ENGLAND — A Christian teaching assistant has won a £7,000 legal settlement from a school in Leeds in the North of England after he was sacked for being a street preacher in his spare time.

Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Mr Andy Nix, 65, took legal action against Temple Moor High School in Leeds after he was sacked without notice for taking part in street preaching in Leeds City Centre.

Andy Nix:

Did anybody in the school know if I was a Christian believer? Not particularly that I’m aware of, apart from the one lad and probably his close mates. That’s partly why I made no connection with my activity as a Christian evangelist and getting sacked from my job.

Andy Nix, aged 65, has won a £7,000 legal settlement from Temple Moor High School in Leeds after he was sacked from his special needs assistant job for street preaching in his spare time.

Andy:

I honestly had no idea what it was going to be about and the thought never even entered my head that it would be anything to do with my street preaching. I mean, what’s that got to do with the school? So I found that totally out of order.

Andy had taken legal action against a school on the grounds of discrimination by its headmaster and Prospero Teaching, the agency through which he’d been hired.

Andy:

He was trying to intimidate me and get me to say that what I’m doing was wrong. So I said, “Look, I’ve been working as a Christian evangelist for about 40 years, and I will continue to do so.” For Christians, it’s part of who we are to share our faith.

As a firm believer that Christians could be speaking the truth of Jesus in the public square, Andy often went out street preaching in Leeds city centre. During a regular work day on the 29th March 2022, Andy was suddenly hauled to the office for interrogation by headteacher Matthew West.

Andy:

What happened to me was totally out of order. I was working in this school as a special needs assistant and things had been going great. I was liked in the school and I was hoping I suppose that from that school I’d get a good reference and be able to get a permanent post. And then one morning, just while I was on my break actually in the staff room, The HR woman came in and said, “Oh Andy, the head would like to see you.” So I thought, “Oh, that’s a bit strange.” So I asked her, “About what?” And she said, “Oh, I don’t know.”

Under the pressure of potentially offending parents, Andy was summarily dismissed and marched off the premises, never to set foot on the school grounds again.

Andy:

I think he said something like, “I’ve heard that you do street preaching “and you talk about homosexuality and you were arrested. Is that correct?” And then it was the emphasis from him on, “Oh, if parents find out about this, parents of kids who identify as gay or bi, they could complain.” So he was afraid that parents would find out about this and complain to him and make his life difficult. That was the whole emphasis where he came from. And so he then, I mean, I was only in there for about 10 minutes, and then he said, “So, I’m going to have to ask you to get your stuff and leave.”

Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Andy challenged the school and stood up against the injustice that prevented him from being able to secure a permanent teaching job.

Andy:

I did appeal it. I was supported really, really well by Christian Concern. And after a long process, this Templemore school, through their lawyers, admitted that, yeah, they were in the wrong and gave me compensation of £7,000. I see that as God vindicating that when I stood with him for justice and against this wrong thing, God has brought justice to my situation. And hopefully others who see this will take encouragement from it.

Read more news on Christian Ministry and Evangelism on Missions Box.