NDFA: An exciting new vision for the future
NDFA’s new fiscal year has just begun, and we want to let you in on some of our exciting new plans for next year. The theme of this coming year is greater engagement. That means greater engagement with churches, business leaders, legislators, and you!
To further engage churches, our intent is to travel around the state this year and speak to pastors and congregations about three things. First, we want church leaders and congregants to know who we are and what we do. We Christians need to stand strong in the policy arena and stick up for our Biblical values, and NDFA can help.
Second, we want to equip churches across ND to respond to policy issues and have a strong voice in the creation and advocacy of policy. NDFA can provide insights into the policy world and how Christians can best make their voices heard. We have many real-world stories from past legislative sessions and other occasions about how to best do this.
Finally, we want to announce the launch of our Church Ambassador program! Our Church Ambassador program will consist of at least one person from a congregation who is willing to inform, educate, and engage their church on relevant policy issues. We will provide regular policy updates and information to the Church Ambassador to share with their church. In turn, they can provide questions, suggestions, and needs to us on behalf of their church. If you are someone who is keenly interested in public policy and politics here in ND, please contact us, and let’s talk about whether being a Church Ambassador is right for you.
The second group NDFA would like to further engage is our business community. In addition to representing their values in the work we do, we want to help protect their rights to live out their personal values in their place of business. There are many groups in our society that desire to force their immoral beliefs on our business community. Further, they want business leaders to not only comply with but to actively affirm their twisted values. We refuse to stand by while this happens. We want to engage with business leaders to hear their concerns and identify how we may be able to help them.
In engaging legislators, we will spend time over the next year informally meeting with them as we travel around the state. This not only enables us to form closer relationships, but also to plan and strategize for the 2025 legislative session.
Perhaps even more importantly, we want to hold our very first Legislative Academy session! The Legislative Academy will be an annual program for legislators that covers subjects such as how our country was founded on biblical principles, strategies on how to draft and get bills into law, and how a legislator’s faith can best be integrated into their policy decisions. It also aims to make sure that our legislators are well-rounded on the key policy issues that are most important to their constituents and to our state’s citizens. At the Academy, legislators will hear from seasoned statesmen, policy experts, governmental officials, and more. This should be an exciting program and we look forward to many legislators, especially many freshman legislators, taking advantage of this opportunity.
Finally, we want to engage you! We plan to connect with you in many ways. We will continue to bring you the latest breaking policy news, share relevant opinion pieces, and of course send our popular weekly emails throughout the coming year. You will receive our periodic mailings and special publications as well (e.g., legislative scorecards). Finally, we love it when you reach out to us, whether it is with a policy question, a question about our organization, or a suggestion on how we can be more effective.
We are also planning to hold even more events this coming year. We will once again hold our annual spring gala (we have another great speaker lined up!), our pro-life conference in January, a conference in the fall of next year, and smaller get-togethers between these major events. We will announce them through email and social media, so be on the lookout for those announcements, and be sure your friends and family get our emails too. We are incredibly excited about these events and think you will be too.
I’m convinced that this year will be a sensational one. While there isn’t a full legislative session coming up, we know that there is more than enough work to be done around the state to engage everyone in the world of policymaking. By the grace of God, and with your help, we will be able to achieve great things this year for faith, family, and freedom here in ND!
We’d love it if you would be our partner on the exciting journey that lies before us. Your support will make all these plans into a reality and will protect biblical values in our state in a concrete way. You can donate to NDFA by following this link, or by mailing a check to: NDFA, 1515 Burnt Boat Dr., C-148, Bismark, ND 58503. If there is some specific part of our vision you’d like to donate for (e.g., Legislative Academy, church engagement), we’d be happy to accommodate your request. Just let us know by email if donating online, or add a note/memo on the check if donating by mail. Thank you for supporting NDFA’s ministry in North Dakota!