Call to the Churches
(UCC Office for Church and Society Directorate)

…God calls us to loving human community. God calls us to establish and build responsible political community. When God called Abraham and Sarah, it was to establish a great nation. When God led Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt, it was to liberate the people from political oppression, discipline them in the wilderness into new community, and lead them to a land where that new human community could be lived out and developed. When God called the prophet Samuel to speak to King David, when God called all the prophets, it was to call the nation back to its covenant of faithful and just human community. When God led Jesus to Jerusalem, it was to confront the political powers of the day and to announce a new formation of human community….[It is fitting] for local congregations and church structures across the country to develop non-partisan programs to help the Christian community reflect upon the political order. These can include…holding candidate forums in churches, publishing voter guides and conducting voter registration.

There are several important reasons for churches to hold candidates forums:

Help change the spirit of the campaign.

A candidate forum held by churches can help redefine and redirect a public political dialogue that has grown increasingly brutal, mean-spirited and divisive. Churches can set the tone and control the forum, and therefore can demand a higher standard of dialogue, sending a powerful message to those in power and those aspiring to power.

Help set the terms of the debate.

Those who attend the forum and those candidates who participate will long remember the moving tales of people struggling to make ends meet and the success stories of community groups beating the odds. Politicians will encounter the moral analysis and compassionate ministries of the church.

Reclaim the political process.

A lot of people think the political system is too complex for them to understand. Many people don't vote, standing on the sidelines. By demystifying the process, helping people to understand what government does and what policy options really mean, a candidate forum encourages people to become involved.

Stay nonpartisan and within the law.

Endorsing or working for or against candidates for public office is absolutely forbidden to nonprofit organizations, and may result in loss of tax status. Candidate forums, on the other hand, are a legitimate activity for 501(c)(3) organizations, and they are an important vehicle for informing your community. Should you decide to organize one, you must pay close attention to the law.

The most important principle for 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations to observe is nonpartisanship. This principle is simple and sensible for religious organizations. Most churches have members of both major political parties. Sometimes churches are balanced; sometimes they are made up heavily of one party or the other. Being a Christian is an absolute commitment. Translating that belief into public policy is never accompanied by absolute certainty. The church needs to make room for more than one political view and encourage lively political debate around attempts to translate belief into public policy.

Choosing a format.

A variety of formats are possible. Many candidates have a stump speech and have been trained to give tested answers to any question, designed to shift the debate back to issues that work in the candidate's favor. They may or may not answer the question.

One possibility is to turn the candidates loose, let them give their stump speech and encourage them to say things that they think will appeal to your church and community. After an opening speech, with a set time limit, candidates might respond to each other, be interviewed by a panel, or take questions from the floor. The candidates may prefer this format, but it may not shift the terms or tone of the public debate.

A second option is to have a panel. If a panel is set up to interview the candidates, the moderator and the panel must be prepared to allow follow-up questions. This is especially true if a candidate does not come close to addressing the concern that has been raised, but simply uses any question to give packaged answers outlining his or her favorite issues.

To best shift the debate to issues of concern to your church, a variation of the panel format has proven very effective. Set up a panel of experts to begin the discussion. Expert panelists may represent issues important to low-income people, the homeless, the hungry, those seeking work or on welfare, or speak on racial justice, immigration, environmental justice and stewardship, or the role of religion in the schools, and the future of public education, or international concerns such as the Middle East, Latin America, United Nations peacekeeping and global economic justice.

Another format option would have an interview team picked by the church quiz the candidates on ten to twelve specific issues. Time could be allotted to the interview team to express concerns of the church. If candidates avoid the issue, follow-up questions cold attempt to get a clearer answer.

Combinations of these formats are possible. For example, begin with a panel addressing one or two issues in depth, then move to a second part of the program where the moderator or a second panel covers a longer list of five to ten issues, with limited time for response.

Whatever the format, try to focus your candidate forum on a few areas important to your community and the electoral race at issue. This is important because no single forum can deal in depth with more than a few issues. It will also help to focus the comments of panelists and candidates, which in turn will help hold the audience's attention.

Keys to success.

To host a successful forum:

• Assemble a representative panel that can talk about local facts and concerns;
• Take the time to prepare panelists and the moderator;
• Get candidates of both parties to attend and participate;
• Interest the media in the event;
• Get the word out to the community;
• Get commitments from fellow organizers to do follow-up work after the event.

Organizing Suggestions

We suggest that you set up a coordinating committee to be responsible for the important decisions and a number of subcommittees to handle the details.

Responsibilities of the committee might be:

• Establishing a timeframe in which to accomplish the event;
• Selecting the site, date and time;
• Establishing a budget (if necessary);
• Delegating the work of the subcommittees;
• Choosing the issues to be covered in the debate and communicating them to the candidates prior to the forum;
• Choosing panelists;
• Choosing a moderator who will be responsible for explaining the ground rules to panelists, invited guests, and the audience, serve as timekeeper and maintain order to ensure that the forum runs smoothly;
• Issuing invitations to the candidates;
• Evaluating the forum and developing follow-up plans.

Subcommittees could include public relations/media, finance, community outreach, liaison with candidates and site selection/set-up. Subcommittees allow for more people to be involved in the planning process.

The public relations subcommittee can coordinate press coverage before, during, and after the event and develop media packets. In addition, the subcommittee may want to designate a member to act as a resource and spokesperson for the press.

The community outreach subcommittee can encourage and facilitate community participation in the forum. Remember, the more people who actively participate in planning the event, the easier it will be to turn out a lot of people. This can be accomplished by:

• Contacting appropriate individuals and organizations by mail, phone or in person;
• Making announcements at other events;
• Developing and distributing flyers and leaflets;
• Developing small display ads and submitting them to community newspapers in the hope of getting free advertising.

The candidate liaison subcommittee can handle all communication with the candidates, including making initial phone calls to all the invited candidates, communicating the format and the issues to be addressed, keeping a candidates phone log, sending confirmation letters and serving as the main contact for the candidates prior to and at the event.

Just sending an invitation is not enough. Be reasonably certain that at least the major party candidates will be present. You may want to make the invitations to the candidates contingent on all of them accepting. Keep a phone log for calls made to candidates' offices.

If a candidate cancels at the last minute or doesn't agree to attend, strongly urge his/her office to send a representative of the candidate instead. If a candidate fails to show, make clear to the audience that you did everything possible to ensure equal representation.

The site subcommittee can help secure the room, set up the room prior to the event -- arrange furniture, check microphones and lighting, hang banners. Don't commit to a space you cannot fill. It is better to have people standing along the walls than to have two rows of empty seats. Accessibility and child care need to be considered.

Follow-up is essential. Various subcommittees will have different tasks: public coverage of the event, thank you letters, etc. An evaluation meeting should be held, perhaps a week after the event, to consider next steps. Think about whether you want the forum to be a one-time event, or an organizing opportunity for a larger effort to involve the religious community in public policy and the electoral process. Following the event, reflect on your strategy.

Remember: mailing lists, press lists and sign-up sheets for those attending are cornerstones for future organizing.

(From the United Church of Christ/Office for Church in Society.)