A guide to the CSM Marginals Project
How to facilitate a better understanding between Christians and their local Labour candidate.
The first thing to say is that every constituency is different. Some MPs/candidates already have a good relationship with Christians in their area, whereas in other areas you might find there is no dialogue at all, even mistrust. As a result, in each constituency you should use your own judgement to decide what will work best.
Be aware of the aims of the project: not to arrange a big event for its own sake, but to improve the understanding between the candidate and church community. In a constituency where there is currently no dialogue, a low-key lunch meeting between the candidate and church leaders might be more useful. In one where the candidate is already on good terms a low-key approach might serve no purpose. An open event where Christians in the area can ask their MP/prospective MP to address specific issues might work better.
Whichever event is suitable, you should consider the following:
Before the Meeting: Gauging Interest
The first thing you need to do is gauge the interest on both sides in arranging a meeting. The organisation of the event will involve two sets of people:
(i) the MP/candidate and their staff; and
(ii) church leaders/members.
The first point of contact for the MP should be the constituency office. Finding a point of contact for church leaders is more difficult. Ideally, there would be a strong church umbrella organisation like Churches Together (http://www.ctbi.org.uk/). If there is, find the moderator/chair of the organisation and talk to him/her. If you manage to convey the idea well, he/she will then take it to the other church leaders in the area and generate interest. If not, then you will have to contact churches individually. You can see if a church is in the constituency by using http://www.election-maps.co.uk.
Think carefully about whom to approach first. My instinct is that approaching churches first is better. They are less likely to ask you if you have commitment from the candidate than a candidate is to ask which churches are involved. Even if churches do want to know whether the candidate is interested; this shouldn’t present a big problem. You can tell them that you are confident that with interest from churches, it will happen: it’s the candidate’s job to meet with (prospective) constituents; it’s in his/her interest, etc.
In conveying the idea to the two different sets of people, you need to be aware that they will have different agendas and prejudices. You should convey the idea to the churches by explaining that this is a valuable opportunity to have Christian values heard and have their concerns addressed. Be aware that they might treat you with some scepticism about the Party Political nature of it all. Don’t say that the project is supported by the Labour Party. Say that the aim of the meeting would not be to campaign, but to increase Christian involvement in politics. If you are proposing a meeting only involving church leaders and the candidate, you can support your argument by stating that it will not be a big event to get publicity for the candidate, but a genuine attempt to improve a dialogue.
The idea will be much easier to explain to churches if the Labour candidate is the sitting MP, as there is more of a legitimate reason to meet.
It should be relatively straightforward to explain the idea to the candidate. If you already have interest from churches then they would not be doing their job very well if they refused. You can ask the Labour Party Headquarters in Westminster to encourage the MP/candidate to participate, but this probably won’t be necessary.
Arrange the Meeting
If you find that there is interest in having a meeting, you should then facilitate the arrangements. In my experience the best way to do this is to find a champion in the area who can liaise directly with church leaders and the candidate to make the arrangements on the ground. Of course, this approach means less work for you, but it also means that, if the meeting is successful, there will be a person in the area who can make sure the dialogue continues.
A champion for the project should be someone who has connections with several churches in the area and who will be pro-active in making a meeting happen. The ideal person would be the moderator of a Churches Together umbrella organisation. In gauging the interest from churches you will hopefully find someone who is suitable. You can also contact members of the Christian Socialist Movement (CSM) in the area. They are likely to have some contacts with churches in the area and should be willing to organise something if they are asked in the right way. You should aid the champion by giving them contact information for the candidate’s office and any other church leaders you have spoken to. Make it clear that it is up to him/her to make the practical arrangements.
If you are unable to find one person to take the project on for you, then you should decide if it is worth organising something yourself. Even if you find somebody to organise the meeting, it is worth checking and encouraging that they do the following:
• Fix a time and date as soon as possible. You need something to work around and if you constantly push the date back, you might find you lose interest and nothing happens.
• Decide on a venue. The ideal place would be a church hall or somewhere on ‘home ground’ for the church leaders. This will give the event a feel more of the candidate coming to listen than the church leaders going to ask.
• Get firm commitment from everyone invited.
• Set an agenda. Ask each church leader to propose one or two topics they want to focus on. Make sure the candidate has a copy of the agenda well in advance.
• Take minutes of the meeting, clearly stating any actions that the candidate can pursue.
• If possible, take photographs.
• And, if no one objects, arrange for local newspapers to cover it in some way.
The meeting will have real value if it starts a long-term dialogue. To make sure this happens, encourage the candidate to follow up on anything that came up during the meeting and encourage the candidate/church leaders to arrange more meetings in the future.
As I wrote in the beginning, every constituency will need a slightly different approach, and as a result this guide should be treated more as advice than anything else. In general though, you should approach the project by focusing (in rough order) on the following things:
1. Gauge the interest in a meeting.
2. Find a champion for the idea in the church community of the constituency.
3. Aid the champion as they need.
4. Ensure there is follow-up to the meeting.
Tom Warnett
CSM Volunteer
2009
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