The retiring General Director of the Evangelical Alliance will bring his passion for justice for the poor to two new roles as he joins Tony Blair's Faith Foundation and becomes the first International Director of Micah Challenge.
30 May 2008
The Rev Joel Edwards, who is also a commissioner for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, resigns from his post at the Evangelical Alliance in September, and is currently on tour presenting his vision for evangelicalism to churches around the country.
He has been appointed as a member of the International Religious Advisory Council to the Faith Foundation, which will give advice and help to Tony Blair on the Foundation’s work and plans.
Mr Edwards said: “I am honoured to be part of this Foundation, which aims to demonstrate the power faith has for good in the modern world.
“Christian values – love, respect and justice, to name but a few – are at the very root of a humane society.
“My faith inspires my strong desire to fight the sin of poverty, and the Foundation’s commitment to this is incredibly exciting. I believe my leadership of Micah Challenge International will provide me with valuable insight in my role as an advisor.”
Mr Edwards has been closely involved with Micah Challenge International – a Christian campaign challenging governments around the world to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 – since its inception in 2000.
“I am really looking forward to getting stuck in and leading this global coalition into an exciting phase of mobilising and campaigning towards 2015,” he said.
Steve Bradbury, Chair of Micah International, said: “The board of Micah Challenge International is delighted to be able to appoint Joel Edwards as its International Director, from January 1, 2009.
“We know Joel will bring to this role enormous passion, commitment to tackle issues of global inequality and a powerful, Biblically-shaped vision for the kind of world God wants us to live in.”
Notes to editors:
Mr Edwards, a British immigrant from Jamaica, is an honorary Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral. He was a probation officer for 14 years and the senior pastor of Mile End New Testament Church of God for 10 years.
Mr Edwards was offered the post of General Secretary of the African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance in 1988, becoming UK director for the Evangelical Alliance UK four years later and General Director of the Evangelical Alliance UK in 1997. He received a medal of appreciation for services to Jamaica in 2003, an honorary doctorate from St Andrews University last year, and is a published author.
More about his book and tour can be found at www.anagendaforchange.com
The Evangelical Alliance, formed in 1846, is the largest body serving evangelical Christians in the UK, and has a membership including denominations, churches, organisations and individuals. The mission of the Evangelical Alliance is to unite evangelicals to present Christ credibly as good news for spiritual and social transformation. According to a Tearfund survey (Churchgoing in the UK, 2007), there are approximately 2 million evangelical Christians in the UK. For more information, go to www.eauk.org.
Micah Challenge is a global Christian campaign, which aims to deepen its engagement with impoverished and marginalised communities; and to challenge international leaders, and leaders of rich and poor countries, to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and so halve absolute global poverty by 2015. For more information, go to www.micahchallenge.org
For more on the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, visit www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org
