Mariam Kizza has recently begun as a Community Organising Apprentice at CTC, and will take part in the 2023-4 Buxton Leadership Programme. In this blog, she explains why her faith has inspired this engagement with organising, and describes her journey so far…

As a Christian, I have found myself increasingly challenged that we must be intentional and committed to being present in the community and in public life. When I first read up on the Buxton Leadership Programme, it resonated with me straight away.

I was drawn by its aims which make the crucial link between the Christian faith and bringing about justice. By this time, I had already been on a journey of realising the importance of voice. Not only in finding my own voice but also in advocating on behalf of others. As I explored the practice of community organising more, I particularly identified with its principle of mobilising ordinary people and empowering them to use their voice to bring the desired change.

Last December/January, Miriam Brittenden (our Director of Leadership) visited Aotearoa New Zealand – and spent the last part of her trip with a community organising alliance in Auckland, New Zealand to reflect on organising in our respective contexts, and organising with faith institutions. In this blog she reflects on the visit.

Te Ohu Whakawhanaunga (Te Ohu) is an emerging broad-based community alliance of community organisations, faith groups and trade unions. It’s inception was in 2017 when, based on the success of the broad-based organising of the Living Wage movement in New Zealand – a group of leaders from key institutions decided to build a broad-based organisation founded on a vision of solidarity across diversity. Later in 2023, Te Ohu will be formally founded (currently they have a ‘commitment to found’) and begin public campaigns. 

On Mothering Sunday at St George-in-the-East, our Housing Organiser Rhiannon Winstanley-Sharples drew on St Augustine to reflect on how we can all be “mothers of Christ” as we support one another in deepening our faith and organising for justice.

“When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.” (Luke 2.39,40)

On the first day of Living Wage Week, St Katharine Cree (the Guild Church for Workers) held a service entitled Praying and Acting for a Living Wage. 

Led by the Bishop of London, it included testimony from care workers and music from one of the Catholic parishes in east London which founded the Living Wage Campaign.

Frankie Webster co-ordinates our community organising lay leadership programme, the Wagstaff Course. She writes about what she has learned while training new leaders over the past year.

If you look up the word leader in most dictionaries, it is defined as a person who leads a group of people. Someone with a following. This challenges the common idea that some people are just ‘natural’ leaders with X leadership qualities that most others do not possess. It means that bar Jesus, leaders are made not born, and therefore we can be leaders too.

In the third of his blogs for churches preparing for Living Wage Week, our Director looks at Catholic Social Teaching and the Living Wage – and argues that this year’s celebration comes at a crucial moment in our common life.

At the start of the pandemic, Pope Francis spoke from an empty St Peter’s Square, in an Urbi et Orbi message that was streamed around the world. He observed that the pandemic was like the storm faced by Jesus and his disciples in Mark 4.

In the second of his blogs for churches preparing for Living Wage Week (Monday 15th to Sunday 21st November) our Director reflects on the lectionary readings for the Feast of Christ the King, which falls on Sunday 21st. 

Readings: Daniel 7.9-10, 13-14 | Revelation 1.4b-8 | John 18.33-37

In the Gospel reading, Jesus begins his teaching with a negative statement: “My kingdom is not from this world.” St Augustine draws our attention to the nuances of these statements: his kingdom is in this world, but not of it. It is here, though not from here. If his kingdom had been “from here,” Jesus tells Pilate, his followers would be fighting to keep him from being “handed over.”

Miriam Brittenden directs our Buxton Leadership Programme, In this blog she introduces our 2021-22 participants…

Autumn is often a time of new beginnings, and this Autumn brings a new cohort of Buxton Leadership Programme Associates. We were delighted last month to welcome Daniel Payne, Jonathan Akindutire and Emily Burlington-Horton to the Centre for Theology and Community, as they discern together what a Christian vocation in public life looks like. 

Applications for the 2021-22 Buxton Leadership Programme are open until 26 April. One of this year’s participants, Josh Price, blogs on his experience of the programme. 

For me, there were three immediate attractions to the Buxton Leadership Programme.  First, I was tired of hearing hands-tied, party political-answers to straight forward questions on breakfast politics programmes. I wanted to discover if honesty and integrity could prevail in Westminster. Second, I loved the idea of stepping out from Church, building relationships with neighbours, and seeing practical change first-hand. And third, I didn’t know what to do long-term and was drawn towards an opportunity to really explore what God might be calling me into.

CTC is recruiting for two part-time lay (that is, not ordained) Mission Chaplains to work with us and our partner churches – St George-in-the-East in Shadwell and the Lombard Parish in the City of London – to build relationships with local workers. We want to particularly concentrate on building relationships with cleaners and hospitality workers, but also security guards, construction workers, and others in low-wage or insecure jobs.

We want to get to know those who work in our neighbourhoods better and understand their needs, and we want to work towards planting new worshipping communities among them. This might be an early morning Bible study, or a bilingual Mass, for example.

Chaplains will receive a lot of support and training including in the practices of community organising, and will part of the friendly and committed staff team at CTC.

For more details please download and read the advert here

Or contact the project lead, Fr Josh Harris, at josh [AT] stgeorgeintheeast [DOT] org

Tim Thorlby is CTC’s Development Director, and the Managing Director of Clean for Good – an ethical cleaning company with deep roots in the Church and in community organising. He blogs here on its new report on “Outsourcing and Ethical Sourcing”

2020 was the future once.

It has not turned out so well. The UK has been rocked by a global pandemic and almost every aspect of our national life has been put under real strain. 

Frankie Webster co-ordinates CTC’s Olive Wagstaff Course, training lay Christians in community organising. In this blog, she reflects on how we can share the peace of Christ in a time of social distancing.

“I believe that God can and will bring good out of evil, even the greatest evil. For that purpose He needs men and women who make the best use of everything. I believe that God gives us all the strength we need to help us resist in all times of distress. But he never gives it in advance, lest we should rely on ourselves and not on Him alone. A faith such as this should allay all our fears for the future. I believe that even in our mistakes and shortcomings are turned to good account, and that it is no harder for God to deal with them than with our supposedly good deeds. I believe that God is no timeless fate, but that He waits for and answers sincere prayers and responsible actions.”

Tim Thorlby has been part of the CTC team since 2012 and is currently Managing Director of Clean for Good – a business which emerged from CTC’s community organising in the City of London.

In this personal blog, he reflects on his experiences of the last few weeks and what happens next.

Just a few weeks ago, we were all making our usual plans and getting on with our lives…. and then, suddenly, we are blown sideways. The coronavirus storm arrived at great speed. A wholly unprecedented way of life has suddenly been thrust upon us, and now we find ourselves in lockdown, queuing outside supermarkets and studying bar charts of coronavirus cases every day. The speed and scale of change has been astonishing – a huge storm from nowhere.

Miriam Brittenden, who co-ordinates our Buxton Leadership Programme, and is a community organiser in Shadwell, reflects for St George-in-the-East and CTC on the meaning of Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday. The in-between. After the brutal, painful Passion of Good Friday, and yet far from the joy of Sunday morning. It is the anxious, colossal void which many of us skip over at Easter.

The CTC team works across a wide range of London churches – from Pentecostal to Roman Catholic, and with church sizes varying from ten or twenty to the thousands. At this week’s staff meeting, we reflected on some of the common themes emerging from our experience of church-based community organising in the midst of the lockdown.

The first theme that has emerged is the way that the pandemic has revealed some previously hidden truths about our common life.

Centre Director Angus Ritchie reflects on the celebration of Holy Week and Easter in the midst of the Coronavirus lockdown.

The last two weeks have been a bewildering and frenetic time for Christian leaders. The worship, pastoral care and community engagement of local churches is needed more than ever – and the challenges of moving it rapidly to telephone and computer have been immense.

Josh Harris is managing a new CTC project, harnessing the potential of community organising for congregational development – and he is also a Curate at St George-in-the-East. Here he poses some questions – and highlights some resources – for churches in the midst of the current crisis.

As Angus Ritchie wrote last week,  this crisis is fast-changing and bewildering. In barely a week our churches have gone from suggesting we shouldn’t shake hands in the peace to the first suspension of public worship since 1208 and the closure of all churches in London.

CTC Director Angus Ritchie reflects on Christian ministry in the context of a Coronavirus pandemic.

In the fast-changing and bewildering context of a Coronavirus, how can our response be shaped by the example of Jesus? There are four features of his ministry that seem particularly relevant at this moment.

Shermara Fletcher heads the William Seymour Programme at CTC, engaging Pentecostals in community organising. She is also the community organiser in The Open Table at St George-in-the-East. Last night, at a gathering of leaders from a wide range of congregations across London, she reflected on the role of community organising in the struggle to end homelessness.

Good Evening, it is great to be here amongst you. For the next five minutes I’ll sharing with you why community organising is a powerful tool in addressing homelessness.

