Wales: 2022 advocacy round up

The relationships that have been built and maintained this year between the Evangelical Alliance and policymakers within the Senedd have been very positive. 

Back in March, our Wales public policy officer Nathan Sadler, and director of advocacy Danny Webster attended the Welsh parliamentary prayer breakfast which centred on the theme of revival. The work of the Evangelical Alliance was highlighted at this event by Darren Millar MS, and Nathan prayed to close the event. As well as the immense privilege it was to gather with others to pray for a revival in the nation, this platform also opened up more opportunities for us to network with members of Senedd, civil servants, and other organisations that had attended the event. This proved to be fruitful in the long run, and we pray for more opportunities like this in the future. 

Sponsored

Through our involvement in education forums and the interfaith council, we have been able to represent the voice of evangelicals in differing policy areas and become more well known amongst peers and policymakers. 

Particularly in the education space, the Evangelical Alliance has become a trusted voice. At the beginning of the year, we could not have foretold that ministers and civil servants would still be reaching out to us to gain insight into the response to the Welsh relationship and sex education curriculum. It has been good to engage with them on this, and to help shape what children and young people learn about healthy relationships. Being part of the interfaith council has led to us gaining allies as we work in this space, which has helped to make our voice even stronger in this area. 

Pray that relationships with the Senedd will go from strength to strength and that the Evangelical Alliance will continue to be seen as a trusted voice on issues. 

At the start of the year, Nathan focused efforts on building strong relationships with member organisations such as Tearfund, Home for Good and others like Cytun working in the faith space. He has continued to meet and touch base with these contacts over the year. These relationships are foundational to much of the policy engagement that we do across a number of topics, and we will continue to build on them over the coming year. 

Pray that the relationships we have with churches and organisations will help to steer the work that we do, and that we can represent their voices well within Senedd. 

While it has been a productive year where relationships have deepened, changes to the team have meant there has been a lot of reactive policy engagement. We look forward to the Welsh team growing in size and capacity next year, allowing for greater focus on strategic and proactive policy engagement. Please be praying for us as we do this – we want to see the gospel impact a wide range of policy issues. 

An area that we are seeking to speak into over the coming months is health and social care. As the government looks to reform care, we want to bring a Christian voice to the narrative, particularly in the context of foster care, to ensure that the most vulnerable in Wales are properly cared for. 

While we have enjoyed deeper relationships with the Senedd this year, there is still challenging ground for us. Please pray for us as we seek to be more intentional in our relationships with MSs in government over the coming year, and that these relationships will soften and result in more opportunities to input into policy decisions.

The support and prayer that we have received in 2022 has made a big difference to the work that we have been able to do – thank you. Please do keep praying for us throughout 2023. 

Do you work in policy influencing and want to connect and collaborate with the Welsh team in the new year? Then email Nathan on advocacy@​eauk.​org