This is a great opportunity for you get to know your MP, and for your MP to get to know you and your local community. Remember – the difference between noise and influence is relationship. When planning how you want to host your MP, keep relationship in mind.
- Include your MP in the service. Could they give a reading?
- Interview your MP during or after the service (see below for tips).
- Invite your MP to a meal with the congregation after the service.
- Sharing food together is a proven way of building meaningful relationships together, and hospitality is a deeply Christian practice.
- This could be sit-down, a bring-and-share or a buffet-style meal.
- Remember to ask your MP (and any of their staff) for dietary requirements.
- Think about how you can make opportunities for you MP to get to know about what your congregation and other church groups do locally.
- After the service, could you organise a walk of the local area, highlighting issues that church members feel need to be addressed?
- If your church runs a food bank, has youth outreach, debt relief support or other outreach, are there ways that you can introduce the MP to these services or to members of the church who attend, run or volunteer with these services.
- Your MP might only be able or willing to give you a short amount of time on your agreed day. With limited time, prioritise one of the options above which you consider would be the most effective way to develop a relationship of genuine listening.
Make sure that there is a contact person appointed from your congregation who will meet, greet and guide the MP through the service. Ask the permission of those present to take some photos, which you and the MP might wish to share publicly.
Interviewing your MP
Firstly, it is important that the church and MP understand this is not a campaigning or lobbying moment. This is about understanding who your MP is, asking them about their motivations and their particular concerns. You can offer them an experience they don’t get very often – to be genuinely listened to, rather than spoken at or lobbied.
Secondly, “set the stage” for the kind of conversation you are hoping to have. If you are wanting a more informal conversation, bring in a sofa or a couple of comfortable chairs. Ask your MP if they’d like a drink of water, tea or coffee for that part of the service. Maybe use a handheld or radio mic to give them flexibility, rather than have them stand rigidly behind a lectern.
Thirdly, decide on your interview questions and interview format. If there will be a Question and Answer session, you may want to remind the congregation, “This is not the time for us to raise the questions or concerns we may have been raising during the election. This is a time for us to listen, to learn and to understand our MP better.”
Example questions you might wish to ask
- Tell us a little about your background. Where did you grow up? Where’s home (it’s OK to say if it isn’t in the constituency)?
- If you’d be happy to, tell us a little about your family and your responsibilities outside of politics?
- What joys and interests do you have outside of politics?
- What first motivated you to take an interest in politics?
- What issues are you personally concerned about – whether or not you believe them to be the primary concerns of your constituents?
- What made you become a member of the political party you are now with?
- What made you want to stand as an MP? And why this constituency?
- What do you perceive to be the most challenging issues that need addressing locally?
- What do you perceive to be the most challenging issues that need addressing nationally and internationally?
- What do you feel the church in general, or even this church specifically, has to offer those in need in this community?
- How do you intend to stay connected with the concerns and experiences of local residents in this area?
- What will you be working on in the immediate future – tomorrow, this week, this month?
Whatever you ask, try to let conversation flow, feel free to skip questions already covered in previous answers, and dig deeper if something particularly interesting is shared.
You may want the children/young people to suggest some questions (again, avoiding campaigning questions). The innocent questions of children, like ‘do you have any pets’, or ‘what’s your most embarrassing memory’, may add some valuable light heartedness to the whole experience, and can often lead to unexpectedly profound and personal answers.
You may want to share questions with the MP in advance to reassure them of the purpose of the interview. But encourage them not to over prepare: aim for a natural, flowing conversation.
Remember to reassure your MP of the congregation’s prayers. Assuring them that they can decline if they wish, you could ask if there’s anything they would like prayer for today. Reassure them that they can get in touch anytime if there’s anything else specific they’d like prayer for or would like to discuss.
Other things to consider
Give your MP as much notice as you can
MPs are generally very busy, so the earlier you invite them, the better. Explain exactly why you would like them to attend and what their role will be. Make it clear whether you are expecting any media coverage.
Remember your congregation will have a range of political views
You shouldn’t expect everyone to agree with the MP, or each other, but you should expect everyone to treat each other with kindness and grace. Carefully avoid any escalation into argument. The purpose of the event is to get to know the MP, and for them to get to know your church and community better. You will then hopefully be able to build on this relationship over time, to a point where it is possible to press your MP on a issue without breaking down the relationship.
What should we talk about?
You do not need to be an ‘expert’ to talk to your MP. Simply show and tell them what happens in your church and your community. They should be interested to meet people and to hear about your experiences, as part of getting to know their constituency.
Join the Constituency Action Network
Finally, sign up for more information about the Constituency Action Network, to receive further resources and support as you seek to build on the relational foundations you are establishing with you MP.
If you have hosted your MP, please let us know. We would love to see photos of the experience, if you have permission to share them.