Interview with New EAUK Executive Director Mike Morris
The Evangelical Alliance UK (EAUK) made a number of changes in its leadership, recently, including a structural change aimed at progressing its vision and renewing its commitment to be the voice for evangelical Christians.
The Evangelical Alliance UK (EAUK) made a number of changes in its leadership, recently, including a structural change aimed at progressing its vision and renewing its commitment to be the voice for evangelical Christians.
Among the top leadership changes, Mike Morris, a former CEO of Spring Harvest, will assume the important role of Executive Director of the EAUK. He will now take charge of the day to day functions of the Alliance, therefore allowing General Director Joel Edwards to fulfill a greater ambassadorial position.
Morris, 51, has had 12 years of experience, holding various positions in the 80's and 90's within the EAUK, during which period he developed the public affairs side of the organization.
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In an interview with a Christian Post correspondent in the United Kingdom, Morris spoke of his new role and the fresh approach the Evangelical Alliance is taking to fulfill its commission.
The full interview is shown below:
First of all, congratulations on your new appointment as Executive Director with the Evangelical Alliance. How were you approached for the position and was it an easy decision to rejoin the Alliance again after your time here in the 80’s and 90’s?
Over the years I have continued to keep a close relationship with Joel Edwards, who was working here with me when I was here before, so we’d meet up and talk sometimes. I also heard how the alliance was going to restructure and it was something I was keen to consider pursuing. As for being an easy decision, I have always believed that the Alliance is a unique body that has a significant contribution to make to evangelicalism within Britain, and so in that respect it was a very easy decision as it was about the one organization that can truly help transform society.
Why has the Evangelical Alliance decided now to make these changes? Will there be any major changes in the direction or focus of the Alliance through them?
We will remain true to the historic role of the Evangelical Alliance in representing the Evangelicals’ interests to the media, to government and to give support to Evangelical churches and organizations on the ground. The changes in leadership really signal the fact that the alliance is gearing up for a new lease of life for the next phase of its growth and development. The world has changed, and so consistently we have to figure out how we can best represent the evangelical concerns in that world, and the leadership team is being gathered together to do that.
So what exactly will be your role in the new structure of the alliance?
My role is to do two things. One is to provide a hands-on leadership for the day-to-day management of the alliance, and the second is to work closely with the directorate, which is the senior leadership team of the alliance to develop its strategy and to see that strategy implemented in practice.
Will your experience as a former CEO in Spring Harvest bring anything that will help you in your new role?
Well I think it is experience throughout life, I guess being the CEO in Spring Harvest was getting a vision and taking it and making it a reality, and so I organized that for the first 2 years of its existence and I am thrilled to see how it continues to grow now. Since then I have worked in leadership development and mentoring of leaders through my own consultancy organization, as well as developing a mediation organization called ‘Peaceworks’. So I think a combination of those skills does help me to bring something constructive to this new phase of the Alliance’s life.
From when you worked in the Alliance before compared to now, have you noticed many changes and advances?
I think to see its role as a voice for evangelicals, and the whole public affairs side has grown significantly both in its importance and in the expertise with which it manages that role. Also its commitment to make sense or make credible the good news of Jesus within Britain, and this has had a lot of thought and the Alliance is working with evangelical organizations to make sure that we do not lose sight of the fact that Jesus must be credible if Jesus is to be understood, and so that people can make a constructive response. So in these areas, there has been a clear distinctive difference … also the whole commitment towards the values of gender. So we can see the values are changing.
I was struck when I saw the pictures coming in from Hurricane Katrina, and contrasting this, hopefully not uncharitably, with the situation in the tsunami, where we saw such a gracious response from Asian people who were thoroughly devastated by that. This compared to some of the stories and pictures coming out of New Orleans, we can see just how far we have strayed from what I would see as Biblical values in forming our humanity and forming our responses in times of severe trouble.
So seeing the changes in the Evangelical Alliance, do you have any particular goals or visions that you personally have to drive the Alliance forward now?
My goal rightly and appropriately is that the vision of the Alliance, which is cast principally by Joel (Edwards), and is managed effectively through the electorate. Rather than being known as an ideas factory, we can actually translate some of those ideas into positive action on the ground. That is where I see my contribution, it is taking those ideas and putting hands and feet to them and so they become visible and tangible. I will be working closely with Joel, and John Smith in Church Life, and the newly appointed David Muir in Public Theology.
So how exactly will the structure work amongst you to represent the Evangelical Alliance members?
Before I arrived there were surveys carried out and soundings taken around the country. So we have a clear idea of what the principle concerns are of our evangelical members, and it is our responsibility to take hold of those and make sense of them.
One of the critical concerns that we hear is that to have a representative body to carry those concerns to both media and government is part of the critical value of the alliance. We continue to do that. With churches that are struggling at times with legal complications and with their freedom to communicate the faith, a lot of support is given to those in public affairs.
So it is really getting hold of our unique contribution and acting upon that in the way members are supported and represented, and together as we have always done, uniting to make some significant difference in society.
Before, you spoke about contrasting the situation in the New Orleans hurricane and the tsunami last year. You said seeing that we can see how far society has fallen away from Biblical values, but even here in the U.K., many people are saying that the churches are in vast decline. What would you say was the spiritual situation here in the U.K., taking into account how great a past it has had in the history of Christianity and in evangelical missions?
I think it is a fluid situation and I meet many people that are not attending a church, post-congregational Christians, but they are still very faithful in their Biblical understanding and following of Jesus. One thing we have to do is help that conversation between what may be seen as traditional churches and those that are exploring church in a new way.
I think the alliance is well placed to create a context for that discussion to take place. Also to remind ourselves that as evangelicals our primary commitment is to those outside the church, and not so much with our own preferences.
When we see the figures that come out from the Micah Challenge about the number that go to bed hungry every night and those that have no clean water – it is a challenge to the church to think beyond its four walls, and even to those that are not attending a church with four walls, that our primary consideration must be for the poor and the marginalized and for those that need the Good News of Jesus Christ communicated. We have to know that this maybe from practical support and encouragement and help, and not simply an explanation of the gospel.
