Candidate forums are a way to begin dialogue with your representatives. (Image: Elements5Digital via Unsplash)
The NSW state election is coming up in March 2027.
Freedom for Faith is a Christian-based organisation which, as its name suggests, seeks to uphold freedom of religion in our increasingly secularised era. They’re encouraging churches to host forums where election candidates can discuss their policies.
A candidate forum is an event held a few weeks before an election where the main candidates for an electorate are invited to speak. Candidate forums are not “being political” but rather are an opportunity for politicians to hear the concerns of the Christian community and give specific and direct responses.
The forums are also an opportunity for Christian voters to hear directly from their candidates on a variety of issues and make a wise choice.
Politicians want to win our vote, and the only way they can do this is by understanding our concerns and being able to tell us what they are going to do about them. The sad reality is that many politicians have a shallow understanding of what Christians think and care about, and many Christian voters do not realise where their politicians stand on important issues that are not covered by the press.
Candidate forums also strengthen relationships between MPs and local ministers, which has ongoing benefit and improved communication after the election.
If you would like to hold one in your church, now is a good time to start planning.
Kamal Weerakoon from our committee has interacted with the NSW government a lot over the last couple of years. He says, “most NSW politicians aren’t anti-religious secularists. On the contrary, they recognise that religion is important to a lot of people. So they want to know how to best take account of people’s religiously-based values. These candidates forums are an opportunity to do that. I encourage you to hold one if you can.”
Instructions, ideas, template runsheets can be found here: https://