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.

Pentecost: When the spirit comes, the world is transformed!

The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged Pentecost l May 24, 2015

In place of our weekly blog, we bring you a sermon preached by our Director, Canon Dr Angus Ritchie, at Magdalen College, Oxford, for Pentecost. In it he covers the Holy Spirit, Social Justice and one of our heroes… Fr Basil Jellicoe.

“Bishops are often told to stick to spiritual matters, and to stay out of politics and economics. Such advice is half right: the Church and its leaders certainly should focus on to spiritual matters. After all, that’s why Bishops get to wear such funny hats. The curious shape of the mitre is modelled on the flames of the Spirit that descended on the Apostles at Pentecost. They remind us that Bishops are “spiritual” leaders, and indeed that the mission of the whole Church is a “spiritual” one.

The problem comes when we assume that political and economic questions – the quality of people’s housing, the wages they are paid, the way a country treats refugees – are somehow not “spiritual” issues.

“Life changing” – spend the summer with CTC…

Community Organising l and tagged interns, Jellicoe, summer l May 12, 2015

The Revd Tim Clapton, Director of our Urban Leadership School, blogs on our upcoming summer internships programme…

I find it useful when people offer their feedback and reflections – it’s the best way of evaluating a piece of work. So when, the other day, I met a young man who some years ago, had taken part in our Jellicoe Internship, I was keen to hear what he had to say. I asked him how he found it. Would he recommend it to others?

His reply, or perhaps the way he replied, gave me quite a shock. Previously we had just been informally standing around in a group sipping wine, but when I asked the question he suddenly turned around and looked straight at me. He said, “Jellicoe totally changed the course of my life.”

Citizens UK Election Assembly – Politicians held to account at unique event

Community Organising, Just Money l and tagged Citizens UK, General Election l May 6, 2015

The Revd Dr Simon Cuff is a CTC Research Associate and Curate of Christ the Saviour, Ealing. Here he blogs about the Citizens UK Assembly – the most vibrant event of the election campaign…

At Mass last Sunday, we heard these words from the first epistle of S. John: ‘My children, our love is not to be just words or mere talk, but something real and active’. The next day (May 4th), Citizens UK held its second General Election Accountability Assembly in its 25 year history. At this event, the agenda born out of thousands of conversations with our members would be put to the three party leaders most likely to be in government by way of 5 clear and specific asks (on social care, sanctuary, Just Money, living wage and a commitment to meet regularly with us).

Citizens, the Election and the Kingdom of God…

Community Organising l and tagged Citizens UK, General Election l May 6, 2015

The Revd Alexandra Lilley is Curate at St Paul’s, Shadwell and a good friend of ours at CTC. Here she blogs about the most extraordinary event of the election campaign. The Citizens UK Assembly…

I am new to this.

When I first attended a Citizens UK meeting several years ago, I walked into a room where everyone spoke a different dialect from me. (Maybe that’s how people feel when they go to church for the first time.)

Doing the ‘rounds’ felt cringey and contrived; I didn’t listen to anyone else because I was worried I had so little to offer. I didn’t want to be ‘organised’ thank you very much, nor did I want to ‘organise’ anyone else – how terribly pushy. And I certainly didn’t want to conduct a ‘listening campaign’ by accosting complete strangers in my neighbourhood. I am, after all, very much an introvert. I popped Citizens on the shelf and allowed it to get dusty.

Clean for Good – the new London Cleaning Company using Justice to shift the grime…

The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged 'Living Wage', city of london, Cleaning, Ethical, St Andrew-By-The-Wardrobe l April 30, 2015

Our Development Director Tim Thorlby blogs about an exciting new project taking off in the City of London, with a little help from CTC…

Last September I blogged about a new ‘ethical cleaning company’ that we were helping a City church to set up. Well, six months of hard work later I’m pleased to say that London’s newest cleaning company is nearly ready to launch!

The vision for ‘Clean for Good’ is simple:

We will provide an excellent cleaning service to customers in London but we will do so in a socially responsible way. We will pay our cleaners properly and treat them decently.

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