ROSS HENDRY CEO of CARE
DEAR
FRIEND, September 2024
It has now been two months since the General Election. Like you, I was surprised by the sudden announcement. Most of our planning had been based on an Autumn election. But one of the things I admire most about the team here at CARE is that they are rarely fazed! A lot of work on our election website, engaGE24, had already been done and within 24 hours, the site was launched.
When I came to CARE as CEO, I said supporting and equipping the Church at election times should be one of our top priorities. As a team we challenged ourselves to go bigger and better than ever before. Looking back, I’m thrilled with the level of engagement with our engaGE24 site. The policy quiz especially received nearly 40,000 responses and the overall site had more than 150,000 page views, reaching tens of thousands of people.
But it was not only the site: our team launched a new election podcast which collected thousands of views and we have laid the groundwork for an audience for the future. We distributed more than 25,000 Prayer Diaries, and we used the election time to contact all candidates to make introductions and start the work of building relationships with the 350 new MPs in the House of Commons.
Now the transition from one government to another has happened, we have a new Prime Minister and a new Cabinet. The King’s Speech included an unusually high number of Bills, including some draft ones. We noted especially the Children’s Welfare Bill, which presents both opportunities for engagement and challenges. The Conversion Practices Ban, which could impact Christian freedoms, appeared, but in draft form, which means it will receive additional scrutiny. This is a good thing and gives a fresh chance for the Church to engage.
In the post-election private members’ bill ballot in the House of Lords, Lord Falconer’s Assisted
Suicide Bill came number two. This means the maximum amount of time for debate, with a big vote likely this month or next. Please pray for our Policy Team as they engage on this matter, alongside many others.
I feel passionately that we should not simply react to legislation we do not like. Over the summer, we put a huge amount of work into developing proactive policy calls and initiatives to help put issues on the government’s agenda.
You can expect to see some of these ideas being publicised over the next parliamentary session. You will also see CARE continuing its work on some of our core causes, like the beginning and end of life and the impact of pornography. And we will move into some new areas, such as poverty, with biblically-based solutions to help people flourish.
Alongside this intentional policy work, we want to build new relationships with MPs, as well as keep existing relationships warm. There are at least 43 Labour MPs who call themselves Christian and some of these will be evangelical. Please do pray for us in our work of equipping politicians.
Yet CARE is not only concerned about policy - we also want to engage the Church and in particular, to equip God’s people on key issues and causes. That’s why we have launched our updated CARE website, continued our podcast from the election, and provided Christian commentary every week via our regular, Impact Direct email. You will also find enclosed with this letter a comprehensive guide to the new government and what Christians should expect. With it being September, we have also welcomed a new cohort of Christian graduates for our Leadership Programme. Empowering future leaders is one of the most strategic elements to our work. We love the opportunity to invest in tomorrow’s leaders and this new group is eager and excited to get started. Please do pray for our new group! We’ll be sending out a leaflet soon to help you pray for them each day.
With this new season beginning, it is a wonderful opportunity to thank you all and to let you know how vital you are to our work. Put simply, your partnership with us is utterly invaluable. We treasure your every contribution, whether it be praying with us, taking political action and responding to consultations, or generously supporting us financially.
If you have found our election coverage engaging, and would like to help us connect with more MPs and help bring God’s better story into the corridors of power, then I would like to invite you to continue to support our work. Your partnership with us makes a real and lasting difference, and we could not do any of this without you.
Yours in His grace,
ROSS HENDRY CEO of CARE