LATEST EDITION OF IMPACT PUBLISHED

The latest CPF quarterly e-zine has been published and includes an interview with Brian Trudgian on the slave trade and articles on evangelising civil servants, climate change, and a review of 2007. To receive IMPACT for free via email, go to our website - www.cpfhome.com - to find out more about IMPACT and how to contact us to subscribe.

Decline in RC Numbers

This should concern us all, because they are not the only mainline denomination this is happening to. How to stem the flow needs a complex answer, but we should ask ourselves how do we attract people to the priesthood/minisrty? And more importantly, is God telling us something and we are not listening?

Barack Obama Speaking at Martin Luther King's Church

Whatever anyone's politics, it's good to see one of the Presidential candidates addressing issues which should concern us all

(Obama 08)

American Muslims Speaking to the World

Hat tip to Rachel from North London
Inspirational stuff, perhaps those of us who are Christians should make a similar video to conteract the prejudices made towards us

"God is not a Republican or a Democrat"

Check out this press release from the Christian People's Alliance. Although we are not supporters of the Party, or any political party, as an organisation, we do agree with the general gist of what they are saying about the elections over in the US:

"God is Not a Republican or a Democrat" -
Lessons from Iowa for Christian Politics

Now that the people of the state of Iowa have chosen Republican MikeHuckabee and Democrat Barack Obama as their nominees for US President,
the Christian Peoples Alliance (CPA) party in Britain is saying there areimportant lessons for politics here. Many commentators have notedChristianity as an important factor in Iowa - especially as evangelicalsturned out largely for Huckabee. According to the CPA, religion will alsobe a crucial factor in British politics in 2008."It can never be said loudly enough - God is not a Democrat or aRepublican and He can't be captured in the UK by Labour or theConservatives either", said Councillor Alan Craig, Leader of the CPA
and opposition leader on Newham Borough Council. What matters is
authenticity, the values agenda and a commitment as Barack Obama
said to "change, change, change".In Iowa, both Democrats and Republicans underlined their Christiancredentials, with TIME magazine announcing "a levelling of the prayingfield". Democratic presidential candidates devoted more time reaching outto faith communities in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire,and South Carolina - than the Republicans. US commentators pointed outthat faith outreach operations were central to the Democratic candidates'campaign strategies, with "faith forums", newsletters on family and valuesand even gospel music tours. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards both raisedtheir history as committed members of their denomination, while BarackObama underlined his membership of the United Church of Christ. All threeexplicitly connected their faith to a broad range of issues from povertyto health care, criminal justice, HIV/AIDS, human rights, and to war andpeace.Cllr Alan Craig says the distinctive approach of the CPA in Britishpolitics is to change the debate by combining a passion for social justiceissues, climate change and political change as the Democrats did in Iowa,with Mike Huckabee's emphasis on Jesus-centered ethics of personalresponsibility and speaking for the politically-marginalised."Christians in London need to hear this: with important elections for theLondon Assembly and Mayor coming up, they should never be in any party'sor candidate's political pocket. Ideally, church-goers in London will bethe ultimate swing vote because of their moral independence from partisanpolitics. The aim of the CPA in May is to be the voice of Christianconscience on the London Assembly and we'll be working hard from now untilMay to earn the trust of all Londoners and win their votes."

Happy New Year!

We would like to wish everyone a happy New Year and all the best for 2008. 2007 was a good year for the Christian Political Forum. We set up a new re-designed website and we published the report - A Call to Community - which received quite a bit of attention and quite a lot of downloads from the CPF website. Later this year we intend to publish a series of bible study guides on political leadership which you will be able to download for free from our website. Thanks for your support of the CPF in 2007 and we look forward to your support in 2008.

Aidan Liriano and Paul Burgin
CPF co-ordinators