Danielle McElhinney
Danielle serves as the Public Policy Officer for the Evangelical Alliance in Northern Ireland, where she advocates for Christian engagement in public life. Living on the scenic north coast with her husband and three grown children, Danielle enjoys beach walks, deep conversations, and sharing a cup of tea with friends. Her heart is to inspire Christians in Northern Ireland to live out the gospel by actively serving in their communities and contributing to a flourishing society. Danielle is passionate about seeing God at work through justice, renewal, and compassionate action in Jesus' name especially in tackling poverty and it's effects on communities across Northern Ireland.
Do evangelical Christians have anything good to say about the Draft Programme for Government?
2 October 2024Recently, I spent time with Nichola Mallon, former Infrastructure Minister and SDLP MLA, who shared her experience of losing her seat in the last election. On that day, she received a wave of appreciation from people across the country, starkly contrasting the constant criticism she often faced while performing a difficult job under intense scrutiny. This made me reflect on the role of evangelical Christians as good citizens in Northern Ireland. Should we engage in public conversations and…
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This election is pivotal for evangelicals in Northern Ireland – let’s keep praying and preparing
24 June 2024For evangelical Christians, these issues are not abstract political debates but matters of profound moral and ethical concern. The allocation of resources affects the most vulnerable in our society, including children, people living in poverty and those who are settled here in the asylum process. From our recent UK-wide research report (Thinking Faithfully About Politics), we know that the biggest factor influencing how evangelicals will vote is the impact that their vote will have on others.…
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Launch Day: Coalition of Christian Voices Against Poverty in Northern Ireland
20 February 2024Over the past 18 months, we have gathered together leaders from a broad range of Christian churches and organisations to collaborate and address poverty's impact on local communities. Our efforts include engaging with political representatives, expressing concerns to the NI Secretary of State about damaging budget cuts and supporting events like the Cliff Edge Coalition Stormont event in September 2022. The panel of experts on launch day challenged us on the theme ‘Beyond Benevolence:…
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Northern Ireland: can we reimagine a good news vision for our nation?
22 June 2023We are living in an extraordinary time for our nation. Since February 2022, Northern Ireland has had no functioning Executive in our devolved government at Stormont. This has resulted in no assembly debates, no committee scrutiny of legislation and no decision making at a time when Northern Ireland needs strong leadership. The general feeling amongst the people in Northern Ireland is one of frustration and despondency. The low turnout in the latest council elections in May 2023 hints at a…
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Celebrating women of faith and influence
10 March 2023Many evangelical Christian women, whether or not they would describe themselves as feminists, want to celebrate their achievements and mark the significant roles that Christian women are playing across all fields of work in Northern Ireland. In our work here at the Evangelical Alliance, I and my colleagues Donna and Dawn meet many Christian women who are doing these kinds of incredible things every day in Northern Ireland. Women who love and follow Jesus are finding themselves in surprising…
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NI: Miscarriage and the church – is it still a taboo?
20 December 2022Miscarriage or early pregnancy loss (EPL) is the loss of a baby before 24 weeks of pregnancy. A woman who has a miscarriage may not have realised she was pregnant and often she will not have told anyone about the pregnancy until after the ‘safe’ 12 weeks stage. So, talking about miscarriage can be painful for mothers and fathers as they come to terms with what might have been, but has been lost. Recently the Evangelical Alliance in Northern Ireland submitted a response to the Department for…
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“COL”: now a universal acronym
30 August 2022UK inflation rates have hit levels we haven’t seen in 30 years, eye watering energy prices are predicted to rise again, and Northern Ireland tops the list of areas in the UK where the percentage of households is predicted to fall into fuel poverty by a whopping 76.3% by January 2023. The cost-of-living crisis means that my WhatsApp groups have been repurposed and have become a directory of where to get the cheapest fuel in town and what latest household deals can be found in supermarkets and…
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Countdown to the Northern Ireland assembly elections
26 April 2022My Twitter feed is inundated with tweets from candidates out pounding the streets in sensible shoes, knocking on doors, and canvassing for every vote they can gain. They are all making the most of social media reels to let us know about the issues that they are hearing about again and again at the doors – how to fix the NHS and support mental health, tackle the cost-of-living crisis and the controversial roll out of abortion services in NI following the 2019 Abortion Bill. No surprise to find…
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Violence against women and girls (VAWG): a personal reflection and a policy response
4 February 2022Leah Houston is in her second year studying theology at Belfast Bible College and currently on placement with us at the Evangelical Alliance NI. Here, Leah shares her thoughts and feelings considering the murder of Ashling Murphy: “It could have been my friend, it could have been my sister, it could have been me. The unjust killing of Ashling Murphy is unfortunately just another reminder to every young girl in the country that our greatest fear when we are out and about now isn`t if we will get…
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Summary of response to the Climate Change Bill 2021
27 July 2021"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Genesis 2:15 As Christians we believe that there is a clear biblical mandate to care for creation. God has given human beings a unique responsibility to act in a way that looks after and looks out for His creation. We are called to be stewards and take care of the earth that God has given us. “The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than…
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