Nicky Gumbel is not woke or a communist. The fight for equality is biblical
- 15 hours ago
- 1 min read
By Tommy Sharpe I Premier Christianity I 21 May 2026
The Alpha course pioneer and former leader of HTB has been accused of promoting communism and unbiblical ideas after he called Spirit-filled Christians to fight inequality. Tommy Sharpe says he’s shocked at the comments. Confronting injustice is a deeply biblical mandate, he says.
When Nicky Gumbel posted on his Instagram: “Those indwelt by the Holy Spirit should be at the forefront of the fight for gender, racial, and social equality”, it hardly seemed like a controversial statement for a Christian leader to make.
We find ourselves living in the midst of an epidemic of violence against women and girls, surges in racially and religiously motivated hate crime, and astonishing growth in the wealth of the ultra-rich. Surely Christians should be making a stand against this sort of inequality and injustice? Yet, as I scrolled through the comments, I was horrified by some of the responses:
“What intern posted this nonsense. Do you know what is meant by these terms? The current definitions? This is asinine nonsense.”
“Stop conflating Christians with Communists - This is sly guilt-tripping of Christians to work toward Communist goals thinking they work for Jesus.”
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As a former VP of School Ministries, the organization that ran the Alpha Program in the U.S., I know from several encounters with Nicky Gumbel that Christians and the rest of the world should listen to him carefully.