Earlier this month, our Development Director Tim Thorlby spoke at the launch of London Living Wage Week, at an event with Mayor Sadiq Khan. CTC is a founding partner in the enterprise, and Tim is currently on secondment as its Managing Director. In his talk, he explained the roots of the company in community organising…

My name is Tim Thorlby. I’m the Managing Director of Clean for Good – an office cleaning company for London

After the first six weeks of this year’s Buxton Leadership Programme, its new Co-ordinator Miriam Brittenden reflects on the way in which it offers “a new kind of politics”…

Rarely has the UK felt so bitterly divided, and rarely has ‘politics’ as it is conventionally understood, felt so broken. Three years of in-fighting, intractable disagreements, and a profound inability to compromise over the dreaded ‘B-word’ have worn down the morale of the nation. We stand at a pivotal moment in our history, and yet many would be forgiven for wanting to turn away from politics altogether.

In last Sunday’s sermon, Fr Richard Springer (Rector of St George-in-the-East and Director of our Urban Leadership School) connected the “mundane” work of an annual church meeting with the power and joy of Jesus’ Easter victory.

The passages he was preaching on were Acts 5.27-32 and John 20.19-31.

Our Co-ordinating Fellow, Fr Simon Cuff, has just had Love in Action – his guide to Catholic Social Teaching (CST) – published by SCM Press. The formal book launch is on 18 March in central London. Here he reflects on the importance of CST in our fractured society…

As a society, we are in desperate need of consensus. We disagree about how to tackle rising inequality, about how to solve the disparity of income across regions, about how to relate to the European Union. We even disagree about how best to disagree. We are in desperate need of consensus, of common ground.

In our latest report, we explain how Community Organising recalls the Church to the vision of the Gospel. In this blog, based on the introduction to the report, its author Angus Ritchie summarises its argument… 

In the Bible and in the history of the Church, God raises up leaders from and not just for those who are oppressed. From Moses and Miriam to Rosa Parks and Desmond Tutu, God chooses the people who experience injustice to bring it to an end.

CTC is one of the Founder Investors in Clean for Good – an ethical cleaning company founded by three Christian organisations. Tim Thorlby is the Managing Director of Clean for Good and Development Director of CTC, and reflects on his work in this seasonal blog…

Yesterday, two new reports were launched, the fruit of a growing collaboration between CTC and the Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN).

Realities are Greater than Ideas is a new CTC report on Evangelisation, Catholicism and Community Organising. Written by Dunstan Rodrigues, with essays by Prof Anna Rowlands and CTC Director Angus Ritchie, it combines stories from churches and chaplaincies with reflection on Catholic social teaching.

The report was funded by CSAN and the Catholic Diocese of Brentwood. CSAN Chief Executive Phil McCarthy welcomed the report as “a timely contribution to national debates on what it means to be a ‘Church of the poor’, and how Catholics can best address powerful systems that can increase or reduce division in our society.” He said that CSAN “have been pleased to support CTC in reflecting on how a process of community organising, in this case with Citizens UK, can shape Christians who, as Pope Francis yearns, are on the streets and not clinging to their own security.”

Steve Webb, Development Director in the Diocese of Brentwood said: “The Church sets before the world the ideal of a civilisation of love and this report will help many to turn the ideal into a local reality. Working together as a Catholic community in the wider community will achieve more than acting alone. As we seek to discover new ways to evangelise our diocese, we express our gratitude to the authors for providing materials that will foster (one to one) conversation and lead to action for the common good.”

Abide in Me is a report by CSAN, commended by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, which brings Catholic Social Thought to bear on Housing Challenges in England and Wales. It begins with an essay on “A Catholic vision of housing” by CTC Director Angus Ritchie. The essay argues that the Church’s contribution to debates on housing policy need to be “firmly grounded in its theology and worship,” – and that this necessarily involves seeing the poorest as agents in the shaping of housing policy, not its passive recipients. The exclusion of the poorest from this process “explains some of the serious defects in housing policy pursued by left and right-wing politicians in recent decades.”

Launching the report, Bishop Terry Drainey (Chair of Trustees of CSAN) said: “For Christians, a crisis is an opportunity. It nudges us to renew our mission in our own time and place, to be confident in entering on what might be a long haul, and to learn to love with fewer conditions. In that light, we are compelled to ask ourselves: ‘What more can Catholic social thought and action contribute on housing?’ With the bishops’ support, CSAN’s national team and the ecumenical Centre for Theology and Community have been addressing that question together in some depth. Today I am delighted to launch the first fruit of that collaboration.”

The Catholic Bishops Conference will be writing to their charities asking them to prioritise work on this issue in the next 10-12 years, and CSAN and CTC will be working together to help Catholic charities, parishes and schools to respond to this invitation.

Last night, Centre Director Angus Ritchie preached at St Paul’s Cathedral, at a service for the Lord Mayors and Borough Mayors of London. His sermon explores Jesus’ understanding of servant leadership, and argues for an ‘authentic and inclusive populism’ instead of the ‘false populism’ which is damaging our politics today.

We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for, I don’t know.

These words, made famous by WH Auden, capture the danger of always wanting to be the one serving – and never the one served. If I am always the one serving, I force those around me to be ever-grateful recipients. It’s a relationship that places me at the centre of the moral universe, every bit as much as simple selfishness.

Jesus sets before us a very different vision of servant leadership – a vision which has mutuality at its heart. Leaders may be called to serve others, but we also need to be open to being served. There is, therefore, a mutual vulnerability, a sharing of control and of responsibility.

Jesus’ humility as a leader is manifest in both his willingness to “be the servant of all” and his willingness to allow others to minister to him – often in situations that cause surprise or even scandal, for example when a woman breaks a bottle of expensive perfume over his feet and washes them with her hair.

In the ministry of Jesus, the most marginalised – lepers, women who would be deemed ritually unclean, the blind beggar Bartimaeus – are not just passive beneficiaries. He recognises them as actors, as tellers of uncomfortable truths, and disruptors of the status quo. Each of them has cried out to him for healing and for justice, with courage and tenacity. It is these qualities – not servility or excessive deference – that Jesus praises as true faith.

As Jesus says, those on the margins often see see the truth most clearly. In Matthew 11, he prays

I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

In Jesus’ eyes, the poorest and most marginalised are not simply recipients of help. They are bearers of God’s truth to the wider community. Moreover, as Jesus’ observes, they are very often the people who show forth God’s sacrificial generosity. Standing in the Temple, he contrasts the (ostentatious but proportionately tiny) giving of the rich with the offering of the widow whose small coin is all that she has.

That pattern – of a Church which is of and not just with or for the poorest in society – continues in the extraordinarily fruitful ministry of St Paul, planting new congregations across the Roman Empire. As he reminds the Christians in Corinth in our second lesson:

not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.

In the eyes of the world, the poorest and most vulnerable may seem to be trapped in dependency – clients of benefactors or of bureaucracies. But in the economy of God, they are the source of transformation; the ones he raises up, again and again, to be the leaders in his Kingdom. What the world considers peripheral turns out to be the centre of his transforming work.

In Biblical terms, this is the pattern of God’s engagement with his people from the very beginning. Israel’s election – as a people enslaved and marginalised, but loved by the Lord of hosts – must shape their interactions with those beyond their community.

Remembering that they were once fragile and vulnerable, God’s people are told in our first lesson that they must “love the stranger”, for they too were “strangers in the land of Egypt.”

We live in an era of deep distrust of institutions both political and religious. Fairly or unfairly, there is a sense that established centres of power are increasingly detached from the lives of ordinary citizens.

This climate creates fertile soil for divisive and extremist populisms – movements that offer simplistic solutions to people’s sense of alienation and discontent, movements that offer an all-too-familiar array of scapegoats (usually religious, ethnic or social “strangers”) to blame for society’s ills

How, I wonder, would it affect our attitude to such populism if we stood where today’s Scriptures invite us to stand – if we thought of the poorest and most marginalised, not as the “hard to reach” or the objects of our charity, but as the very heart of God’s transforming work?

From that perspective, the problem with today’s political climate would not be that it is too populist – but that its populism is dishonest. In reality, those perpetrating a rhetoric of division and scapegoating are not rooted in the lives and communities they seek to inflame.

As Pope Francis has observed, “populism” has very different meanings in different contexts:

In Latin America, it means that the people —for instance, people’s movements — are the protagonists. They are self-organized. When I started to hear about populism in Europe I didn’t know what to make of it, until I realized that it had different meanings.

Francis is contrasting an authentic populism (in which the people are the protagonists) with a false “populism” in which people do not “talk among themselves” but seek refuge from their fears in a “charismatic leader”.

This false populism does not grow out of the experience or agency of ordinary citizens. It divides but it also disempowers. It leaves ordinary citizens as largely passive spectators – at most as cheerleaders behind charismatic leaders who are detached from the realities of their daily lives.

We see an authentic populism in the work of groups like Citizens UK. Their broad-based community organising is based on the institutions local residents are already part of, in which they are already learning to relate and negotiate across difference to build a common life.

Community organising is best known for its campaigns: for a Living Wage, affordable housing, a more welcoming attitude to refugees. The changes that organising has secured – many of them with the active co-operation of public servants in this congregation – are of course hugely significant in building more just and harmonious communities. But the most important feature of organising is its focus on the action of the very people whom policy-makers often call “hard to reach.” From their perspective the world looks very different: they experience power as something that is “hard to reach,” but when they find a way of organising together that can make a difference, they are willing to give sacrificially of their time and energy.

