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Candidate Forum Agreement

Partnership Agreement between Freedom for Faith and the hosting churches

Download this text as a PDF

We are deeply grateful for your heart for your local community. At Freedom for Faith, our conviction is that the local church, working together with other churches, is best positioned to be ‘salt and light’ within its own electorate. You know your neighbours, your local issues, and your representatives better than anyone.

As the 2026 Victorian Election approaches in November, we want to see your church empowered to lead the conversation. Our role is not to direct your activities, but to stand behind you—offering the tools and support you need to host a ‘Meet the Candidates Forum’ that serves your community and ensures the values of your congregation are heard.

This is your ministry, we are simply here to help it flourish.

Our Commitment – How We Can Support Your Ministry

To make the logistics as simple as possible so you can focus on ministry,
Freedom for Faith is ready to provide the following resources at your request:

  • Behind-the-Scenes Support: A dedicated member of our team is available to act as a sounding board or advisor whenever you need a hand.
  • A Resource Toolkit: We’ve developed a flexible, step-by-step guide that you can adapt to suit your church’s unique culture and style.
  • Customizable Templates: You’ll have access to a library of invitations, meeting agendas, and promotional graphics. Feel free to use them as-is, edit them, or ignore them entirely if you already have a plan.
  • Candidate invitations: We will assist you in identifying and contacting the candidates for your electorate, and help chasing up and tracking their responses.
  • Thoughtful Questions: We will provide a list of suggested opening questions, coordinated with denominational leaders, to help guide the conversation on issues of importance to the Christian community.
  • State-level promotion: In collaboration with denominations and other networks, we will be promoting candidate forums to churches across the state, and will be encouraging them to find their closest forum on our website: meetyourcandidates.org.au

Note: Due to the high number of forums running simultaneously, we will endeavour to attend as many forums as possible, but it will be impossible for us to attend every forum.

Your Commitment as The Partnering Church

To ensure a successful event, we ask that you and your team take responsibility for the following:

  • Venue and Logistics: You decide on a suitable date, time and venue (in-person and preferably live streamed) and arrange for any necessary equipment, such as microphones and livestreaming capabilities.
  • Inviting candidates (with our support): Invitations to candidates are best when coming from the local church. We will discuss with you which candidates you want to invite, and will provide you with their details and a template invitation. After you have sent the invitation, we will help you with chasing it up.
  • Local Promotion: You will promote the forum to your local church members and share with other churches in your network. We will provide promotional materials you can use.
  • Local church partnership: Forums are best when multiple churches work together. Your personal invitation to other like-minded churches in the electorate will be powerful. We will provide lists and contacts for churches around you where possible.
  • Event Hosting: Providing an MC and a moderator and any necessary volunteers to manage the event on the day (e.g. sound and livestream), ensuring a welcoming and non-partisan environment.
  • Follow-up: Sending a brief thank-you message to the candidates who participated, expressing appreciation for their time and contribution.

We are excited to see how God will use these forums to foster understanding and build relationships between our local representatives and the Christian community.

As we move forward together, we are reminded of the words from Jeremiah:

“Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

Jeremiah 29:7

Thank you again for your partnership in this important work. We look forward to working alongside you.

With every blessing,

Mike and the Team at Freedom for Faith

Our Agreement

Please fill in the form below to indicate that you want to work with Freedom for Faith to make a succesful forum happen.

Our team will send you a PDF copy with your details.

Authorised by Mike Southon, Freedom for Faith, 168 Chalmers St, Surry Hills NSW