Churches form coalition at party conferences

Five Churches have formed a coalition to raise their shared concerns with the three main parties during conference season.

The coalition is formed of senior leaders from the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, Quakers, The Salvation Army and United Reformed Church.

They hope to keep the Government’s Big Society initiative, affordable housing and poverty on the agenda when they attend the conferences of the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative parties during September and October.

The Rev Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist Conference said: “Some people believe that politicians don’t ‘do God’ and that the Churches shouldn’t get involved in political life.

“Our delegation to the party conferences demonstrates that the Churches value the vocation of those who work to improve our society through political life.

“We won’t always agree with their policies, but we welcome the opportunity to engage with them over our shared concerns for the world.”

The Churches are encouraging members of the public to attend the fringe events that they and Christian political fellowships are staging for free alongside each of the conferences.

The events include breakfast meetings with party speakers and Church representatives.

Lieut-Colonel Marion Drew, The Salvation Army’s Secretary for Communications, said the conferences were an opportunity for the Churches to develop and reinforce relationships with Christian politicians and party members and provide support and encouragement to people living in the public eye.

“Christian friends in Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham are encouraged to attend and take part in these meetings wherever possible,” she said.

The Rev Graham Sparkes, head of faith and unity for the Baptist Union of Great Britain, said it was vital that churches contribute to creating a just society.

Frank Kantor, the United Reformed Church’s secretary for church and society, echoed his sentiments.

“The party conferences are taking place amidst a backdrop of the most stringent cuts in a generation and the church leaders are looking forward to engaging with MPs from all three political parties, looking at how we can mitigate the impact of these cuts on the poorest in our society,” he said.