Embracing LGBTQ, Secularism And New Age, Under The Leadership Of Colin Bloom
From: Save Barnabas Aid
January 29, 2025
This post is to make you aware of some changes at Barnabas Aid UK and Barnabas Aid International (formerly called Nexcus). Barnabas used to be a Biblically conservative organisation. But things have changed under the leadership of Colin Bloom, who took charge in April 2024. It has now become an inclusive organisation, whose staff may have any sexual orientation or practice, and follow any religion or none.
Criteria in recruiting staff
The below wording is now appearing in some Barnabas job adverts on the Barnabas Aid website. This quotation comes from the advertisement for a “Projects Administrator – East, Central and Southern Africa”:
“Barnabas Aid is committed to equality of opportunity. It is our policy and practice that entry into employment and progression within employment will be determined only by criteria which are related to the duties of a particular post and its appropriate salary level. No applicant or member of staff will be treated less favourably than another because of their age, disability, ethnicity, marital or civil partnership status, parental status, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. However, there may be an occupational requirement to be a Christian in order to carry out some of our roles.”
On 28 January 2025, there were 13 vacancies advertised on the Barnabas Aid website. Of these, seven specified that the applicant must be a practising Christian. Three of these seven were Finance roles. The other four were regional coordinators for London, Wales, the South-East (of England), and the South-West (of England); for these four vacancies the applicant had to be “a practicing Christian who is engaged in his/her local church”.
The other six vacancies – those which did not require the applicant to be a practising Christian – were all based in Swindon, UK, and included three vacancies in the Projects department, a Head of Facilities, an Email Campaigns Coordinator, and a Talent Acquisition Lead.
It appears that in Colin Bloom’s Barnabas Aid those who work directly with persecuted Christians, communicating with them about their situation and project requests, do not need to have a personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor does the person who will be in charge of emails to Barnabas Aid supporters. Nor does the person who will fill the newly created role of “Talent Acquisition Lead” i.e. recruiting future staff for Barnabas Aid.
Please note that the board of Barnabas Aid UK has nothing to do with these advertisements and is not kept informed by Barnabas Aid International about vacancies, redundancies, staff leaving, staff discipline, recruitment or any other staff matters.
Spiritual care of staff
On 11 June 2024 Melissa Breukel from Nexcus’s HR department emailed staff (probably all the UK-based staff) announcing: “With immediate effect, we have implemented our new Employee Assistance Program, designed to support your overall well-being both at work and at home.” Contact details were given so that staff could contact the organisation appointed to give this assistance, which is called Wellbeing Solutions. https://www.wsm-wellbeing.co.uk/
Wellbeing Solutions is not a Christian organisation. A major part of its help with mental wellbeing is to encourage the practice of mindfulness. Here is a quote from their website:
“In our fast-paced modern world, mindfulness has become an increasingly popular practice for enhancing mental health and overall wellbeing… Mindfulness is about paying attention to the present moment with openness and without judgment. Originating from ancient meditation practices, it has been scientifically proven to offer numerous benefits for mental health.”
Why did Colin Bloom and Nexcus appoint a non-Christian organisation with a New Age ethos to support the wellbeing of Barnabas staff in the UK, when there are many Biblically conservative Christian ministries which could have offered such help?
What do the Nexcus leaders think?
It is curious to see this shift taking place in Barnabas Aid, not only Barnabas Aid International (Nexcus) but also Barnabas Aid UK which is still completely under the control of Colin Bloom, although he was not appointed by the Barnabas Aid board.
It is understandable that Colin Bloom himself would be happy with this shift in ethos and values. But what about others on the Nexcus board?
Rev. Michael Hewat from New Zealand broke away from the Anglican Church on the issue of LGBTQ and is a leading figure in the conservative Anglican movement GAFCON. Rev. Ian Clarkson from Australia is very active on pro-life issues yet Crowell and Moring, the law firm Nexcus had appointed, frequently does pro bono work for pro-abortion causes as well as LGBTQ causes. John Marsh in the USA would describe himself as a conservative Christian. Then there is Andrew Carey, not officially linked to Nexcus in any way, yet clearly in a position of favour, influence and constant communication with Colin Bloom and the rest of the Nexcus board, in particular Lord Reading. Andrew Carey edits the Church of England Newspaper, which has the reputation of being a conservative Christian voice. How do these conservative Christians justify supporting a position which contradicts Biblical values?
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