Chris Ringland
Chris joined the Evangelical Alliance as public policy officer for Scotland in 2021. In this role he represents our membership of churches, charities, individuals and families to the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament, seeking to make Jesus known. He has also completed the Evangelical Alliance's Public Leadership programme. Previously, Chris worked in the Scottish Parliament. He is originally from Northern Ireland and completed degrees in both Geography & Politics and Public Policy in Scotland, and is a massive West Ham United fan (champions of Europe 2023). He is married to Eilidh.
Scottish Independence: How did we get here?
25 November 2022What did the UK supreme court decide? Dorothy Bain KC, the Lord Advocate for the Scottish government, referred the question as to whether Holyrood has the legal powers to hold an independence referendum within its devolved powers to the UK supreme court. This is because there has been no agreement between the UK government and the Scottish government to hold a referendum – it was through the Edinburgh Agreement that the 2014 Independence Referendum was able to be held. The UK supreme court has…
Read more...
Drug deaths remain unacceptably high in Scotland
3 August 2022The drug death rate is arguably the biggest challenge Scotland faces. Collectively, Great Britain has one of the worst rates in Europe. But if Scotland is measured separately, the problem is significantly worse.
Read more...
Gender recognition reform: giving evidence to Scottish parliament
9 June 2022As the law stands, someone must have lived in their acquired gender for two years and provide medical evidence of a diagnosis of gender dysphoria in order to be granted a GRC. The proposed bill would amend this by removing the requirement for medical evidence and reducing to three months the requirement of how long one must have lived in their acquired gender (though with a further three-month reflection period). It would also reduce the minimum age of application to 16 and introduce a “false…
Read more...
Scotland moves closer to tackling commercial sexual exploitation
4 March 2022Thankfully, there may finally be some changes ahead. Over the past few months, momentum has shifted in the Scottish Parliament and these issues are rising up the agenda. Two debates in the parliament (Prostitution Law Reform, 3 November 2021 and Online Pimping, 10 February 2022), have shown how farcical the current legal situation is: “Commercial pimping websites operate openly and legally, and they are fuelling sex trafficking across the country. Those highly lucrative websites make their…
Read more...
COP26: Helping churches in Scotland to become net zero
11 October 2021As our policy position on the environment states: “We believe it is part of our commission as Christians to be good stewards of God’s creation. In Genesis, after God created the earth and everything in it, He declared it very good. He invited the people He had created to have ‘dominion’ over it; they were to take responsibility for its care. As followers of Jesus, we should treat the earth with respect because God has entrusted us to take care of it.” Our mandate to care for God’s creation and…
Read more...
Public Leader Scotland: Back for our fifth year
24 September 2021Our vision for Public Leadership here at the Evangelical Alliance is to transform our four nations of the UK over the next 30 years through having a generation of Christians leaders living out their public faith by being true salt and light in their work across all sectors. We believe these Christian leaders will bring the transformative power of the gospel to their communities, who complete their work with excellence and will fulfil the great commission – changing culture in the process. Here…
Read more...
Churches in Scotland: Physical distancing ends but face masks remain
4 August 2021The First Minister has announced that Scotland will move beyond Level 0 on Monday and remove all but a few COVID-19 legal requirements that have been in place since the UK went into lockdown in March last year. In practice, this will mean that churches can hold worship services with unlimited numbers of people with no need to enact physical distancing between households. These changes have been made possible by both the high uptake of the COVID-19 vaccination in Scotland (93 per cent of the…
Read more...
Redeeming the time
24 June 2020In Ephesians 5, Paul, pretty much, does exactly that, as he encourages the church to “look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17, ESV). I love the NKJV translation of verse 16: “redeeming the time”. Granted, with schools closed and physical distancing measures in place, lockdown has made many busier than usual, perhaps with…
Read more...
Scottish Government Route Map: Phase 2 & the Church in Scotland
18 June 2020 The following conditions had to be met to begin Phase 2: The virus must be controlled;The R infection rate must be consistently below 1;The 6 World Health Organisation criteria must be in place (including capacities to test, trace and isolate, preventative measures established in workplaces and the risks of exporting and importing cases from communities with high risks of transmission are managed);Any signs of resurgence will be closely monitored as part of enhanced community surveillance but…
Read more...
What today's lockdown easing in Scotland means for your church
28 May 2020In order to enter the first phase, the following conditions had to be met: The virus has not yet been fully contained, and there is a continued risk of overwhelming the NHS capacity without lockdown restrictions continuing;The R infection number has been below 1 for at least 2 weeks prior and the number of infections starting to decline;Sustained reductions in hospital admissions, ICU admissions, and deaths;Testing capacity increased alongside the implementation of digital systems for contact…
Read more...
Scottish Government responds to Evangelical Alliance joint letter
20 May 2020We were delighted by the positive response from the Government. Aileen Campbell, cabinet secretary for communities and local government (directly responsible for faith and belief), wrote back to us, thanking Scotland’s faith communities for how they have provided support for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities across the nation throughout the pandemic. The cabinet secretary also outlined how the Scottish Government is continuing to engage with faith leaders and communities to…
Read more...