Just nine days ago, the prime minister of the time, Kevin Rudd, drew on the words of the 18th-century Christian theologian John Wesley to explain his international view. ''The world is my parish,'' Wesley is said to have proclaimed.

Rudd - whose parish was about to shrink to less than the size of a country churchyard - was explaining his personal and political values to Christians across Australia.

Both he and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had answered the bidding of the Australian Christian Lobby to address church leaders. Their views on everything from gay marriage to school chaplains, asylum seekers, climate change and whether the Lord's Prayer would continue to open parliamentary proceedings were relayed via the internet to hundreds of churches across the nation.

The Christian lobby lays claim to a large constituency, from excited happy clappers to more sombre traditionalists, and makes no bones about requiring political leaders to take heed. The title of the program made it plain: ''2010, Make It Count''.

''It'', of course, was the Christian vote at the coming election.