General Election 2015: resources

As the
General Election draws every closer and the #liblabconkip train rolls on we thought it might be helpful to
focus in on a few key resources to help you cast your vote…

The first and most important resources you have to hand are your time and your vote itself – that’s not a trick: you can read
all the policy and manifesto you want but it’s useless if you don’t pray and don’t vote,
so:
PRAY
1 Timothy2:1 gives us some pretty clear instructions: we’re to pray for those in
authority; this isn’t a verse to be glossed over – have you prayed for any of
the parties or politicians scrambling for your vote? You need to! Jesus has all
authority – why not pray according to Luke 11:2 that he uses this election to
bring more of his Kingdom into the UK? Beware though, the government that could prove most fruitful for the gospel doesn’t
necessarily mean the one which will make things more comfortable for Christians – church history suggests quite the opposite!
ACT 
It sounds
almost blasphemous, but praying in isolation is not enough! God has chosen the
church as his main means of communicating and extending his Kingdom;
this singular truth has huge implications for us – we’re often the answer to our own prayers! You want
to see the church grow? Pray for it, then go invite people, go witness! You want to see
more healing in the church? Pray for that too, then get out and pray for the sick! You want
more charismatic or prophetic expression in the church? Pray, then prophesy! You
say you want God to give victory to the right party, the one he wants in power? Pray – then get
out on May 7th and cast
that vote… God is with you – more than that he is in you and will lead you into all truth. The Operation Black Vote campaign is seeking to maximise the
influence of black & Asian voters in this year’s election – what a travesty
if the church fails to turn out; it would almost be as though the church was
choosing to be a minority voice in our nation… don’t let that happen, cast your vote and encourage
all your brothers and sisters to use their vote as well.
EDUCATE YOURSELF!
Finally – here
are some helpful links to make digesting all that election-information a little
bit easier, and to help you turn #liblabconkip into a genuine choice!
Here’s the General Election timetable, from
Parliament itself…  
The
Evangelical Alliance & Christians in Politics ‘Show up’ campaign includes, among other things, some helpful info
about Christian groups within the main parties… 
The Faith in
Politics briefing (PDF here) gives a
helpful overview of key issues and touches on many of the social problems that
our Everyday Difference work has started to address. 
Christian
Aid’s ‘Contract with the world’s poor
sets out in brief a series of global issues which they feel the next UK
government needs to address – it’s a brief but broadly helpful document… 
Vote for Policies provide a survey to help you work out
which Party you’re most aligned with in term of policy. So that you’re not
swayed by prejudice or personality, the policies are presented in a quiz format
without reference to the parties that made them… 
Finally, the
BBC’s Manifesto watch and Policy Guide pages give an excellent
overview of the main points of each party’s argument on the range of hot potato
topics…  
So – get reading,
get praying and get voting!