Andy Flannagan comments

Andy Flannagan

I've been on a journey. From the age of 19 I've known that God has called me to 'speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves'. That has never been in doubt. The questions have always been who to speak to and how to speak.

I fear that in the church we haven't always been strategic about where we 'turn up the volume'. I've been loud about dropping the debt. I've been loud about making poverty history. I am being loud about stopping the traffic and climate chaos. Hopefully actions speak louder than these words anyway, but that isn't what I'm exploring here. There is a wave of passionate energy being directed at these single-issue campaigns from the church, yet not many of us make the next logical step of actually rolling up our sleeves and becoming involved in the political process at a party level. It's about moving on from the easy duty of postcards to the hard work of relationships.

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to work out that we need people on the inside as well as shouting from the outside. There's only so much you can ever really achieve from the outside. It was fantastic to be part of Christian Aid's 'Different Drum' march calling for Hillary Benn (then minister for International Development) to withhold money from the World Bank in protest at their restrictions on aid to developing countries. It happened. Amongst the cheering, what many hadn't realised was that there were Christians working at DFID making the arguments from positions of real influence.

Tomorrow morning our present Government could sign up to every policy and legislative consequence on the 'Christian agenda'. We would whoop excitedly, but the reality is that the decisions that will have the biggest Kingdom impact on the restoration of our world are those that will simply crop up in the years to come. They will be the reactive decisions about the next Iraq, the next Lebanon, or the next economic crisis. Surely we want people of integrity to be making those decisions that will make long-term differences to our nation and the rest of the world. Just having the right policy slate and advertising it from outside will never achieve that.

If you're anything like me, then a large part of the problem will be deciding which party to join. There are probably chunks of the policy slates of all the major parties that you disagree with. My advice is to simply get off the fence quickly. This is such a false reason for delaying. It took me ages. I procrastinated firstly about whether I would someday be returning to Northern Ireland, so should join a party there and then procrastinated about which colour I should pin to my mast. My final decision didn't feel particularly spiritual and was based on relationships rather than actual policy decisions.

Websites like www.politicalcompass.org may help you decide where your allegiances lie. I haven't regretted it for a second. If we're honest we probably don't agree with every word of the doctrinal statement of our chosen church family (if we even know it!), but we know we need to belong somewhere. We probably don't agree with our friends or spouses about everything, but we know we need to live in committed frameworks. To get anything done at a local or national level, people need to come together. Parties are simply people doing that. If we'd rather these parties had slightly different policies then you can bet your life that these will only change with you as a member suggesting it, rather than shouting it from the outside. I meet many utterly committed Christians in all three of the main parties (and the Green Party). They're not pretending, or wearing a badge of convenience. They are honestly attempting to flesh out the Word in the context of human structures, which are inevitably imperfect, just like our churches. Of course they have crisis moments of painful decision-making, when faith and policy scream at each other, but at least they are making choices, rather than simply resting in the safety of an ivory tower. The question we have to ask ourselves is do we simply want the self-satisfaction of being right about issues, or do we actually want to do the hard work of persuasion and implementation. In this process we learn to listen and learn from others too.

We all know that Daniel and his cohorts took a stand on eating food sacrificed to idols and on prayer. What we don't remember so often is that their stand on these issues was strengthened by the battles that they chose not to fight. They could have found many ethical reasons for not serving in a regime that was cruelly oppressing their own people. They could have drawn a line in the sand when their very identity as Israelites was undermined by the change in their names. But they didn't. Godly wisdom allowed them to know when to work with the grain and when to go against it.

I fear we have been lulled by the world's media into believing something that is altogether sinister. The drastically different concepts of acceptance and agreement have been merged to become one meaningless mess. Let me try to explain. Read any newspaper or web article and you will notice something interesting. Whenever two groups or two individuals disagree about something, there is an innate presumption that those individuals or groups are not in good relationship. There is a presumption that those who disagree on a certain issue will not be able to extend an arm of fellowship to each other. Acceptance and agreement are not the same thing. It is criminally dishonest to pretend that we agree with every opinion or life choice of those whom we accept and love. This is surely after all the basis of any healthy long-term relationship. Those that start with honest disagreement often outlast those which are founded on eagerness to please. You could talk about the façade of party political drama that masks hard-working people working and socialising together across party lines or you could talk about the myth that because one disagrees with someone else's life choices, you can't work with them or embrace them.

It has been amazing to see how quickly you get wired into local action groups, policy forums and other significant events, on joining a political party. Within three months the leader of my party was hearing me ask him a question from three rows away. Sure, his answer was political and equivocal, but the key thing is that he heard me. It only takes a few more people to be asking the same question and suddenly it's a national issue. Much as we love to be cynical about the system, when we engage with it, democracy can work!

If you join up you will be amazed to find that you will probably be the most loyal attendee at your local party meetings, as you're probably used to gathering regularly with some level of commitment. My local general committee meeting met recently and myself and the other Christian present represented one quarter of those there. Strategically important local decisions are made there! I've been able to hook church youth workers up with council representatives responsible for funding and oversight and co-ordinate those involved in other local initiatives. Real relationships are brokered. My knowledge of the immediate needs and issues affecting my local community has increased exponentially. You will find common cause with other passionate people. But it's hard work. You are forced to give researched and reasoned defence of your views rather than simply being able to loudly proclaim them in places where you know everyone agrees with you anyway. Are you shying away from a battle?

This is where hope hits the ground running. Working through the seemingly mundane details of local housing issues or parking is exactly what salt and light are all about. Salt crystals are small and they work themselves into the smallest fibres of the meat to preserve it. He is making ALL things new. Not just the stuff that grabs the headlines. When you spend time at an MP's surgery, you see face-to-face the unbelievable spectrum of needs in an area. Dealing with these issues (with limited local authority) is one of the most thankless and unglamorous jobs that I can imagine. To me that sounds a bit like carrying a cross. Are we up for it?

Our presence or lack of it confirms our theological and eschatological standpoint whether we like it or not. Are we happy to be clean-handed, correct and ready to escape or ready to be frustrated, bored, challenged, but involved in the coming of the Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven?

I also have noticed that the time is ripe for our engagement. All three of the major parties have had their ideological roots pulled up and are scouting around for a set of values to call their own. It is fascinating to chat with people around Westminster and realise how much time they spend casting around for a new big idea. What better time to bring the hope of the kingdom and its values to bear?

www.christiansinpolitics.org.uk has been set up by the Christian groupings in the three main parties as a first port-of-call for those wishing to explore engaging in politics. It provides great resources and a relational funnel for those who want to get involved at whatever level.