That is why so many of London’s churches have become involved in community organising. They are not just a voice for the voiceless. They are becoming places where the voiceless get to speak – and act – for themselves.

I think of Lucy, whose church helped her and her family fight eviction from their flat. At a prayer meeting soon after, she meditated with others on the words in the Gospel – ‘Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful’ and St. Peter’s exhortation to: ‘Be hospitable’.  Lucy gave thanks for what she had experienced, and she and her family felt moved to give a home to another woman who faced homelessness in her small flat.

I think of Colleen, who had been trapped in spiralling debt because of the exploitative practices of Wonga – and who, despite the shame associated with indebtedness and poverty – was willing to stand up and tell her story, as part of the Citizens UK campaign to put a cap on payday lending. The ripples of her courageous witness, and that of so many other citizens, continue to be felt today.

I also think of Abdul, who through the Living Wage campaign, was brought face to face with the head of HSBC, whose office he cleaned on a poverty wage. “Sir John,” Abdul said, “we work in the same office and yet live in different worlds.” A year later, the bank began to pay Abdul a genuinely Living Wage – beginning a movement which continues to grow and flourish.

As civic leaders, you will be confronted every day with demands for new policies, new initiatives – to meet people’s needs and solve people’s problems. Weighing up the merits of such proposals is an important part of your work. But what is most significant about the stories of Lucy, Colleen and Abdul is the fact that (in Pope Francis’ words) they have been the protagonists – as have thousands of people like them, often in London’s most deprived and diverse neighbourhoods, people who are now organising together to tend and transform their common life. Their action embodies a truly authentic and inclusive populism

No new policy or new initiative will, on its own, address the malaise in our democratic order. The rise of false populisms, which divide and scapegoat, is a symptom of the alienation of an increasing number of citizens, from the democratic process – from the building and tending of a common life.

In our day, as in the times of Moses and of Jesus, God speaks and acts most powerfully and truthfully through the lives of the poorest. Far from being problems which need policy solutions, or clients who need help, they are the agents God chooses to place at the heart of his work of transformation. If we are to be servant leaders, we must begin by being open to the truths which they tell and the gifts which they bring – and helping to build a politics in which they too are protagonists.

After a year on the Stepney Internship Programme, Laura Macfarlane has recently started work at CTC – co-ordinating our Vocations Project. Below, she introduces her work, including plans for an Emerging Leaders’ Weekend (book here) …

How can we discern God’s plan for our lives in the context of today’s society?

This is a question that many of us find ourselves asking at every stage of our lives. Education encourages us to make as much money and have as much career success as possible. Society often forces us to take whatever job we can find in order to thrive, or just to survive. Even churches can too often focus on the importance of full-time ministry or, at the very least, paid work which is traditionally considered to be a way to serve God and others. While these ministry roles are important, we believe that each of us best serves God by discerning the vocation that God has for us, whatever that many be!

At the Vocations Project, we believe that vocation is about so much more than the paid work that we do or the ministry that we take part in. Rather, vocation is what connects our deepest selves, who God has created us to be, to what we do in all areas of our lives. Vocation inspires us to explore who God has created us to be and, through that, to discover how we can live and work in a way that is most in accordance with our created selves, be that in our church, our career, our home or our private lives. Understanding our vocation may mean a change of career but, most importantly, it means living out our God-given gifts and desires in the situations in which we find ourselves. It means becoming connected to the lives that we live as deeply as we can in order to find fulfilment, and to realise God’s Kingdom, in every part of what we do.

This definition of vocation took a long time to discover and develop. In Summer 2016, I took part in the Summer Internship with the Centre for Theology and Community, the theme of which was vocation. Myself and other participants on the internship found that we were being encouraged to think about vocation in a way that we never had before; a way that put being before doing and individuals before career. From that time of learning, the vocation project was born.

The Project has now been established as a part of the life of CTC. Our mission is to work with Christian institutions in East London and beyond to help create space for everyone to discern their vocation with the help of a community of individuals and with God. We are committed to prayer and reflection, to conversations and to action to support individuals in their personal vocational journey. Over the past two years we have led sessions and events in institutions, put together resources and written a detailed report on vocation in our society, which will be available soon through CTC.

There are many ways to get involved in the project, as an institution or an individual. Whether its an event in your institution, providing resources or organising 121s with individuals looking to discern, we would love to get to know and to serve you. We also have a residential “Emerging Leaders” weekend approaching for 18-30 year olds looking to explore their God-given vocation, whatever that may be!

If you are interested in finding out more about any part of the Project, either book a place here on December’s Emerging Leaders’ Weekend or Email me at vocations@theology-centre.org to request information or to arrange a 121 chat about what the project can do for you. We can’t wait to see how the project will grow!

Miriam Brittenden was one of last year’s participants in the Buxton Leadership Programme. Here she reflects on what she has learned – and what these experiences might have to say to our wider polity…

Three months ago, I was sat around a table in my church, sharing a meal with neighbours. It was not just any meal, but a celebration. Somehow (with much prayer and exhaustive campaigning) between us, and many who were not present, we had managed to win 40 affordable homes for our community and a patch of scrubland opposite the church.

As I looked around the room, I was struck by the diversity around me – individuals of all ages (from babies to the elderly), ethnicities, Muslims, Christians, rich, middle class, poor. As different members of the group shared their highlights of their involvement in the campaign, I realised the joy many of us were feeling, was not simply because of the (astonishing) feat we had accomplished in the lands and homes themselves which were to be built, but the community of people that had been nurtured along the way.

As one woman put it ‘I’d never met most of the people in this room if it wasn’t for this campaign’.

My biggest “take home” from the Buxton Leadership programme this year is that we are spiritual beings as much as we are physical, striving for identity, belonging and community. This is something which I think both the left and right are equally guilty of forgetting. Through both placements that I completed this year as party of the programme, I have witnessed first-hand just what a shame this is, since the nurturing of social bonds amongst politically empowered, engaged and authentically diverse but fundamentally united local communities, is just as valuable as the issue they are attempting to challenge, whether that issue be housing or knife crime.

Too often our political debate forgets this and it opts for a transactional approach over a transformative one, preferring to see people as passive recipients to be done for or market consumers, to be done too. Community organising, through the lens of Christianity however says people are inherently precious, made in the image of God, and agents who can act for their own collective good and fulfilment.

Bobby Kennedy said in a speech in 1968 that ‘Even if we act to erase material poverty, there is another great task, it is to confront the poverty of satisfaction, purpose and dignity, that afflicts us all’. Those words couldn’t be truer fifty years later – you only have to look at the raw political divisions which criss-cross the not just the UK, but much of western democracy (both sides of the Atlantic) to see a mass of people crying out for some kind of shared vision which offers more.

Policy makers in Government could learn a great deal from this too. In my role as parliamentary assistant to the Bishop of Durham, I’ve had the privilege of supporting a campaign led by the Bishop to reverse the Government’s decision to limit child tax credits to only two children per family, under Universal Credit. This is a policy with only a transactional, economic vision, whose aim is to reduce costs and move as many people into work as possible. It is a policy which sees the decision to have a child as a purely economic and rational one, a view which undermines the cultural role of motherhood and the family, making the choice to stay at home with children one only reserved for those parents who can afford too, and pushing many more children, who are surely an invaluable good in and of themselves, into poverty.

The second lesson that this year has taught me is that change won’t happen without working with those with whom you disagree. As Adrian Pabst has put it ‘equality is not about making everyone the same, but rather creating equal access to the good life in common’, and in order to create that equal access to that good life, we need to try and understand those who think differently to us.[1] Whilst campaigning to tackle London’s housing crisis, it would be all very well maligning greedy developers or an ineffective, bureaucratic Government and local council that is failing to meet housing demand, but if we weren’t willing to work with these parties, our CLT campaign would ultimately have failed.

Likewise, in the two-child limit campaign, I soon learned that in order to win an argument, and to win a campaign, you need to build relationships with decision makers of all different stripes. The reality is, that with a Conservative government in power, policies won’t shift without conversation with Tories AND Labour, and the other parties (including the DUP!). For each meeting with the Bishop and an MP, it was important to understand where that individual was likely to be coming from, to remember that they are a fellow human, with reasons for living out the politics they live out, to put ourselves in their shoes and perspective, to frame the arguments accordingly and find our common interest.  Though there is still a very long way to go with that campaign, we now have already a significant cross-party coalition of MPs who want to work with us on that issue.

Above all, we desperately need a warmer politics, a politics of the common good in which the goal is not flourishing for the minority, or even the majority, but flourishing for all. Shouting or putting up walls, from either side of the fence, gets you nowhere, building relationships across those divides does.

This is not tantamount to ‘selling out’, it is accepting that we live in a world in which we are not all on the same page, where we often fight and disagree, soften with harmful consequences. But the reality is, we are all humans, children of the living God, with hopes, fears, aspirations and stories to tell. When we stop, listen, and work with ‘the other’ whether that be a conservative MP or a mother living in overcrowded social housing, and we trust God, not only do we escape our echo chambers, we begin to discover that maybe another world is possible.

