Several members of Partick Free Church (Continuing) congregation decided to stage a low-key Christian witness at the Mardi Gla Pride parade held in Glasgow recently.

Contact was made with other Christians and churches informing them of our intention. On the day we were joined by others, who were also ashamed of the blatant rebellion against God’s clear commandments being openly displayed in our city.

On the night before the parade, a special prayer meeting was held to seek the Lord’s blessing and protection upon our witness.

With a sense of fear and trembling we began our witness with prayer on Buchanan Street before the Partick minister engaged in a time of preaching.

The parade began at Kelvingrove Park and made its way from Kelvin Way to Sauchiehall Street, Blythswood Street, and West George Street before terminating in George Square.

Soon with plenty of noise and music, along with a Police escort reminiscent of the arrival of royalty or some important politician, the parade was near to where we were assembled.

We then went to West George Street and stood by the pavement with several holding aloft appropriate TBS scripture posters as we rubbed shoulders with members of the public who came along to witness the spectacle.

We and the other Christians had many verbal abuses thrown at us, with the word ‘bigot’ deemed to be the favourite word of abuse used by members of the public. Some supporters of the LGBT perverted lifestyle took upon themselves to stand in front of Christians in an effort to block the parade from seeing the posters.

The parade soon passed and we returned to our open-air preaching spot and began to preach for around half-an-hour.

During this time more abuse was hurled at us, but one of the brethren had a long and fruitful conversation with a young lady who was hostile to our actions. To our encouragement a large volume of gospel tracts were distributed and some did acknowledge their support of our witness.

We realise some sincere Christians would not approve of our actions and would question the value of such a witness. We would respect their opinion, but we felt, rightly or wrongly, that we are prepared to challenge this dead-end lifestyle and are not going to be ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ and His words in this wicked and adulterous generation (Mark 8:38).

Overall it has to be said that the parade was not marked by profanity and nudity that can be found in similar events held in other UK cities. There was colour, novelty, music, gimmicks, and amusements to attract and excite the worldly-minded. However, we must continually remind ourselves, that each of these events seeks to promote and normalise that which is an abomination in the sight of God.

If our experience has taught us anything it points to the longsuffering of God. Truly His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). But we ask, How long Lord? It also reminds us of the exceeding sinfulness and deception of sin. What a pathetic sight to see parents marching with their children supporting such a lewd, unnatural and vile lifestyle.

We are grateful to God for pleasant weather and that our witness was carried out without any major incident.