Caroline Spelman grew up in a Christian family but in her teens she “rebelled a bit”, wanting to see if “it was still significant to me when I left home to go to University.”
Caroline Spelman. / The Guardian
Christians in Parliament is a British All Party Parliamentary Group that exists to make a positive contribution to all areas of policy discussion and to support Christians of all denominations and parties in putting their faith and values into practice in their work in the Houses of Parliament.
In the weeks before the UK national election, Evangelical Focus will be sharing some of the testimonies of politicians who are members of Christians in Parliament.
UNIVERISTY, A TIME TO DISCOVER JESUS
Rt Hon Caroline Spelman is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Meriden. She has been a member of the Parliament (MP) since 1997. In opposition she has held a number of posts including shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, International Development and Spokesperson for Health.
She was also Chairman of the Conservative Party. From 2010 to 2012 she was Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Spelman grew up in a Christian family but in her teens, as she said, she “rebelled a bit”; wanting to see if “it was still significant to me when I left home to go to University.”
She started to go to church again within her first year of University, where she met many other Christians, and it was then when she “knew absolutely that following Jesus was for me”.
POLITICAL BEGINNINGS
As she explained, “it was a Trade Justice issue that drew me to politics”, and it was something that she had never expected: “I was quite surprised to get this strong sense of God calling me to go into politics”.
While she was working in the sugar industry, she realised that European companies were destroying the market for farmers in developing countries by dumping surplus production on world markets with export subsidies. The desire of changing that injustice led her into politics. “There are no export subsidies for sugar today”, Spelman said.
FAITH AND POLITICS
The MP admitted that her job is not easy and “having faith is a great help for me in Parliament, because we have to make difficult decisions.”
“Faith provides the spiritual anchors by which I make my decisions about which way to vote. It helps me to examine my conscience, and ask myself if I have done what God wanted me to do”,she added.
Being inspired by the Word of God is also very important for her. She mentiones the book of Micah as an inspiration to “walk humbly and show mercy to others” in her job in Parliament.
You can see more of Caroline Spelman's faith journey in this video:
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