Emily Graves spoke with Christians on the Left Director Andy Flannagan

There's a whole range of different reasons why folks end up politically where they end up. We're not saying for a second that we don't find anything to challenge in the Labour Party - that's a big part of why we're there as well - but on one level you just have to pick your horse and get on it. In terms of politics you could spend a long time trying to find the perfect party. You eventually may well do. I often say to people that there is one party I agree with 100% of their policies, but it's called the Andy Flannagan Party and it has only one member and that's me. That's the isolationist tendencies we can get into sometimes as Christians and we do need to find a common cause with folks that we won't necessarily agree with on everything, but with whom we can find some common ground.

Emily: Looking at the state of the nation at the moment, what area do you wish to see Christians engage more with?

Andy: I think the political and economic sphere is absolutely essential. I think it's fantastic what Christians and churches are doing on the ground, in their communities. They're holding communities together, especially in the wake of the cuts in lots of services for young people and for mums and sometimes it's only the Church in those contexts that's still doing that. I think as the Church we will always be good at serving and helping those right in front of our faces.

I think my challenge to folks is to be getting involved slightly beyond that as well. As I mentioned, the Good Samaritan, going back to the Jericho road to make sure that nobody else gets mugged rather than just waiting for the people who have been mugged. That will involve perhaps more CCTV cameras, more police on the beat or better street lighting, for example; but you can bet your life that those sorts of discussions will happen around really dull committee-room tables and it's not as exciting as actually helping a person face-to-face, on the street or in a homeless shelter. We get a kind of buzz in helping people like that because we can see the transformation in front of our faces whereas we can't see that transformation as quickly when we're sat around council-room tables or sat in a parliamentary committee; it's not as exciting. I think as Christians some of us need to answer God's call to the less comfortable place and be involved in some of those really quite dull meetings, but actually the places where we need to be salt and light, where we need to be bringing inspiration and hope to a system that desperately needs it.

Emily: Would you say that Christian views are being heard and acknowledged in Parliament overall?

Andy: Yes they are, increasingly so. We've 40 MPs now in the Labour Party who are members of Christians On The Left and there'd be a similar number of MPs involved in the Conservative Christian Fellowship and some involved in the Lib Dem Christian Forum as well and they are making their voice heard. Just even in the last year you've seen that.

I think there's work to do because it's not just about people speaking up in Parliament, it's about the media as well. Sometimes you really only hear through the filter of the media what is tragic or what is scandalous and sometimes you only hear about the more extreme Christian voices because that's what makes good radio and that's what makes good TV. As we're calling folks and more people of goodwill and Christians to get involved in politics, we've got to be making that same call in terms of the media.

It's great what Cross Rhythms is doing, which is like training and apprenticing young folks who are getting involved in the world of the media, whether that's radio or internet or newspapers. I think that's another area where often the Christian voice and the Christian opinion aren't heard and that's because there aren't so many Christians there. That's why somebody writing in the Daily Mail or writing in The Independent can sometimes write articles that make Christians go, "What? That's not what we meant!" But that's probably because that journalist doesn't actually know enough Christians to be able to know that's not an appropriate thing to write.

So again, we can sit and we can comment and we can critique and we can sit on our couches and moan, or we can step up and get stuck in. I see a generation of young people whose theology has shifted, so rather than thinking their faith is an escape ticket to get away from this place, they see they're part of God's big story; God's mission of seeing the restoration and redemption and reconciliation of all things to their Creator: the transformation of the whole of society, the whole of culture and that involves all these different spheres, whether it's politics, business, education, or the media.

More and more I do see young people especially stepping up and getting stuck in, but it's our job to support those folks because it's not easy. It's all very well to talk about that but it's another thing altogether to be doing it.

Emily: And also to inspire them as well?

Andy: Yeah, absolutely, which is why we have the regular worship gathering, Bible studies and prayer stuff at Parliament, so we can support and bring folks together to support one another as they get engaged in these spheres, cos it's not easy and you are going to be working with people you don't always agree with and having arguments and discussions. We need to be praying for one another, we need to be supporting one another and we actually need to do the quite tough theological grappling with the issues to make sure that we are actually being salt and light and the salt isn't losing its saltiness.

Emily: On 5th November you held an event at the House of Commons. Tell us a little bit more about what happened on that night.

Andy: It was an amazing night. We couldn't believe how many people came. There were over 140 people crammed into a committee room. It was the re-launch of the new name - the members had decided that Christians On The Left is the new name for the organisation. People came from here, there and everywhere and we had a whole stack of MPs.