[1] Adrian Pabst, (2015) ‘Preface’ in Ian Geary & Adrian Pabst (eds.) Blue Labour: Forging a New Politics, London, Tauris & Co. p.xxx

A new, year-long evening course – coordinated by Ana Ferreira – for lay leaders has begun as part of the Urban Leadership School. The first term had thirteen participants from St George-in-the-East, Shadwell, St Mary’s, Walthamstow and St Stephen’s, Manor Park. Dunstan Rodrigues describes and reflects on what happened.

‘Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, and come into the land I will show you…” (Genesis 12:1)

With intrigued, nervous and curious expressions, thirteen lay leaders from Shadwell, Walthamstow and Manor Park listened to these words uttered by the Chaplain of CTC, Sr. Josephine Canny OA, at the beginning of the first session of the new ULS evening course. A teacher, accountant, journalist, security guard, shop assistant – the people assembled were from all walks in life yet had in common a love of their respective communities and a zeal to serve them in new ways.

‘…Come into the land I will show you…’

Resounding throughout history, these words first spoken to Abraham perhaps produced similar uneasy questions in him as they did in that group on the first sunny Monday evening:

“Where, Lord, are you leading me!?’

‘Am I prepared for the journey?’

‘Are you really calling me!?’

After powerfully telling the story of Abraham, Sr. Josephine then proclaimed that God calls us similarly: in ways more suprising, daring and wonderful than we can imagine, into a land that the Lord will show us…

This opening reflection set the tone for what the new evening course is about: that is, providing a space for these lay leaders to reflect on how God is calling them. Each evening opened with reflections on the call of different figures from scripture – Abraham, Mary, Job and the first disciples – alongside the stories of people in East London currently working for peace and human flourishing. We dwelled on what we can learn from our ancestors: like Moses, it was suggested that we are called to be attentive to the cries of our community; like Mary, to act from a place of peace, trust and contemplation; and, like the first disciples, to become ‘fishers of people’ and use the gifts we have been given for the kingdom of God.

In addition, the course is an opportunity to learn, practise and reflect on the craft of community organising. Organising – it was suggested – is a great means to help us hear the ‘cries of our people’ and to act. While many of the lay leaders have completed and benefitted from training run by Citizens UK, the evening course builds on this and examines the craft of organising with the eyes of faith. For instance, in the last two sessions, the group learnt and practised the art of having one-to-one conversations. As well as a means of strengthening relationships, identifying leaders and developing capacity, we reflected on how one-to-ones are like sacramental encounters: we ‘walk on holy ground’ in approaching the other and can become aware of the presence of the risen Jesus with us in our encounters.

Finally, the course is itself a reflective, prayerful sanctuary – where Christians from different denominations share a meal, pray together, and learn from one another and their stories. In one powerful sharing experience, the group shared stories of people in their community whose struggles touch their hearts. We heard amazing and moving stories involving homelessness, gang violence, asylum, youth unemployment, and the group grew in trust and a resolve to act. Hosted by Rev. Richard Springer, the evening meals – after long, hot working days – were always most welcome and were full of lively conversation. At the end of the term, the group remarked about how wonderful it had been to learn from, walk alongside and become friends with one another.

In summary, then, this year long evening course combines contemplative practice, instruction in community organising with faith sharing, prayer and food.  At a time of scary and often bewildering political and social uncertainty, our hope is that the course will bear fruit in the lives of the group and – through them – the communities of Manor Park, Shadwell and Walthamstow.

This is a summary of a talk given by Tim Thorlby, Managing Director of Clean for Good (and also Development Director of the Centre for Theology & Community) at an event on 10^th July 2018 organised by Capital Mass, The St Paul’s Institute and Theos to mark ‘The War on Wonga: Five Years on’ A video of this, and other, talks given on the evening is available at www.capitalmass.org.uk 

We start by listening

Clean for Good is a professional contract cleaning company. We clean offices, cafes, community centres and churches across London.

But we’re an unusual cleaning company.  We’re unusual because Clean for Good was founded in a church – a Parish in the City of London.

This church noticed that as tens of thousands of well-paid City workers came to work every morning, thousands of badly paid workers were going home. Two different worlds passed each other on the pavement each morning.

The church listened to the stories from these workers; stories of low pay, unpredictable income and, often, poor working conditions.  And they asked the question – what does Good News look like for low paid workers?

Their answer was to set up an ethical cleaning company which would provide the jobs, the living wage and the respect that the cleaners wanted.

So Clean for Good was set up to be Good News for cleaners in London.

Why does it matter?

It matters because 700,000 people in London, today, work for a living and yet still live in poverty – because they earn less than the Living Wage. (Figures from the Trust for London)

An Independent Foundation has worked out how much you need to earn to be able to live in London – and its £10.20 per hour, the current London Living Wage.  It’s called a Living Wage, because it’s a wage you can live on. And it is 30% higher than the Government’s Min Wage.

These 700,000 people and their families are trying to live on the Minimum Wage and it isn’t working, because you can’t live on the Minimum Wage in London – it’s just not high enough. Our cleaners already know that.  An increasing body of research is confirming it too – most recently, a report from the JRF.

The London Living Wage

The London Living Wage is an important part of why Clean for Good is different.

Every day we make two promises:

• We promise our customers that we will deliver a good professional cleaning service to them
• And we also promise our cleaners that we will treat them fairly and with respect

Our promise to cleaners means 3 things:

• It means that we’re a fully accredited Living Wage Employer – paying the London Living Wage to all of our staff, all of the time. Very few cleaning companies in London have made this commitment.
• Secondly, our promise to cleaners means that we also directly employ them – no zero hours contracts, no self-employment – our cleaners get a stable income and decent employment benefits – paid leave, paid sick leave and a pension
• And thirdly, we train and manage our cleaners and invest in them

This makes us pretty unusual.

There are good business reasons to pay a living wage to your employees and the Living Wage Foundation has published evidence on this. But the most compelling reason is a moral one; if we believe that every human being is made in the image of God – that people have more than just an ‘economic value’ – then we cannot accept wage levels that leave people living in poverty.

And we are all involved in this whether we like it or not. Every day, every week, someone empties our bins. They serve us. If it’s my bin, its my responsibility.

Who empties your bins at your workplace? What is their name? What do they get paid? 

The London Living Wage is Good News for all low pay workers and the wonderful thing about it is that we don’t need to wait for any new legislation or regulation – any employer can simply decide to pay it today.

The widespread adoption of the Living Wage across London would be the biggest attack on poverty since the foundation of the Welfare State. It would lift 700,000 people, and their families, out of poverty.

I would encourage every employer to pay it – whether business, charity or public sector. No amount of philanthropy makes up for the lack of it.  It’s not a question of charity, it’s a matter of justice; a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.

As someone who runs a business in one of the most competitive and lowest paid sectors in London, I feel qualified to make this call. Our commitment to the Living Wage makes us one of the most expensive cleaning companies in London, but over the last year or so we have secured customers across London and now have a turnover of £1/3 million.  If we can do it, so can you.

And if you need an ethical cleaning company – you’ll find us at www.cleanforgood.co.uk

Centre Director Angus Ritchie was one of the speakers  at last night’s “Thy Kingdom Come” celebration in St Paul’s Cathedral. Here is his sermon on “Seeking Justice”.

Words from Revelation Chapter 21: “Jesus said to me, ‘It is done!’”

The Book of Revelation is written to a community facing persecution – persecution by an Empire whose power seems overwhelming. The message of Revelation is that, despite all external appearances, despite all the logic of the world, the victory is already being won – in fact has already been won, decisively, at Calvary, and on Easter Day.

CTC’s Co-ordinating Fellow, the Revd Dr Simon Cuff, gave a talk to clergy in south London on the anger – and action – of Jesus. The full talk is online here, and a condensed form is given in this blog.

Whatever God’s anger is, it is identical with his love. God’s anger is God’s love.

Alec James is on the Buxton Urban Leadership Programme. He spends half his week working as a church based community organiser at St Stephen’s, Manor Park, and spent the first half of the year working for Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP. Here he juxtaposes the worlds of Manor Park and Westminster, sharing from his experience.

Fr Simon Cuff is Co-ordinating Fellow of CTC and a Tutor in Theology at St Mellitus College. At Evensong last Sunday he preached at SS Peter and Paul Church, Chingford – one of the churches in our Congregational Development Learning Community. The readings were 2 Kings 2.1-12; Psalm 50.1-6; 2 Corinthians 4.3-6; Mark 9.2-9

For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, words from our second reading, the second letter to the Corinthians, the 4th chapter, the 6th verse.

On Friday, the Mayor of London announced a new programme of small housing developments on ten sites across the capital – all of them owned by Transport for London. 111 houses are to be built, and 76 of them will be affordable.

