Steve Clifford has just joined the Evangelical Alliance as its new General Director, where he hopes to invest all the passion and wisdom he’s accumulated from his previous roles spearheading major Christian initiatives like Soul in the City and Hope08. Here, he talks to Christian Today about his passion for the change the church can make at the grassroots.

CT: You’ve come to this role fresh out of Hope08. Do you feel you’ve learned lessons there that will shape what you do in the EA?

SC: What initiatives like Soul in the City London and Hope08 have given me is a heart for local church but also a passion to see the good news of the Gospel communicated both through words and action. Particularly at Soul in City and Hope08, I saw the church doing the business of church, positioning themselves right at the very heart of their communities, and being good news through their actions and their words, and that combination of words and actions is really where I tick. Jesus wasn’t just a wordsmith. There was also the casting out of the demons, the healing of the sick, the feeding of the thousands. The EA is committed to changing society and what I bring to the party is a passion to champion local churches in being the agents of transformation.

CT: The term evangelical is having a bit of a rough ride at the moment. Are you hopeful that can turn around?

SC: Yes, I think that is changing. As ‘evangelical’ is viewed as a verb rather than a noun and when we are seen for being the people that are getting our hands dirty. In most places it is evangelical churches that are at the very forefront of youth work, Street Pastors, day projects for the elderly and young. I think as the evangelical church gives itself in that way and they are passionate about being good news as well as speaking good news, the word ‘evangelical’ is being redeemed.