UK
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Facts about UK
- Population: 61 million
- Area: 242,514 km.sq
- Climate: Temperate
- Capital: London
- Currency: Sterling
- People: 89% white (Anglo Saxon/Celtic), 4% Asian, 2% other European, 2% Afro-Caribbean, 1% Middle Eastern, 2% Other Nationalities
- Main Language: English
- Religion: 72% Christian (2.5% Evangelical), 3% Muslim, 25% Other Faiths/None
Politics and economics
The United Kingdom (UK) is made up of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. While central government remains at Westminster, a devolved Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and a Northern Ireland Assembly were established in 1999.
The UK is a welfare state with a national health service available to all, and a range of other state benefits.
Geography and climate
Known for a frequently damp climate and talking about it, the UK enjoys stunning natural scenery in many places with rolling countryside and rugged coastline, and without the weather extremes of many other parts of the world.
People and society
The UK now has less people than in past generations working on the land, in mining, or in fishing. Financial markets are prominent employers, and many come here to study from other parts of the world but at the other end of the social scale is a poor ‘underclass,’ often unemployed and dependent on state benefits. Recent UK statistics have shown that one in six homes, which include at least one member over the age of 16, have no-one working.
90 per cent of the population lives in urban areas. Many cities have culturally very diverse populations, partly the legacy of empire. Questions over identity have become puzzling national concerns.
Religion and the church
Society is largely secular, with an underlying search for meaning reflected in contemporary art pushed to the extremes. It’s been said that art galleries and shopping malls are the ‘cathedrals’ of today. Younger generations tend towards the decadent, but at the same time they generally have a better developed social conscience than their parents and grandparents had, as well as awareness and concern over environmental issues.
Just one in twenty of the population attends a Christian church on a regular basis; of these, around 2.5 per cent attend evangelical churches and 2 per cent attend Roman Catholic churches. The established church is the Church of England which is the mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Possibly London’s largest church is Kingsway International Christian Centre, a mainly black church with a Nigerian senior pastor who claims a Sunday attendance of some 10,000 people at six services. By contrast, in the cities, there are also large, well-attended mosques: western Europe’s biggest mosque sits in south London.
The evangelical landscape is quite varied and falls within a number of denominations with different emphases. Bible teaching and celebration weeks for all the family, and summer camps and festivals aimed at young people are popular.
Latin Link's work in UK
We host and help place members sent here from Latin America. We support 65 members in Latin America on an ongoing basis and send around a dozen Spring and Summer short term Step teams to Latin America each year; around 30 others go on individual Stride placements for up to two years. Some people return to Latin America with Latin Link each year on an open-ended basis to work with churches or Christian organisations.
Mission opportunities in UK
UK churches welcome mission input from abroad, particularly for the wider cultural perspective this brings and in witness to those from other cultures living nearby.
Latin Link, through its branch Latin Partners, has had success in placing Latin Americans in mission in immigrant areas with churches who find it difficult to reach out to their newly arrived or more established foreign neighbours. We welcomed our first Step team from Cuba to Northern Ireland in 2009 and a Strider from Guatemala came to work alongside a UK church in 2010/2011. There are many opportunities in the UK for short, cross-cultural training placements while learning English.
To find out more about mission in the UK, please browse our opportunities or contact us.