Dunstan Rodrigues co-ordinates CTC’s Buxton Leadership Programme, as well as organising in the Catholic Parish of Manor Park. Here he and this year’s Buxton interns reflect on their experience of the programme…

“I am done with great things and big plans, great institutions and big success. I am for those tiny, invisible, loving human forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, which, if given time, will rend the hardest monuments of pride”

Angus Ritchie (Director of CTC and Priest in Charge at St George-in-the-East) blogs on the role of storytelling in community organising – and the way his church is harnessing it this Advent.

There has been renewed interest over the last month or so in Heart to Heart – Caitlin Burbridge’s excellent report for CTC on the way churches can harness the potential of storytelling to build relationships, share faith, and act for justice.

Tim Thorlby is CTC’s Development Director and he leads much of our primary research.

Here he blogs about our new research report – ‘A Time to Sow’ – which presents new evidence about growth in Anglican Catholic parishes in London.

As Advent approaches, our Chaplain Sr Josephine Canny OA offers a reflection on what the season means, and how we can receive it as a gift.

Advent prepares us for the coming of God into our lives and into the heart of the world. The familiar crib at Christmas is a sign, as St. Francis of Assisi initially desired, to remind us of the degree of humility God showed in sharing our humanity.

Fr Simon Cuff is Co-ordinating Fellow of CTC and a Tutor in Theology at St Mellitus College.

At Evensong on the Feast of Christ the King he preached at SS Peter and Paul Church, Chingford – one of the churches in our Congregational Development Learning Community. The readings set were 1 Maccabees 2.15-29 & Matthew 28.16-20.

Tim Thorlby is CTC’s Development Director. He leads our work on missional enterprise and our primary research.  Here he blogs about two new reports being published by CTC – each encouraging the church to recognise, affirm and make more enterprising use of the skills and vocations of the lay people within it.

This week we are publishing two reports:

– 21^st Century Stewards (written by Tim Thorlby), and

– Carry Each Other’s Burdens (written by Laura Bagley)

Living Wage Week begins this Sunday (5th November). In his last blog, our Director Angus Ritchie looked at the Gospel readings set for that day in the lectionary. In this third blog, he looks at Catholic Social Teaching and the Living Wage.

Living Wage Week begins this Sunday (5th November). In his last blog, our Director Angus Ritchie suggested ways churches can mark the week – in particular supporting Clean for Good’s #WhoIsMyCleaner campaign. In this second blog, he looks at the Gospel readings set in the lectionary.  

As Living Wage Week approaches, our Director Angus Ritchie blogs on what you and your church can do to mark it, and to support the campaign.

 Living Wage Week runs from Sunday 5th to Saturday 11th November. We are suggesting a focus on the Living Wage in Sunday worship on 5th – and would encourage individuals and churches to take the #WhoIsMyCleaner challenge.

Ana França-Ferrera joined the CTC team in July to co-ordinate the Near Neighbours programme. Here she reflects on her first few months, and what the programme can offer to local people.

The Near Neighbours small grants is a programme with the aim to support community groups and organisations to bring together communities that are religiously and ethnically diverse so they can get to know each other better. 

Tim Thorlby is CTC’s Development Director. He leads our work on missional enterprise and is also a Director, and the Chair, of Clean for Good. After launching Clean for Good in the City of London, he blogs here about the opportunity this represents for the church.

On Thursday, we launched Clean for Good in the City of London – London’s first ethical contract cleaning company. It is a business with a social purpose, aiming to change the way that cleaning is done in London, giving cleaners a fairer deal.

The Buxton Leadership Programme is underway with three new leaders – Alec James, Frankie Webster and Miriam Brittenden – joining CTC. They are spending half their week working in Parliament and the other practising community organising in East London. The Co-ordinator of the programme Dunstan Rodrigues introduces them and explores the significance and purpose of their endeavours.

It is a great delight to welcome three committed, energetic and shrewd leaders to CTC, each bringing their gifts and experiences and embedding themselves in the lively worlds of grassroots community organising and Parliamentary politics.

In 2016, Laura Macfarlane was one of the CTC summer interns who went on to initiate the Vocation Project  –  designed to create spaces for vocational discernment for all. She is now serving on the Stepney Intern Scheme. 

Here she reflects on the value of community for discernment…

There is a famous passage in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 which likens the church to the body of Christ and its members to body parts. Paul writes that each person, like each part of the body, is vital and can fulfil a role that no other person can. Each person is equal but all are unique.

Richard Springer – Director of CTC’s Urban Leadership School, and Assistant Priest at St George-in-the-East in Shadwell – blogs about an exciting pilot project the School is launching in east London.

Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) citizens in England have historically been marginalised in a variety of ways – in local communities and in society more generally. Unfortunately, the established church has been no exception. Post-war arrivals to these shores, in the Windrush generation, met with a cold reception in many congregations. The proportion of BAME people being ordained in the Church of England remain appallingly low – and direct recruitment programmes are being put together to do something about this.

Tim Thorlby is CTC’s Development Director. He leads our work on missional enterprise and is also a Director of Clean for Good. Here he gives an update on our work with Clean for Good.

Since 2014, CTC has been working in partnership with a team of churches and Christian charities to develop, secure investment for and launch a brand new, ethical cleaning company for London – Clean for Good. CTC is a founder investor.

Last month, Alexander Rougeau took part in our Urban Leadership School, on a summer placement in the Catholic Parish of Manor Park. In this blog, he reflects on his experience – and the thirst God has placed in our hearts for justice.

It is not difficult to see that the world is unfair. When there is injustice, the soul needs change just as the body needs water. Like someone dehydrated, without fairness the soul becomes desperate, restless, and irritable. There is always injustice, so we are always thirsty.

Dave Morris took part in this summer’s Urban Leadership School, interning at Ilford Salvation Army. In this blog, he reflects on the central role of sharing and listening to stories in the practice of community organising.

Something that has brought together all of the interns on the Summer Internship is story-telling. In the remembering and the telling we have all learned so much about ourselves and each other.  Sometimes we are in stitches laughing; other times they’re followed by a weighty silence. But every single story has given me insight into who that person is.

In the first of a series of blogs by summer interns on our Urban Leadership School, Florence Gildea reflects on her experience of community organising at St George-in-the-East.

Since beginning the internship, I have been reflecting on what it means to see, and to be seen, to listen, and feel listened to, and to belong, in public life. Those are often experiences associated with the private sphere, but I cannot help but wonder if political disengagement and populism would be roads less travelled if people felt their voices were respected by politicians and that their stories carried the seeds of hope and transformation.  Moreover, through the lens of my Christian faith, I see community organising as offering a way of using power in a way that, like Jesus’ ministry, puts listening, recognition, and empowerment centre-stage.

Claire Moll is a member of the Community of St George – helping to renew the life of the parish church through prayer, reflection and organising – and bringing diverse neighbours together to build relationships and act for justice. In this blog, she reflects on the recent terrorist attacks, and the reactions in her neighbourhood.

As Christians, we are called to be Christ’s light in the world. However, after a series of tragic attacks on our larger British community, if feels harder to keep that light burning.

How do Christians believe change happens?

The Revd Dr Simon Cuff – a Research Associate at CTC and a parish priest in Ealing – addressed these questions at a Lenten retreat for members of the Community of St George last week.

Here are his reflections…

After weeks of learning how to effectively use our words, we were tasked last week at London Witness to capture a message through image alone. Thus, this week’s blog is just that. Check out how participants captured the theme of “light”…

CTC is running the London Witness programme for the Diocese of London – equipping lay Christians to engage with the media in ways that are confident and constructive. Each week, a participant will be blogging on their experience. Here Frankie Webster writes about week two – which saw the group looking at the finer details of social media; how to utilise each platform to their best advantage, the art of creating a tone through each, and what it looks like to engage well with social media as a Christian.

CTC is running the London Witness programme for the Diocese of London – equipping lay Christians to engage with the media in ways that are confident and constructive. Each week, a participant will be blogging on their experience. Here Elizabeth Harrison writes about week one – which included a residential weekend and the first evening session.

Tim Thorlby is CTC’s Development Director and he leads our work on research and enterprise. Here he blogs about our new report on how churches use their buildings and the enormous potential they have for mission.

I recently visited a church in north London.  Its congregation was small , elderly and gradually declining. The pastor was not hopeful about the future. “What can I do?”

Shermara Fletcher – one of the Christians on this year’s Buxton Leadership Programme – is part of a pioneering chaplaincy team at the new London Design and Engineering University Technical College. The College is a secondary school next door to the University of East London in Beckton, and has a particular focus on technical and scientific subjects.

In this blog, our Development Director, Tim Thorlby highlights a major milestone reached on our first social investment project.

The London Missional Housing Bond was first launched in early 2013 as a pilot. After 3 years of work, and two Bond issues, we have now raised nearly £1m of capital for missional housing in London and provided two growing churches in London with missional properties to support their work.

A Word from our Chaplain, Sr Josephine Canny OA, as we prepare to enter the season of Advent …

“You know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed ….” (Romans 13.11).

The Church invites us during this Advent Season to “hold ourselves ready” for the coming of the “Son of Man” – an expression that Jesus used when speaking of Himself. He insists there is no way of telling when this time will be, so the only attitude we can have is “to hold ourselves ready”.

