8/8/2025 Europe (International Christian Concern) — The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), one of the largest evangelism ministries in the world, has established a legal defense fund to help cover the legal expenses of persecuted Christians in Europe. Referred to as a “war chest” by BGEA President Rev. Franklin Graham, this new legal defense acknowledges the distinct nature of gospel resistance in Western countries compared to elsewhere.

In an interview with Christian Daily International, Justin Arnot, legal counsel for BGEA, explained the unique importance of the fund.

“I think that where the concern lies in the U.K. and in continental Europe is that these freedoms have existed as a matter of law, at least,” Arnot said. “And they are being curtailed, not necessarily as a matter of law, or maybe that’s not the express intent of some of the legislation, but there are efforts to implement hate speech laws that can be interpreted, in unhelpful ways.”

However, the fund was not originally established to combat such laws. Its origin dates back to the period from 2018 to 2020, when Rev. Graham received heavy criticism in the U.K. for his statements about biblical marriage and sexuality. Beginning with a British city removing BGEA’s “God Loves You!” ads from public transit, the situation escalated to eight major urban venues across the U.K. canceling contracts for Rev. Graham’s evangelism events in the country.

Describing the public outcry against Rev. Franklin in the U.K., Arnot said it was, “a very elaborate, intensive effort. And so, by the time you’re within a couple months of launching something like that, I think it’s tremendously devastating to have the tour just abruptly canceled without consultation or anything.”

With their “flagship ministry” at stake and being unable to find a single alternate city to host the events, BGEA took legal action against the venues to have them honor their contracts despite the public pressure.

“We don’t want to fight with folks,” Arnot said. “We want them to be able to do their business and for us to have the opportunity that we had originally contracted for.”

Arnot’s legal team was ultimately successful in all the cases they brought before the court and achieved the last settlement in May 2024. As a result, BGEA won a sizable amount of money in damages, collectively well more than half a million dollars.

The next logical question then became, what to do with the money? According to Arnot, Rev. Graham told him to give us the funds to “build a war chest, and make this money available to help Christians who are threatened or intimidated into silence and or into not expressing their faith.”

The fund has already been put to use in cases in the U.K., and Arnot hopes that their relationship with the European Congress of Evangelism can bring support to Christians facing legal threats on the continent as well. They also want to focus on educating police officers on the rights of street preachers, a common flashpoint for religious freedom in the U.K., as well as assist Christian targets of “cancel culture.”

“There’s a large amount of financial resources that have been provided through people who are like-minded, and I think the sense of responsibility that (Rev. Graham) has to steward those things well, under God’s sovereignty and provision, is enormous,” Arnot said. “And so we’re trying to help them with that.”

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