Legal guidelines drafted for online, public evangelisation

“Evangelism: Legal Guidelines” is a resource from the Ethos Alliance aimed at informing evangelists about the laws likely to affect public ministry. 

The guidelines cover key legal issues including human rights, law and order, local authority powers, topics like abortion and conversion practices, online evangelism, safety and privacy.

The guidelines also give examples and scenarios that show how the law works in practice, and illustrating how evangelists can comply with the law. The examples involve a range of activities like public preaching, holding worship events, door-to-door evangelism and making online content.

“We’ve drawn on our own legal training and the questions that people bring to us at Ethos, as well as conversations with lawyers and with active evangelists,” the organisation stated.

The guidelines don’t cover institutional settings like prisons, schools, universities or workplaces, that can have their own site-specific policies and may be governed by specialist legislation and professional codes. Instead, they focus on evangelism work in public places and online.

Ethos said it had been told that the guidelines are “a useful source of legal information for new evangelists and organisations working in public and online spaces. The guidelines can equally be useful for experienced evangelists who want to refresh their knowledge or upskill in a new area or activity”.

The guidelines can be downloaded at no cost. Printed copies can be sourced for a small fee.

FULL STORY

Evangelism: Legal Guidelines (Ethos Alliance)

Evangelism: Legal Guidelines – FAQs (Ethos Alliance)

Evangelism: Legal Guidelines – How to use the guidelines (Ethos Alliance)