“Another world is possible” Reflections on the year-long Buxton Internship

The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged Buxton, Internship, Politics, Westminster l September 16, 2015

Isaac Stanley recently finished the year-long Buxton Leadership Programme. Here he reflects on his time in Parliament, and in a number of Hackney churches, and what it means to work towards a better world…

“Another world is possible.” In this refusal to accept the world as it is, what would it take to get to this other world? What would it look like?

The last year as a Buxton intern, where half my time was spent in Westminster as a Parliamentary assistant and researcher with Frank Field MP, and the other half in Hackney as a church-based community organiser, has given me a rich opportunity to engage with an important tension in how to reach this other, better, world….

How you and your church can help ease the refugee crisis

Community Organising, Events, The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged Citizens UK, Refugee Crisis, Refugees l September 7, 2015

CTC’s Caitlin Burbridge blogs about how churches can play a decisive role in easing the refugee crisis…

This past few weeks we’ve seen an extraordinary change of mood in the British psyche. Church leaders, along with those of other faiths and none, are calling for us to capitalise on this and become a far more hospitable country for those fleeing conflict and persecution.

For the last year, churches in Citizens UK have been working on a campaign to resettle refugees in this country. Citizens UK and the campaign group Avaaz have together been gathering specific and concrete commitments from congregations, individuals, local councils and landlords to house and welcome refugees.

Turbulent times: learning lessons for the future of the Church

The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged East London, Monasticism, Religious Community l September 1, 2015

CTC’s latest exciting publication, Deep Calls To Deep is about monasticism in east London and what we can learn from Religious Orders today. Dr Damian Howard, a Jesuit priest, academic and friend of CTC blogs for us about this new resource…

There can surely be no doubt that we are living through a time of transition from one historical period to another; it is as turbulent and traumatic as it is challenging. Such epochal shifts have always been marked by a re-imagining of the Christian life as radical discipleship, by a seeking-out of new ways to position oneself as a disciple in relation to the social mainstream, and by the quest for a more thorough integration of the ‘outward’ life of work and community with the ‘interior’ journey into the mystery of God. The sharp decline of the forms of church-going and Christian identity which have served us so well for over a century tells us that we in our turn will need to find something new, to experiment and to take risks, if we are to fashion forms of life which are truly adequate to the emerging context and which will bear lasting evangelical fruit.

Monasticism for the city: CTC’s new publication

Events, The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged East London, Monasticism, Monk, Nun, Religious Community l August 24, 2015

Our Director Angus Ritchie blogs on an exciting new publication and event taking place next week…

On Tuesday 1st September, you are warmly invited to join us, as we launch a pioneering new community, and a new report on what the wider church can learn from monasticism in east London. The two launches are deeply intertwined, as the shape of the new community has been influenced by the findings of our research.

The report is called ‘Deep calls to deep: monasticism for the city.’ One of its central messages is that monasticism is far more than a set of ideas. It is always embodied in living communities. For this reason, it is a complete misunderstanding to see monasticism as “other worldly.” Religious Orders teach the wider Church and society how to live – here and now – in the light of eternity. Those of us who are not called to the monastic life can learn most from it by face-to-face engagement with members of Religious Orders, and by considering how their wisdom and values can be embodied in the rhythms of our daily life.

CTC Interns: Changing people to change the world

Urban Leadership School l August 10, 2015

CTC’s Communications Officer Andy Walton gives us some examples of an increasingly diverse group of young Christians being trained up to change the world…

“Internship” has become a bit of a dirty word in some circles. It implies a culture of free or cheap labour provided to big companies or even charities. They get away without paying young people properly, which in turn means they draw only from a pool of middle class, privileged young people who can afford to work for free.

Here at CTC, we think internships are a great thing – if done properly. We began offering month-long internships around 10 years ago and since then, well over 100 young people have passed through, spending a month learning the practices of community organising and building relationships in a local church.

2014-15 – So much to celebrate in our annual review!

The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged 'Living Wage', Annual Report, Community Organising l August 6, 2015

CTC’s Director, Angus Ritchie, blogs about some of the exciting projects contained in our annual review for 2014-15, Changing Places…

One side of the CTC annual review tells the story of our activities in 2014-15. The other displays a great poster which partner churches can show off, containing the entire text of our “Just Church” report, and a striking quote about the Living Wage campaign. You can download the poster here!

When we chose this design, we had no idea the Chancellor was going to rebrand the minimum wage as a “national living wage” – a sign of the impact of more than a decade of community organising in inner-city churches, and one that we have been responding to in the press.

Cake and Conversation: A month of listening in east London

The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged Jellicoe, Shadwell, St George-in-the-East l August 3, 2015

Jess Scott was one of our Jellicoe Interns during July. Here she reflects on the joy of building relationships with people who have called east London home for all their lives…

Running away from approaching buzz bombs… strict priests disciplining unruly teenagers… children being born, partners dying… pubs closing… immigrants coming, a new Overground train station opening. These were just some of the stories I had the privilege of hearing over the last month – something I found unexpectedly hopeful. Memories have about them a kind of chaos – they tell of things going wrong, but things going right too. Ros told me of her husband’s financial difficulty, and in the next breath of the astonishing generosity of her neighbours. We live in a world, it appears, that is unfairly unjust, but unexpectedly kind too – a cause for hope.

Open Wide Ye Gates (and invite the community in!)

The Centre for Theology & Community l July 27, 2015

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 Interns: stories from a month spent with East London churches

Community Organising l and tagged Community Organising, Hackney, Hoxton, Internship l July 23, 2015

Our Communications Officer, Andy Walton, blogs about the joy of having 17 young people join us as interns for the month of July – and a snapshot of what they’ve been up to…

For many years now our internship programme has been training up young Christians in the practices of community organising and sending them to spend a month working with a church in London. The summer of 2015 has seen young Christians from Ghana, Germany and Italy join those from the UK to comprise our most diverse cohort ever. Most are at university, but some are school leavers. They come from a wide variety of church traditions – spanning Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Anglican and others. But they are united in their desire to see local churches engaging with their communities.

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