We would like to introduce you to 'Meet Your MSP' - an exciting new project from the Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office (SCPO) aiming to build links between congregations and their recently elected members of the Scottish Parliament.

We want church communities to be at the heart of the decisions that affect our everyday lives - and what better way to get involved than for your church or community group to meet local MSPs early in their term of office.

The project starts this summer as MSPs are on recess from the Scottish Parliament and will be based locally. We will provide ideas and information that will help you to organise meetings that will be interesting for everyone involved. It could be a public meeting, an invitation to a project or church event that you are already organising, or it could be a walk in your local area to highlight issues that you would like addressed. The possibilities are endless – but making contact early is crucial. There are posters attached with this letter, and print quality versions available online.

SCPO has contacted all 129 MSPs regarding the project and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive – they want to meet you!

You are represented by one constituency and various regional MSPs – to find out who your MSPs are, go to www.parliament.scot/ and use the Find Your MSP feature. This will also give you contact details and a bit of information about your MSPs.

We want as many churches and church groups as possible to set up meetings over the summer and to let us know the details – with a celebration of church engagement at a Scottish Parliament event in February 2017. A feedback form has been attached so that you can let us know what you have planned, and so that we can encourage others to get on board.

On social media, our Facebook page is www.facebook.com/SCPOffice and on Twitter you can find us at www.twitter.com/SCPO. Our social media campaign will be identified by the hashtag #meetyourMSP

Supporting information will be available on the SCPO website – including topic ideas from Eco Congregations, Scottish Churches Housing Action, Priority Areas, and Faith in Communities Scotland, as well as template letters. The project is also supported by Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) and will be promoted through their networks.

A PDF containing supporting posters can be downloaded via this link.

A leaflet outlining the 'Meet your MSP' project can be downloaded here.