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Written by Zoe Franklin
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Tuesday, 26 February 2008 |
Zöe Franklin looks back on an eventful week in Brighton.
Building on the success of last year's joint service with the Salvation Army, LDCF's conference events began on Sunday as we joined with Dorset Garden Methodist Church. As part of the service our Chair Martin Turner took an interesting and inspiring look at Daniel 6 in a sermon entitled Don't Blame the Lions: Insights from the Bible's Most Famous Prime Minister, and during the sung worship LDCF members even joined in an action song by roaring like lions! 
Each day began with morning praise, this year focussing on the biblical perspective of poverty, and LDCF members who were able to make the early start-time of 8am heard from Sal Brinton, PPC for Watford; Major Charles Swanbury from the Salvation Army; and Kate Heywood, LDCF Vice-Chair, who stepped in for Simon Hughes MP at the last minute.
On Tuesday morning we once again held a joint Breakfast fringe with the Free Church representatives(Methodists, The Conference service Sal Brinton PPC at Morning Praise Quakers, Baptists, URC and Salvation Army) where we were joined by Reverend Malcolm Duncan of Faithworks and Tim Farron MP who presented a challenging look at the Christian and political response to urban and rural poverty. Following this fringe members of LDCF's committee met with the church representatives to discuss LDCF's work within the Party and our vision for Christian involvement in politics.
The highlight of the week was Tuesday evening's fringe (in association with the Bible Society) entitled Liberal Democracy and Liberalism. This event marked the start of an indepth project exploring the relationship between Liberal political philosophy and Christian faith and was led by a high-profile panel of David Landrum (Bible Society), Steve Webb MP, Jonathan Bartley (Ekklesia) and Nick Spencer (Theos). Each speaker presented their thoughts on the issue up for discussion and then time was given to questions from the floor. (More details of the evening's proceedings can be found in the article Liberal Democracy and Christianity available on this website.)
In addition to LDCF's conference events and exhibition stand the Autumn conference also provided us with new media opportunities – Martin Turner speaking to Premier hristian Radio each day with a review of the day's events; an article on the Tuesday fringe event on the Ekklesia website and an extended article on LDCF and the Party in the Church of England Times. We even made it onto the back page of Lib Dem News! |