Last month our Chaplain Sr Josephine and Co-ordinating Fellow Fr Simon Cuff both attended a conference on ‘Priesthood in a great world city’. On the opening night, Sr Josephine offered her reflections on priesthood from a Roman Catholic religious perspective. Fr Simon reflects on what he learned about priesthood in London and what impact the ordained priesthood has on the ‘priesthood’ and ‘praxis’ of all believers.

Living Wage Week runs from Sunday 30th October to Saturday 5th November. CTC Director Angus Ritchie blogs on the ways your church can get involved…

The Living Wage Campaign has had a huge impact on the lives of low-income families, putting over £200,000 extra in the pockets of people in poverty and helping at least 45,000 low paid workers and their families. From being dismissed as ‘impractical’ and ‘unrealistic’, it has now grown into a national movement supported by the leaders of all the main political parties, implemented by the Mayor of London, and recognised as having a robust business case by companies such as Barclays Bank and KPMG.

Selina Stone directs CTC’s William Seymour Programme – increasing the engagement of Pentecostal churches in community organising. Here she and CTC Director Angus Ritchie blog about their recent seminar on Pentecostalism, Power and Community Organising.

Last Tuesday,we visited the University of Roehampton at the invitation of Dr Andrew Rogers to present a paper to his postgraduate Research Group in Ministerial Theology. It was an exciting opportunity to engage with a group involved in both reflection and action on the issues we were exploring.

Francesca Webster and Dunstan Rodrigues (pictured) describe an exciting project about vocation that emerged from this year’s CTC Summer Internship – and invite you to get involved…

Moving from one stage of life to another can be extremely challenging.  The future appears scary and unstable; pursuing one’s passion feels too risky; status and security are very luring. It is easy to be swayed in different and conflicting directions by the pressures of friends and family.  Very few, if any, people listen without giving advice that confuses more than it illuminates.

Last Saturday, Richard Springer inaugurated his ministry as Director of our Urban Leadership School and Assistant Priest at St George-in-the-East. Here he reflects on his first week with us…

It has been a long time coming getting to Shadwell. Not just because I was interviewed at the beginning of the year and licensed as Assistant Priest to the parish of St George-in-the-East some 8 months later – just last week in a wonderful service.

Having been one of its first participants, Selina Stone now co-ordinates CTC’s Buxton Leadership Programme. In this blog she introduces this year’s participants.

The Programme has kicked off its fourth year with energy and excitement! We have three brilliant interns who are going to be with us for the whole year practicing community organising in local communities while also working in Westminster.

Our Near Neighbours Co-ordinator Sotez Chowdhury blogs on his first month at CTC, and how Christians can use Ramadan to build relationships and act with Muslims on issues of common concern:

It’s four weeks since I’ve joined the team here as the Near Neighbours Co-ordinator and it’s already been quite a time. Being managed by priests, based in a crypt, getting to grips with what an archdeacon actually is … Many have asked what is like to work in such a context. I answer that what has been remarkable is the way I have been welcomed so warmly. I see the love of my Christian colleagues for Jesus and God, and I see compassion for others in their way of life – now even more so as we have just entered into the Holy month of Ramadan.

When a promised museum about women’s history in east London was turned into a celebration of serial killer Jack The Ripper instead, many local people were unhappy. Here we look at how community organising helped turn the anger into action – with the church at the heart of the response…

The outrage which met the opening of the Jack The Ripper museum was understandable. Having been promised a vibrant celebration of women’s contribution to east London, it was a bitter blow to be told that a man who murdered several women would be celebrated instead. Almost immediately, protest sprung up.

But with museum owners showing no sign of remorse, the energy needed to be turned into action. A series of one to one meetings between campaigners raised the need to take action, rather than just protest. Soon, the idea of a pop up exhibition of women’s history was born.

Our Director, Angus Ritchie, preached at St Paul’s Cathedral this morning on the calling of the Church to help us “learn together how to be more fully human, and how to make a more human world.” Here is the full text of his sermon…

Ascension Day, which we celebrated last Thursday, is one of the great feasts of the Christian year. But it isn’t the easiest festival to understand. When we think about the other great feasts, it’s fairly obvious what they teach us.

Our Chaplain, Sr Josephine Canny OA, brings us a short reflection for the start of Advent…

“If there are days in life when everything goes well, each one of us has also known the experience of the desert, or days when we have had to live through a stormy period when the future becomes a source of anxiety and questioning. We have had to “find a foothold” once again.

The 6th-8th of November saw the first ever ‘Show Up Weekend,’ hosted by Christians in Politics for over a hundred delegates – involved in or exploring a role in politics – from across the UK. Selina Stone attended the cross-party initiative on behalf of CTC, and explains what made it such a momentous event…

“Christians in Politics (CiP) seeks to equip Christians to engage positively in party politics and government by presenting the biblical basis for participation, as well as practical resources and networking opportunities. They are committed to building relationships across party lines, practising servant-leadership and recognising the importance of the Church. It sounded good to me!

CTC has been at the forefront of the Church’s fight for economic justice. The Church Credit Champions Network is part of CTC’s effort to engage churches will the difficult issues of money and debt. Tom Newbold is the CCCN coordinator for the Diocese of London. Here he talks about our Seeing Change course, an exciting resource to get churches talking about money. Why not use it this coming Lent?

“We’ve not yet reached Christmas, but with only three months to go, have you thought about your Lent course? The Seeing Change course has been developed to resource and equip churches to get thinking and talking about some difficult, but significant biblical topics: lending, credit, and debt. 

Our Faith in Public Life Officer, David Barclay, blogs for us about one Tower Hamlets church which is thriving in a multicultural context…

If you’re having a debate about whether multiculturalism has failed in Britain, it’s usually not long until Tower Hamlets makes an appearance in the conversation. With rapid gentrification, political corruption and the recent tragedy of schoolgirls joining ISIS in Syria, the east London borough appears to be a microcosm of all the unease that modern Britain feels with itself. Against such a backdrop, it’s easy to lose hope that different religious and ethnic groups can truly forge a common life together.

CTC’s Development Director Tim Thorlby blogs on the celebration for our first London Missional Housing Bond, and the launch of the second…

Earlier this week we were delighted to welcome the Bishop of London to Bethnal Green to celebrate the London Missional Housing Bond.

What began as an idea a couple of years ago came to fruition as the Bishop visited the property – which we hope will be the first of many.

We raised nearly £400,000 from individuals, churches and purchased the house in Bethnal Green, which is now home to two missional workers. Now, the second Bond is seeking £2m in crowdfunded social investment for the provision of affordable rented housing for key church missional workers.

Our Director, Canon Dr Angus Ritchie, blogs about a new season at CTC…

As the summer finally begins to turn to autumn, it’s definitely a time of transition for us – with a new name and a new location. Behind these are some deeper changes, as we focus more intently on a few core areas of work.

The name: CTC now stands for the “Centre for Theology and Community” (rather than the “Contextual Theology Centre”). This is a small shift, but emphasises that our focus is not primarily academic, nor are we a “think tank.” We grow out of the life and mission of inner city churches, and our aim is to equip them to transform their communities.

The location: We are very grateful to the Royal Foundation of St Katharine for a decade of hospitality – and their generous financial support for our Congregational Development work in the year ahead. But we are keen to move to a location more obviously rooted in the neighbourhood – and to free up space at St Katharine’s for their growing retreat ministry.

CTC’s Development Director Tim Thorlby blogs on a promising project at a City of London church…

Our latest project brings together an unlikely mix of big business, local government, an ancient city church and the communities of east London. The connection? Dirt and rubbish.

The story starts with the Parish of St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe – a 13^th century institution in the City of London, now home to decidedly 21^st Century global businesses like Baker & McKenzie. The new Vicar, Revd Guy Treweek, has been working to re-establish the church as a base for serving the community. So, as well as regular church activities, it also now home to “Suited and Booted”, a charity which provides smart clothes and interview training for the long-term unemployed and the church has also recently become a collection point for the Hackney Foodbank.

Our Development Director Tim Thorlby blogs on our latest seminar for local church leaders which looked at how churches can best serve and include homeless people…

This week, a team from West London Mission helped us to explore two important questions. Firstly, how can churches include homeless people, not just serve their material needs? And how can Christian charities retain their distinctive identity and serve the spiritual needs of their ‘clients’ without losing their professional credentials? These are important issues that affect many churches and Christian charities.

The latest of our new programme of seminars ‘Theology for the Local Church’. These seminars – which are hosted at the Royal Foundation of St Katharine in east London – aim to equip churches and Christian charities with the latest theology and practice on a key issue and then to provide the space for discussion and reflection.

Near Neighbours Co-ordinator Revd Tim Clapton blogs about a group of HIV positive African men who’ve benefited from a grant and the support offered by the programme…

‘Near Neighbours’ is a Government funded initiative being delivered through the Church Urban Fund. Our aim is simple – to resource groups of local people to enable them to develop relationships between people of different faiths and ethnicities. We hope these relationships will develop into some kind of local social action or civic engagement. As the Co-ordinator of Near Neighbours in Eastern London I have met some amazing people and visited some fantastic projects. There are many I could choose to share here, but I will focus on Boniface and his gardening project.

