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.

Inter Faith Encounter in our Super Diverse City

Research, The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged grassroots, Interfaith, theology l July 22, 2015

Dr Julia Ipgrave is a Senior Research Fellow in the Institute for Education at the University of Warwick. Here she blogs for us about her new report, published by CTC…

This summer saw the launch of a new CTC report, Grassroots Theologies of Inter Faith Encounter. The publication was introduced in Hamburg at a conference on inter religious relations in north European cities organised by Hamburg University Academy of World Religions. The CTC report contributed perspectives from Londoners on their experiences and understandings of encounter with neighbours of different religions and cultures in this super diverse city. In accordance with the ethos of CTC the report seeks to break down the idea of ‘theology’ as the preserve of a particular group of experts by putting the voice of those who live and work in deprived and diverse communities at the heart of conversation in theology and public life in general.

Marching Towards Justice: Community Organising and the Salvation Army

Community Organising l and tagged Boundless, Community Organising, Salvation Army, William Booth l July 2, 2015

The Salvation Army is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a series of events in east London. Timed to coincide with the celebrations, CTC has published a new resource for salvationists and others – Marching Towards Justice: Community Organising and The Salvation Army. Here, co-authors Lieutenant John Clifton and Major Nick Coke give a taste of how they’re learning from history to fight for justice in the 21st Century…

Congregational Development: What is it, and why does it matter?

Community Organising l and tagged Community Organising l June 22, 2015

CTC’s ‘Congregational Development’ programme is designed to support churches and leaders seeking to act in public life through community organising with Citizens UK. Selina Stone explains what the programme is all about and how it equips Christian leaders and churches…

Community organising is most famous for its campaigns – whether for the Living Wage, a cap on payday lending, or a more just asylum system. However, the foundation of all this work is the way it develops institutions and leaders. For churches – as for other civic and religious groups – this is what determines the extent to which they can participate in public life. CTC and Citizens UK are working together to help churches harness this great potential of community organising, through a nine month ‘action learning community.’ I’ve been one of the team of staff working on our 2014-15 pilot, and we are now planning an expanded programme for 2015-16.

Our Common Heritage: time to work together to tackle the Housing Crisis

The Centre for Theology & Community l June 17, 2015

The Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester, blogs for us on the importance of the Church getting stuck in to help tackle the housing crisis…

Across the UK, we face a growing housing crisis. There is a serious lack of affordable housing in many different areas. All too often, housing is seen simply as a commodity to be bought and sold. In fact, homes are much more than that. The pattern of housing provision shapes the life of our communities for good or ill. A vision of the common good needs to be at the heart of housing policy.

Tackling the housing crisis: time to renew an old partnership

Research, The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged Housing, housing association, Housing Justice l June 10, 2015

Our Development Director, Tim Thorlby, blogs on the launch of our new report ‘Our Common Heritage’ which explores the potential for churches and housing associations to transform the lives of many…

In the UK today more than 5 million people rent their home from a housing association. These not-for-profit voluntary sector housing bodies are a feature of almost every community in the country. They now provide more than half of the UK’s affordable homes for rent, with local councils providing the rest.

It was not always so.

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