Another year has come to an end and we praise God for all the things that He has blessed us with. This has been a year of change and success for the CCF, not only did we campaign this year during the election, we also celebrated our 25th Jubilee anniversary, attended Party Conference, organised Prayers for the Nation services, led the IMPACT course and had a fantastic Wilberforce Address and Christmas Party. We have also said goodbye to old staff members and hello to new ones. If we could summarise this year we would quote from Romans 11:29 ‘For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable’.
During the General Election the CCF was busy campaigning across the country and getting Christians involved in political debates. After a successful campaign where many of the candidates that we supported were elected and re-elected; the CCF turned their attention to the fact that 2015 was the year of its 25th Jubilee. The CCF has experienced some phenomenal achievements since it was founded in 1990 by Tim Montgomerie and David Burrowes MP. These were remembered during the Anniversary celebrations where we were joined by Canon Andrew White and also heard from the Education Secretary, the Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP, who stated that the CCF has been 'critical in building links between Conservatives and Christian Churches'. She also extended the Prime Minister's message to the CCF, in which he highlighted that 'this silver anniversary is a milestone of which everyone in this party should be proud'. Worship was led by the enigmatic Noel Robinson and soprano Chen Wang. With the Jubilee Celebrations over the CCF turned our attention to our next big project which was the Annual Party Conference.
Whilst organising our participation in the Party Conference, we also worked on recruiting students for our IMPACT Leadership in Public Life course, which is gaining strength and quality year by year. We are pleased to say that this year the students are diverse, involved and ready to make an impact. It has been an enjoyable time for the CCF to start working with such a great group of individuals. In conjunction with this, the CCF also worked with Samaritan's Purse to build bridges through their Operation Christmas Child campaign. We encouraged Members of Parliament, Peers and their staff to donate shoeboxes filled with gifts. We are pleased to say that this has been highly popular amongst MPs and our colleagues with donations coming from all corners of Parliament and the office. We continued to be the salt and light at the heart of Government by hosting Prayers for the Nation and Westminster Briefing where we encouraged parliamentarians and charity groups to join in prayer over some of the following topics - ‘Refugee Crisis’, ‘Assisted Dying Bill’ and ‘Family Test Bill’.
This year we are happy to report that the our presence in the Conference was more prominent than ever – we held our Annual Conference Church Service at !Audacious Church. We were able to continue our work of building bridges as we partnered with Christian Aid and heard from the Rt Hon Desmond Swayne MP, Minister of State for International Development and a host of other Members of Parliament including John Glen, David Burrowes, Fiona Bruce, David Nuttall and Caroline Ansell. The message this year was ‘Stewarding God’s Creation’. The CCF was also greatly encouraged by the elements of Kingdom Values we felt the Prime Minister included in his Conference Speech, speaking about social justice and the need to tackle all forms of injustice including social poverty. He also mentioned how a strong economy has benefited and will continue to benefit our society. We were blessed by a high attendance at Conference service that reached out to 600 people. We were delighted to house five fantastic charity partners on our high-profile exhibition stands - The Message Trust, Langley House Trust, Compassion, Open Doors and FaithAction - and in the morning we allocated time for prayer, fellowship and breakfast where we heard from Christian Aid, the Trussell Trust and LIFE Charity; all intent on bringing Jesus to the heart of the Conservative Party.
The last big event in the CCF calendar was the Annual Wilberforce Address and Christmas Party – this was a much anticipated event as it brought the year to a close. This year we heard from the Rt Hon Stephen Crabb, Secretary of State for Wales and MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire. He spoke on ‘Faith, Freedom and One Nation’. He highlighted the need for Britain to stop ‘squeezing faith out of mainstream’ society and the need to keep building on the Christian heritage that Britain has. We were greatly pleased at this message as it clearly evoked the issues that are current in Britain and the faith debates that Britain is currently facing. This evening also gave us an opportunity to say a big thank you to Faye Watson who stepped in as Interim Director and also announced Gareth Wallace as our new Executive Director – he has previously worked for the Salvation Army and has been a long term supporter of the CCF.
We were also delighted by the Queen's Christmas message - where Her Majesty stated that 'Christ's unchanging message was not one of revenge or violence but simply that we should love one another'. This was a heartening message to hear in light of what has been happening around the world this year. The Prime Minister also highlighted that 'as a Christian country, we must remember what His birth represents: peace, mercy, goodwill and, above all, hope'. These messages were an encouragement to us all.
Our mission has always been to be the salt and light, to be a bridge between Christians and the Conservative Party and to bring Kingdom Values to the heart of Government. We appreciate that none of what we achieved together would have been possible without your financial contributions and your prayers. Together as the Conservative Christian Fellowship, we would like to achieve even more in 2016.
If you have not previously considered regular donations to the CCF, we would be delighted if you were able to support us financially with regular monthly donations, so that we can continue to sow seeds and witness in the public square. We want 2016 to be the year that we break all records and make our presence more visible than ever; we cannot do this without your support.
Blessings,
Evelina, Faye, Rosina and Sam - The CCF Team