Campaign socialists

With a general election just months away, Andy Flannagan recounts his experiences of campaigning, and sees it as an opportunity to follow Christ’s example of service.

The last few weeks have confirmed that CSM’s strategy of prophetic engagement with the Labour Party is bearing fruit.  It was incredible to hear the Prime Minister Gordon Brown speaking bravely to the G20 about a global transaction tax.  As you will be well aware, CSM has been campaigning on this issue for many years, with frequent mentions in The Common Good.  We held a well-attended event at Labour Party conference specifically on this issue, which alongside many private conversations with Treasury ministers, and the work of our partners in the stamp out poverty coalition, all seem to have created a momentum culminating in the Prime Minister’s pronouncement.  We should be encouraged.  The age of ideas is back.

This provides specific encouragement to our campaign to separate retail and casino (speculative) banking.  With the governor of the Bank of England now hopping on board the campaign, anything is possible!  There was a high level of support from MPs to the early day motion tabled by our chair Alun Michael and John McFall, the chair of the Treasury select committee, and it has now been retabled for the new parliamentary session.  Please download the resources from the CSM website and write to your own MP to encourage them to sign it.

This growing influence is coming about not just by relationship building at HQ, conference events, web articles, and many whispered conversations, but also through prayer.  We are genuinely seeing the fruit of realising that much happens “Not by might, not by power, but my spirit”.  The same chapter in Zechariah also asks, “Who despises the day of small things?”  Inch by inch, we are seeing change.

So a vital part of continuing our engagement in 2010 will be our work as a movement during the general election campaign.  If you’re anything like me, you often need a prod to get out of the door to get on the streets campaigning, but once I’m out there, I don’t want to stop.  There is sense of being fully alive that comes from meeting new people and experiencing new situations.

In 2008, I had the privilege of standing in a byelection for Lambeth council.  The ward in which I was standing has stolen a place in my heart.  Vassall is a fantastic place of about 15,000 people, but with some serious problems.  It boasts more CCTV cameras than the whole of Edinburgh and 36% of the residents have no qualifications of any description.  As I wandered around the estates, knocking on doors, I realised that there weren’t too many other people knocking on people’s doors.  These folks didn’t get too many opportunities to tell their stories and feel connected to the big picture.

As I listened to stories of their incredible struggles and impressive effort on behalf of their families, I was suddenly very humbled.  The reality was that someone like me would probably not be knocking those doors unless I was looking for their vote.  In a moment, I experienced the imperfect beauty of democracy, acting like a magnet to bring society at least a little closer together.  It was inspiring to work with local councillors to help folks get simple things like guttering, bins, heating or playgrounds sorted.  I also experienced how thankless the role of a local councillor can be.  No thanks for the things you get done, but lots of abuse for the things that you haven’t managed to get to (in a role that you are performing in your spare time!).  It struck me that much of what I saw going on was incredibly Christ-like in its humble service.

Campaigning also provides an opportunity to bring two other distinctives as Christians.  Number one, it presents a unique opportunity to listen and learn.  Perhaps the best first expression of love and compassion, is listening.  It might seem obvious, but it can be quite a radical idea for the church, and one we often haven’t always been good at putting into practice.  Too often as churches we behave as though we don’t need to listen because we already have all the answers.  But Jesus was a fantastic listener.

On the vast majority of occasions, Jesus healed people because they, or their friends, asked him to.  And either the person in need or their friends were directly involved in the healing process.  Jesus didn’t impose solutions.  He asked people what they wanted, he listened, and he often made it clear that it was their faith that led to the result.  Jesus did not dole out healing to passive recipients; he expected people to participate, to get involved. 

He also seems to have been the kind of person that people went to for help; someone approachable and compassionate, someone who might just listen, the natural person to look to for healing.  You get the sense that people felt he was “one of us” because he was happy to come to the rough end of town.

Number two, everyone is aware of the sort of negative campaigning that gives politicians a bad name.  It is sometimes hard to stand against this tide, but there is a real impact when people whose hope is drawn not only from what they can see in the visible realm engage with a community.  This optimism is possible because for the Christian, winning or losing is hopefully not everything.  We will fight as hard as anyone, but never let a tribal battle trump the interests of the kingdom, sacrificing integrity or relationships.  It strikes me that we must never forget where our true identity is found, as it’s often all too easy to find our identity in a tribe.  The formal coats of political parties and organisations are important to put on, but we must remember that they are only coats.

Most of the significant relationships in our lives are those forged in the midst of a common task.  We know this to be true from things like sports teams and mission trips.  Campaigning creates a natural common ground which is fertile for relationship-building as Christians.  When we work together with people, sharing the highs and lows, lasting bonds are formed.  The kingdom extends along the lines created by these pre-existing relationships.

This is echoed by Steve Addison in his scholarly work called ‘Movements That Change the World’.  He examines a wide spread of movements, gleaning from examples such as the Celtic missionary movements, the abolitionists, or the birth of Methodism, and he reports four key characteristics that are always present.

1 White-hot faith
2 Commitment to a cause
3 Contagious relationships, and
4 Rapid mobilisation.

We have a wonderful opportunity this year to build our movement in the midst of a shared task.  Our movement will grow when we meet not for the sake of meeting, but as we work and pray together in support of those who we know will serve their areas with integrity.  Over the page, Helen Dennis meets just a few of these folks.

“If you want to go fast, go it alone. If you want to go far, go together.” (African proverb)