the run up to the general election? Even in the useful little book Votewise (see below), there is no mention of it, no attempt to address it by either Christian leaders or Christian politicians. It’s almost as if the enemy has drawn a veil over peoples’ minds and put a cloak over the whole issue. This situation cannot be allowed to continue. It may not be politically correct to stand up for this issue but we are not as Christians called to be politically correct; we are called to be prophetically direct! We are called to provide an alternative, prophetic perspective to the ones adopted in contemporary culture. Like William Wilberforce, Dr Martin Luther King and others, we are called to address the issues that the leaders of our day are either neglecting or rejecting. We are called to stand up for truth and justice, and to do so with loving boldness.

On behalf of the Father’s House Trust, I want to make a plea for all our supporters to put the issues that we care about in the foreground of peoples’ minds. We are looking for political leaders who will promote the cause of fatherhood and who will address the issue of fatherlessness. Fatherlessness is now the no 1 cause of most of our social ills in the UK. It is also the no 1 demonic strategy in our world today. There is a battle on and someone somewhere needs to say something. We cannot remain silent any longer. We have been silent for far too long as it is.

Recently I signed the Westminster Declaration. You can find that at www.westminster2010.org.uk and I encourage every believer in the UK to pray about signing this on their web site. Yesterday someone added my name to the list of key signatories and asked me, on behalf of the Father’s House Trust, to provide a statement that the leaders of the political parties in this country could say YES or NO to. Here is the issue I submitted:

This party will take practical steps to promote the cause of fatherhood and to bring an end to the epidemic of fatherlessness in Britain.

It will be interesting to see how our governmental leaders react to that!

Let me encourage you to ask your local MPs about this issue, especially as they canvas locally. Let me also urge you not to waste your vote. Find out who is really promoting the cause of fatherhood and addressing the fatherlessness in the UK. Find out who is behind the other issues that you care about too. Pray about where to cast your vote. Come May 6th, don’t miss your opportunity but seize the day! And in the words of Isaiah 1.17

Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.

For further reading:

Votewise: Helping Christians to Engage with the Issues, edited by Rose Lynas. SPCK 2009