This month has been a very busy month for the Evangelical Alliance in Wales.
We had the last First Ministers Faith Community Forum with Carwyn Jones. The Faith Communities Forum was established after the events of 11 September 2001 to bring faith leaders, politicians and civil servants round a table for discussion.
This meeting is a great opportunity for Evangelical Alliance Wales to represent the views of evangelical Christians directly to the First Ministers, allowing us to effectively voice our concerns and the views of our members and member churches. It is a great testament to the work of the Evangelical Alliance in Wales that we have a seat on this committee and it demonstrates that the voices of Welsh Evangelicals are being listened to.
At the final meeting before Carwyn Jones stands down as the First Minister he gave the committee his assurance that whoever would replace him would continue to maintain dialogue with Faith groups.
A consultation on loneliness has been launched by the Welsh Assembly. Loneliness is a desperately serious issue that is on the increase and affects people of all ages. An initial report prepared by the Assembly made no mention of the work of churches or people of faith to combat loneliness. For many people across Wales seeing people from church is the only consistent and meaningful interaction with people they have all week and so it was disappointing to see this contribution overlooked.
I will be submitting a written response mentioning the pivotal role that churches play in society, particularly around this area. If you would like to talk to me about some of the activity that your church does to combat loneliness please do get in touch at s.​pritchard@​eauk.​org.