This Sunday’s lectionary readings relate to a key issue in the headlines – the Christian attitude to wealth and economics.  Centre Director Angus Ritchie reflects on their message for our churches today:

In both the Common Worship and Roman Catholic lectionaries, this Sunday’s Gospel reading is Luke 12.13-21, with verses from Ecclesiastes 1 and 2 offered as the ‘related’ Old Testament passage and Colossians 3.1-11 (or 3.1-5,9-11) as the Epistle.

Our attitudes to wealth and possessions lie at the heart of all three readings. They are likely to be on many of our congregations’ minds – some because of the financial pressures they are living with each day, other because the Church’s teaching on these issues is so much in the headlines – with Archbishop Justin’s attack on exploitative lending contribution, Archbishop Sentamu’s decision to chair a Living Wage Commission and Pope Francis’ emphasis on the needs of the poorest in society.  While many commentators have welcomed these interventions, The Independent has demanded that Church leaders stick to ‘spiritual concerns’ and stay out of these political debates.

After Archbishop Justin’s intervention into the debate last week, CTC Fellow Luke Bretherton blogs on “Scripture, usury and the call for responsible lending.”  An earlier version of this article appeared in CTC’s essay collection Crunch Time: A Call to Action

Luke is Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School, and author of Christianity and Contemporary Politics: The Conditions and Possibilities of Faithful Witness

‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be’?   

Scripture, usury and the call for responsible lending [1]

In response to the recent debate about usury inspired by Archbishop Justin Welby’s ‘war on Wonga’ I set out here the theological rationale for why, historically, the church took a severe stance towards the practice of usury.  This background piece – a kind of briefing note for sermons – gives an overview of the treatment of usury in Scripture and in the Christian tradition more generally.

Usury in Scripture

The Bible has a great deal to say about the power of money.  In particular, it is quite specific about how we should treat debt and lending.  A primary narrative template for understanding salvation is given in the book of Exodus. The central dramatic act of this story is liberation from debt slavery in Egypt.  The Canonical structure of Genesis and Exodus in the ordering of Scripture makes this point.  The book of Genesis closes with the story of Joseph.  At the end of this story, although saved from famine, the Israelites, along with everyone else in Egypt, are reduced to debt slavery.  [2] This is a ‘voluntary’ process entered into in order to receive the grain from Pharaoh’s stores that the people had given to Pharaoh for safe keeping in the first place.  [3]After several rounds of expropriation the people finally come before Joseph and say: ‘There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. … Buy us and our land in exchange for food. We with our land will become slaves to Pharaoh.’  [4] The first chapter of Exodus opens with a new Pharaoh who takes advantage of the Israelites debt slavery to exploit them.  So the Israelites were not prisoners of war or chattel slaves, they were debt slaves undertaking corvée labour on behalf of the ruling elite.  [5] It is this condition that the Israelites are redeemed from.  As David Baker notes the verb ‘go’ in ancient Hebrew is used for both the exodus and for the seventh-year release of debt slaves.  [6] The linkage between liberation from Egypt and debt slavery is made explicit in Leviticus 25.35-46. In this text the prohibitions against usury and limits placed on debt slavery through the institution of jubilee are grounded in the relationship established between God and the people through the act of liberation from Egypt.

The Gospel reading  for Sunday 7 April is John 20.19-31

‘As the Father has sent me, so I send you… receive the Holy Spirit’

After the bewildering events of Holy Week and Easter, no wonder we find the disciples huddled in an upper room!  This Gospel is about the Risen Lord’s effect on his dispirited and anxious followers.   Jesus sends the Spirit on his disciples that they, in turn, might be sent out.  We’re reminded that the Church exists not for itself but for the world—to make the Word flesh in every generation.  As in Jesus’ life, that involves courage and generosity.

Good Friday: John 18 & 19

Powerlessness, suffering and injustice are experiences the human race knows very well.  And they lie at the heart of these stories.  Jesus is revealed, not as a far-off ruler, but as someone who is with us in the midst of these things.

He is human—and so bears these experiences alongside us.  But he is also divine—and so his bearing of judgment, hatred and violence also vanquishes them.

‘What do you really want?’  That is the question the crowds face on Palm Sunday, and the disciples face as Jesus goes to the cross.  In what do they place their deepest hopes and trust?

The ongoing financial crisis poses these questions to us all.  Our society is reaping the harvest of a financial system which has spun out of control – a system which placed its trust in things and disregarded people.  The Palm Sunday and Easter readings speak to us of a God who breaks through the narrowness and greed of human hearts, not to judge and condemn but to offer ‘the life that really is life’ (1 Timothy 6.19) .

The Palm Sunday Gospel readings are Luke 19.28-40 (Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem) and Luke 23.1-49 (Gospel of the Passion)

As Jesus enters Jerusalem, what is it that the crowd think they see?  They think they see a king – perhaps a military leader who will end the rule of the Romans.  But Jesus doesn’t meet their expectations. What they are after is not what he provides.  His arrival on a donkey overturns their expectations, but the reality takes some time to sink in.

Of course, we read this with the benefit of hindsight – but the Gospel poses this question to  each of us every bit as much as it does to them.  ‘What are you after?’  What do we seek from Jesus?  And are we willing to allow him to challenge, and to disappoint our expectations?  As the disciples learn, it is in not giving us what we are after that Jesus gives us what we truly need.

The lectionary readings in the Church of England and Roman Catholic church diverge this Sunday.  The Missal gives us John 8.1-11

A preacher gave a sermon against gossip in his church one week. He preached exactly the same sermon the next week…

…and the next! This time, some of his congregation asked him why he was doing this. He said, ‘I’ll go on to the next sermon once you’ve taken this one to heart!’

Just like that preacher, today’s Gospel underlines the message of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which many churches read last week.  We are given the same message again and again, because we need to absorb it in our hearts as well as our heads.

As we were reminded two weeks ago (when we reflected on the Parable of the Fig Tree), there is a world of difference between the free grace offered in Jesus Christ and ‘cheap grace’, which allows us to continue complacently in our sin.

The point of guilt is to change our ways so we ‘go and sin no more’. We are reminded of this every time we look at the cross: God’s response in Christ to sin is not vengeance, but love. How many times do each of us need to hear that, before we take it to heart?

The Church of England reading for this Sunday is John 12.1-8.  This  speaks to us of one woman’s response once she had taken the message of the cross to heart – for she anoints him prophetically, for burial. This is how grace transforms us: we only come to such overwhelming generosity in our worship of God and our relationship with neighbour and stranger when we have begun to grasp his overwhelming generosity. “We love because he loved us first.”

Almighty God, as we stand at the foot of the cross of your Son, teach us to see and know his love for us, that in humility, love and joy we may place at his feet all that we have and all that we are, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

On March 10^th, the Common Worship lectionary offers an additional set of options for churches who will be celebrating the Fourth Sunday of Lent as ‘Mothering Sunday’.

These include two possible Old Testament passages – the story of the baby Moses being found in the bulrushes (Exodus 2.1-10) and of Hannah’s dedication of her longed-for son Samuel to God (1 Samuel 1.20-28).  They also include two Gospel passages – Simeon’s prophecy to Mary that her child is destined for the falling and rising of nations and that ‘a sword shall pierce your own heart also’ (Luke 2.33-35) and Jesus’ commending of his mother and the beloved disciple into one another’s care (John 19.25-27) as they stand at the foot of his cross.

The first thing to observe about these four stories is how unsentimental they are.  These four Biblical stories all involve pain and disruption.  Behind the story of Moses in the bulrushes is the fear that if the child’s true race and identity is known, his life will be in danger.  Behind the joy of Hannah are many years of childlessness – and the complex feelings ’Mothering Sunday’ may provoke in those who long for their own children.  Luke 2 contains the much-loved Nunc Dimittis (used in many churches and cathedrals each evening) where Simeon prays ‘Lord, you now let your servant go in peace…for my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared before the sight of every people…’  In offering Luke 2.33-35, the lectionary reminds us that after these words of rejoicing and comfort, Simeon offers Mary a prophecy of pain.  That prophecy is fulfilled in John 19, as we see Mary standing at the foot of the cross with the beloved disciple, as her son is executed as a common criminal.

Questions for reflection

These stories present a challenge to us as congregations and as individuals:

1. They are honest about the challenges facing parents and children,  and those longing to be parents.  Do we – as individuals and as a church – help people to be honest about these challenges – or do we encourage people to keep up appearances, and to hide their difficulties behind facades?  How can we support one another, honestly and generously, in the challenge and joy of family life?

2. They warn us against a rush to judge and stigmatise. In both Gospel readings, the reality of Mary’s faithful obedience contrasts with the way outsiders might have perceived and judged her.  How do we nurture faithful, costly obedience to God’s call – and resist judgementalism?

3. They speak of God’s presence and action in families on the margins of society  The lives of Jesus, Mary and Joseph are marked by their existence under a violent occupying power: in the flight to Egypt in his infancy, the beheading of Jesus’ cousin and forerunner, and most of all at Calvary.

