Send your spirit upon them Lord,
strengthen them for the task to which
they are called.
But let us not forget, that though others
may do the task, we cannot abandon
it to them, that we must support them.
This is an extract of a prayer from our Faith in Foodbanks resource. We used it in our prayers at the Conservative Christian Fellowship’s prayer breakfast at Conservative Party Conference this year, an event attended by faith leaders, MPs, Councillors and party members.
Although the prayer was written about those who work and volunteer in foodbanks (the prayer breakfast was co-hosted by the Trussell Trust), the theme of supporting people in difficult roles seemed particularly relevant to the conversations our delegation had with MPs over the course of the day.
Our delegation was made up, as always, of faith leaders from the URC, Methodist, Baptist Churches along with the Quaker and the Salvation Army.
Over the course of our time there, we met, engaged, and prayed with Christians who have been called to a political vocation. A theme that kept surfacing was how difficult a vocation this is, practically, emotionally and spiritually.
Revd Dave Gregory, President of the Baptist Union, reflected that “regardless of your political viewpoint, it was good to be able to meet with MPs who share our Christian faith and discover how that motivates them in what they feel is their vocation. We need to be praying for them in the difficult, often grey as opposed to black and white, decisions they have to make.”
The opportunity, then, to offer to pray with MPs felt like an important one – and one which all of us can do in our personal and our corporate prayers. And it wasn’t just MPs who turned to the delegation of church leaders for pastoral support. Being a faith presence sparked unexpected and God-filled conversations. Dave Gregory told us that “It was a privilege too to talk about faith with a young man serving coffee to people at the conference. And over coffee in Starbucks to talk with the leader of a county council and pray for him”.
However, just because our delegation was offering pastoral support does not mean that we shied away from difficult policy areas which are of concern to all our churches. “It was especially significant to be part of bringing into creative dialogue our various perspectives on topics that too often can mar abundant life – not least migration, climate change and poverty” reflected Revd Nigel Uden, Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church.
The dialogue was indeed creative and wide-ranging. While the topic of Brexit loomed large in most conversations, we also discussed social care, the international development budget and issues around migration and sanctuary.
Bala Gnanapragasam, Vice-President of the Methodist Conference noted that there was an appetite for this dialogue to continue in local communities between MPs and the churches in their constituencies:
“I was encouraged by the willingness of the MPs to meet and passionately engage with the contemporary issues which are of concern to the Church leaders. All of the MPs we spoke to said it would be helpful if the local churches engaged with their MPs and invited the churches to do just that. I would encourage all churches to engage with their MP using JPIT’s Meet Your MP resources.”
Why not meet your MP?
