Danielle Mcelhinney

Danielle McElhinney

Danielle lives on the north coast of Northern Ireland with husband Graham and three teenage kids. She joined the team in Northern Ireland in October 2020 and has become part of the team through the wonders of online connection. Previously, Danielle worked in administration and finance in retail and local church, but after completing a masters in communication and PR, she was keen to pursue a role in political engagement. In her role as public policy officer she hopes to highlight a broad range of issues that matter to the church and christians in Northern Ireland and to encourage Christians to engage in these issues with a voice of hope that reflects the good news message of Jesus.

Launch Day: Coalition of Christian Voices Against Poverty in Northern Ireland

20 February 2024Over the past 18 months, we have gathered together leaders from a broad range of Christian churches and organisations to collaborate and address poverty's impact on local communities. Our efforts include engaging with political representatives, expressing concerns to the NI Secretary of State about damaging budget cuts and supporting events like the Cliff Edge Coalition Stormont event in September 2022. The panel of experts on launch day challenged us on the theme ‘Beyond Benevolence:…

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Northern Ireland: can we reimagine a good news vision for our nation?

22 June 2023We are living in an extraordinary time for our nation. Since February 2022, Northern Ireland has had no functioning Executive in our devolved government at Stormont. This has resulted in no assembly debates, no committee scrutiny of legislation and no decision making at a time when Northern Ireland needs strong leadership. The general feeling amongst the people in Northern Ireland is one of frustration and despondency. The low turnout in the latest council elections in May 2023 hints at a…

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Celebrating women of faith and influence

10 March 2023Many evangelical Christian women, whether or not they would describe themselves as feminists, want to celebrate their achievements and mark the significant roles that Christian women are playing across all fields of work in Northern Ireland. In our work here at the Evangelical Alliance, I and my colleagues Donna and Dawn meet many Christian women who are doing these kinds of incredible things every day in Northern Ireland. Women who love and follow Jesus are finding themselves in surprising…

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NI: Miscarriage and the church – is it still a taboo?

20 December 2022Miscarriage or early pregnancy loss (EPL) is the loss of a baby before 24 weeks of pregnancy. A woman who has a miscarriage may not have realised she was pregnant and often she will not have told anyone about the pregnancy until after the ‘safe’ 12 weeks stage. So, talking about miscarriage can be painful for mothers and fathers as they come to terms with what might have been, but has been lost. Recently the Evangelical Alliance in Northern Ireland submitted a response to the Department for…

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“COL”: now a universal acronym

30 August 2022UK inflation rates have hit levels we haven’t seen in 30 years, eye watering energy prices are predicted to rise again, and Northern Ireland tops the list of areas in the UK where the percentage of households is predicted to fall into fuel poverty by a whopping 76.3% by January 2023. The cost-of-living crisis means that my WhatsApp groups have been repurposed and have become a directory of where to get the cheapest fuel in town and what latest household deals can be found in supermarkets and…

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Countdown to the Northern Ireland assembly elections

26 April 2022My Twitter feed is inundated with tweets from candidates out pounding the streets in sensible shoes, knocking on doors, and canvassing for every vote they can gain. They are all making the most of social media reels to let us know about the issues that they are hearing about again and again at the doors – how to fix the NHS and support mental health, tackle the cost-of-living crisis and the controversial roll out of abortion services in NI following the 2019 Abortion Bill. No surprise to find…

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Violence against women and girls (VAWG): a personal reflection and a policy response

4 February 2022Leah Houston is in her second year studying theology at Belfast Bible College and currently on placement with us at the Evangelical Alliance NI. Here, Leah shares her thoughts and feelings considering the murder of Ashling Murphy: “It could have been my friend, it could have been my sister, it could have been me. The unjust killing of Ashling Murphy is unfortunately just another reminder to every young girl in the country that our greatest fear when we are out and about now isn`t if we will get…

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Summary of response to the Climate Change Bill 2021

27 July 2021"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Genesis 2:15 As Christians we believe that there is a clear biblical mandate to care for creation. God has given human beings a unique responsibility to act in a way that looks after and looks out for His creation. We are called to be stewards and take care of the earth that God has given us. “The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than…

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