The Christian Institute has been getting into the Christmas spirit early this year by calling upon supporters to invite their local MP to church.
The organisation is often among the first to encourage supporters to write to their MP on issues such as abortion, assisted suicide and free speech, and indeed this year has perhaps been busier than others on this front.
However, the group has also expressed its desire to build friendly relationships with MPs and tell them about Jesus.
In an email to supporters, The Christian Institute said that a Christmas invite for an MP represents “a simple way to try to build a constructive relationship with them” and “a chance to make friendly contact away from the pressure of a particular political issue”.
Such invitations are likely to be taken up, the group says, as MPs are themselves keen to build relationships with local institutions and, just like regular folk, are often more inclined to go to church at Christmas.
The Christian Institute said that such encounters would allow MPs to get to know the concerns and views of Christians first hand and provided opportunities to pray for elected representatives, that they could come to know Christ and be granted wisdom in the decisions they make.
Churches have not always had smooth relationships with their local MPs.
In June of this year Liberal Democrat MP Chris Coghlan was informed by his local Catholic priest that he would be barred from receiving communion due to his vote in favour of assisted suicide.
Father Ian Vane, of St Joseph's Catholic Church warned Coghlan prior to the vote that this would occur as under the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law, communion cannot be granted to those who “obstinately persist in manifest grave sin”.