In maternal compassion expressed by her presence [at her Son’s crucifixion]…Mary is so close to the drama of so many families, of so many mothers and children, reunited by death after long periods of separation for reasons of work, illness or violence at the hands of individuals or groups. (John Paul II)

The story of the Holy Family embraces, and draws our attention to, the plight of refugees and those living with persecution and violence in our own day.  How do we discern, and serve, Christ in those children and parents who live through persecution and exile today?

4. They call us to be a community of nuture and mutual care:  In his words from the cross in John 19 we see Jesus’ compassion and his concern for his mother. .  Entrusting Mary and the beloved disciple to one another as mother and son, Jesus teaches us that the community of his disciples needs to have that same spirit of mutual care and concern.  He is inviting us to acknowledge a responsibility for one another, whether or not we have ties of biological kinship.  What (perhaps small) step can our church take this Lent to be a community which nurtures those who lack security and love  – whatever their age and background?

There is a fuller set of resources for celebrating Mothering Sunday on the Children’s Society website

Tom Daggett, CTC’s Church-Based Community Organiser at Stepney Salvation Army blogs on how community is being built through music and the arts:

Many people understand that music-making is great for bringing people together. I’ve had first-hand experience of this through my work with the Salvation Army in Stepney (www.hopeasha.org.uk). Each week, three projects keep my musical sensibilities in check – and have helped me to recognise how powerful music-based activities can be in bringing people into stronger community.

‘Babysong’ has been running in Roland Philipps Scout Hall each Thursday morning during term-time since September 2011. Babysong is a singing activity intended to develop psychological bonds between parent/carer and child, and social bonds between people in a diverse community. We spend around 45 minutes singing a cycle of songs (which I accompany on the piano), each with a different focus – songs of welcome; songs with movement; songs with instruments; and songs for relaxation and calm, during which children listen to a live piece of classical music. We’ve seen around 100 local families – of diverse ethic, faith and social backgrounds — come through our doors on a regular basis since 2011 – and the group’s reach continues to grow broader and deeper.

The second group is ‘Smart Crew’, an extension of the work of ‘Smarties’ – an after-school kids club which the church has been running for a number of years. Smart Crew is a musical theatre group for kids aged 8-14. I co-ordinate this group (as Musical Director) in partnership with a professional actor, and we’ve now put on two hugely successful shows – ‘Jonah’ (based on the biblical story) and ‘The Landlord’s Cat’ (a fresh take on the nativity story). I have great fun teaching the kids about singing and general musicianship; there is so much energy to be channelled!

Added to these, I direct a community gospel choir which meets every Tuesday evening in Departure Arts Café, Limehouse –part of the London City Mission. We’ve been running since October 2012, and are starting to do something quite special. Again, the spectrum of people inolved is considerable – and it’s difficult to think of other activities which would bring such different people together in union with one another. And that’s the real emphasis of community-based music projects such as these – they’re intended to be fun, socially rewarding, and to offer relief to other aspects of life which can seem burdensome. That’s why the Contextual Theology Centre recognises the missional potential of music for inner-city churches and communities – and it’s why we’re in conversations with others about scaling this work up, helping others to recognise this imperative and be inspired to do the same.

This Sunday’s Gospel reading is Luke 13.1-9.  It is not an easy reading – a warning to ‘repent or perish’ followed by the parable of the fig-tree, which concludes with the words: If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.

Judgment is not a theme that Christians can evade.  The Gospel is about grace – about a God whose love for us does not depend on what we do or how we behave – but it challenges us to respond to that free offer, not least because life without that grace is barren and destructive.  As Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it:

Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of the church. Our struggle today is for costly grace. … Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which has to be asked for, the door at which one has to knock. It is costly, because it calls to discipleship; it is grace, because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly, because it costs people their lives; it is grace, because it thereby makes them live.

The Old Testament reading set for Sunday (Isaiah 55.1-9) reinforces the message.  It speaks of the destructiveness of a life closed in on the self – and the invitation to find fulness of life by turning instead to God and to his ways of justice and of peace.

It is not a kindness – to our neighbours or ourselves – to evade the reality of the choice which God places before each human being.  We respond to God, not merely with the words we speak, but with the way we live, and the things we set our hearts on.  As one writer has put it:

my God is that which rivets my attention, centres my activity, preoccupies my mind, and motivates my action

The disciplines of Lent are life-giving, not life-denying, precisely because they are about the costly process of weaning us offmaking idols of the good things in creation.  In focusing us on the one true God, and setting our hearts on his Kingdom, we find truly abundant life, and we learn to enjoy – and share – his gifts aright.

This is not only true in our individual lives.  One reason the Contextual Theology Centre has launched the Seeing Change course this Lent is precisely because we need to learn this lesson corporately as well as individually – and wean ourselves off the economic idols that are costing us all so dear.

The Bishop of London has officially launched the London Missional Housing Bond. The Bond is seeking to raise £2million to enable a partnership of churches and Christian organisations to buy houses and flats. These properties will then be rented, at affordable rents, to church workers serving in our capital’s most deprived communities.

The Bond was launched in the Mercers’ Hall in the City of London – the historic home of commerce and finance. The wealth of the City contrasts starkly with the deeply ingrained poverty to be found in the areas which will benefit from the Bond – including the East End; worlds apart, yet less than a mile away. The purpose of the Bond is to begin to reconnect London’s wealth with its disadvantaged communities, through the church.

House prices in London have now reached astronomic levels, even in the most disadvantaged communities in inner London. It is arguably now a social crisis. For churches attempting to promote the social transformation that is so badly needed, the price of housing has become a major obstacle to mission. Churches cannot afford to house their youth workers, community organisers and interns in the same neighbourhood. These staff often commute long distances or even move to work somewhere else.

The Bond tackles this problem head on.  By raising funds (starting from £5,000) from a range of investors – individuals, churches, institutions – it will be possible to buy houses and flats outright and then rent them to church workers at more affordable rates than anything the open market provides. The business model allows the payment of a modest rate of interest to investors (up to 2%).

That is why this is a social investment. Investing in the Bond will not make you rich! It will, however, enable local churches in some of London’s most deprived communities to take on workers and kick-start much needed missional projects. Investors will know their money is working hard giving a social return.

The Bond is being delivered by Affordable Christian Housing, a long established Christian housing association based in London. They are working on behalf of three key partners:

– The Diocese of London, overseeing a network of parishes

– The Eden Network, which places teams in estates across London

– The Contextual Theology Centre, which supports churches across East London to engage in integrated mission to their communities.

These partners will oversee the Bond, decide where to buy the houses and select tenants.

The Bond launch event itself was a resounding success. It brought together a diverse mix of bishops, clergy and potential investors as well as some of the church workers who might benefit from the Bond – youth workers, interns and community organisers. In this mix, we might perhaps also see the glimmerings of a second social transformation – not just of the deprived communities that stand to benefit, but also of the way that wealth is viewed and invested by those fortunate enough to own it. In an era of irresponsible capitalism, new attitudes to the use of money are needed.

Here we see the church playing an ancient role – bringing rich and poor together and reminding them both of their equality in the eyes of God. What markets and governments cannot do, perhaps the Church can?

For more information on how to invest in the Bond, please click here.

UPDATE: The Bond launch features in today’s Daily Telegraph City Diary (27/02/2013)

The Diocese Of London website now features the Bond and quotes for all partner organisations.

This Sunday, the Roman Catholic lectionary gives us the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration – something Anglicans read the Sunday before Lent.  We have blogged on its significance for the early stages of the Lenten journey here.

In the Church of England calendar, we read Luke 13.31-35.  In this passage, we see Jesus being extraordinarily blunt about King Herod – Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will finish my work – and going on to express a maternal love towards the people among whom he ministers and lives, even as he acknowledges their violent rejection of God’s prophets (and anticipates his own rejection) – How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

This passage challenges us to reflect more deeply on the character of Jesus; to look beyond our own preconceptions and projections, and see how he actually thinks, speaks and behaves.  Jesus combines courage (he is not afraid to speak truth to power, even though he knows that speaking out against Herod and his family ultimately cost John the Baptist his life); clearsightedness (he knows that the very crowds who now praise him will turn against him and cry ‘Crucify!’) and compassion (he nonetheless longs to gather them together ‘as a hen gathers her brood’.

These are characteristics we find it incredibly hard to hold together.  When we engage in conflict with others, we find it hard to remain truly compassionate.  When we seek to be compassionate, we find it hard to also speak words which challenge and generate tension.  It is tempting, then, to re-make Jesus in our own image: either to emphasise his compassion, in a way that obscures his capacity for confronting and disturbing the powerful, or to emphasise his courage, and lapse into the very judgmentalism and hard-heartedness he condemns.

It is only be returning again and again to these Gospel stories – in our common worship and in our times of personal study and prayer – that we can allow the Spirit of Jesus to re-make us in his image, instead of we re-making him in ours.

There’s some great work being done in Poplar by Jan Evans.

Her womens’ group is learning English together and was able to mark its final session with an Olympic Party, after being recognised as a great local community project.

Funding for the group came from Near Neighbours.

For more see this article from wharf.co.uk