Over the coming month, churches across Wales will be holding hustings ahead of the General Election on May 7.

Beginning in Abergavenny, these events will provide the chance for communities in 20 constituencies to quiz their candidates ahead of casting a vote. Overall, 27 church-led hustings will take place in Wales, and confirms the church as the largest provider of election events.

In 2010, Christian social policy group CARE compiled a list of 300 church hustings across the UK, and this time around Wales is already ahead of that trend.

In an election as close as any in living memory, Evangelical Alliance Wales are calling on Christians to make their vote count. How Christians vote will be of particular importance in Wales' marginal seats - nearly all of which are holding church hustings.

Evidence suggests Christians will be pressing for issues that may surprise many. The Faith in politics? report, published by Evangelical Alliance in February 2015, highlighted the growing diversity of Christian political engagement, showing concern for a range of issues, such as assisted suicide, human trafficking, poverty and justice.

"This demonstrates that Christian political engagement is maturing," according to Jim Stewart, of Evangelical Alliance Wales. "Christians have always had an active interest in politics but the issues that are of concern to us are becoming wider in scope. Increased Christian political engagement is good for society."

As well as the 27 church-led hustings, there are a further eight election events that involve churches, but are not branded as church events.