We have launched a new website and this page has been archived.Find out more

[Skip to Content]

14 April 2015

Press release

Churches bring election to the heart of communities

Churches in hundreds of constituencies across the UK are holding election events ahead of the vote on 7 May.

Churches provide a vital democratic service to communities by putting on hustings where candidates are quizzed before votes are cast.

The Evangelical Alliance is working with churches across the UK to put on hustings to inform voters and to scrutinise candidates over the next three weeks.

In East Belfast the Evangelical Alliance's Northern Ireland director, Peter Lynas, chaired an event on 13 April in a hotly contested seat where the DUP's Gavin Robinson is threatening to unseat the Alliance party's Naomi Long.

Following the event Lynas commented: "A couple of hundred people gathered from across the community to hear the main candidates debate key local and national issues. We had lively exchanges between the candidates and great questions from the floor about early years' funding, the environment, faith in politics and welfare reform."

In Scotland churches working with the Evangelical Alliance will host debates across the country including in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey where chief secretary to the Treasury and Liberal Democrat economics spokesperson, Danny Alexander, is under serious threat. Jim Murphy, Scottish Labour leader, will also be taking part in a church hustings in the East Renfrewshire seat he is contesting.

Cardiff plays host to eight hustings across four constituencies during this election campaign, beginning with Cardiff North on 10 April and ending with Cardiff South and Penarth on 26 April. The vote in Cardiff Central as well as Cardiff North is predicted to be close so voters are relishing the opportunity to find out more about what their candidates stand for and their parties plan to do. Overall in Wales churches have organised hustings in half of the constituencies.

Amelia Abplanalp, policy officer at the Evangelical Alliance, said: "Churches are giving their congregation and the wider community a chance to grill their candidates before they vote. This helps voters find out about what the parties and their candidates are saying and make an informed choice before showing up at the ballot box."

The Evangelical Alliance's Faith in politics? report showed that 94 per cent of evangelical Christians are likely to vote in the upcoming election. It also showed that the issues most likely to affect their vote include protecting religious liberty, helping the poorest and combatting human trafficking.

Evangelical Alliance member organisation CARE has compiled a list of hundreds of church based hustings across the UK. In 2010 it found that nearly 300 took place ahead of polling day.

threads, the Evangelical Alliance's online community for millennial Christians, is collaborating with Tearfund's Rhythms project to put on a hustings in central London for young voters. At the 2010 election only 44 per cent of voters aged 18-24 showed up, whereas over three quarters of those over 65 did.

Chine Mbubaegbu, director of communications for the Evangelical Alliance, said: "We want young voters to take responsibility and find out what the parties are saying, but most of all we want young adults to vote –if we don't vote we simply amplify the voices of those who do."

Media Enquiries

Danny Webster
Tel: 07766 444 650
Email: info@eauk.org

Notes to Editors

  1. Information about hustings in Scotland that the Evangelical Alliance is involved with is available at: http://www.eauk.org/scotland/general-election-2015-useful-dates.cfm
  2. Information about all the church-based hustings in Wales which we are aware of is available at: http://election2015.eauk.org/hustings/hustings-in-wales.cfm
  3. Information about hustings organised by the Evangelical Alliance and CARE in Northern Ireland is available at: http://www.eauk.org/northern-ireland/think-friday/think-friday-14-who-should-i-vote-for.cfm
  4. Information about the Threads and Rhythms hustings taking place on 23 April is available at: http://www.threadsuk.com/offline/ask2015/
  5. The Evangelical Alliance's Faith in politics? report is available at: http://www.eauk.org/church/resources/snapshot/faith-in-politics.cfm
  6. CARE's list of hustings across the UK is available at: http://www.engage15.org.uk/have-your-say/your-local-hustings
  7. Spokespeople are available for comment

The Evangelical Alliance

We are the largest and oldest body representing the UK’s two million evangelical Christians. For more than 165 years, we have been bringing Christians together and helping them listen to, and be heard by, the government, media and society. We’re here to connect people for a shared mission, whether it’s celebrating the Bible, making a difference in our communities or lobbying the government for a better society. From Skye to Southampton, from Coleraine to Cardiff, we work across 79 denominations, 3,500 churches, 750 organisations and thousands of individual members. And we're not just uniting Christians within the UK – we are a founding member of the World Evangelical Alliance, a global network of more than 600 million evangelical Christians. For more information, go to www.eauk.org.