CTC’s 10 years. Reflecting… And looking forward!

Community Organising, Events, The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged 10 years, Bishop Moses, CTC l November 7, 2014

Our good friend Bishop Moses Owusu-Sekyere of the Apostolic Pastoral Congress preached at our 10th anniversary celebration last week (28th Oct). He was joined by the Bishop of Stepney and our chaplain Sr Josephine Canny as ecumenical representatives in a packed out church.

We hosted the event at St George-in-the-East – where our new offices were based. Along with some great stories of our work over the last decade, we celebrated the new offices and our change of name.

Following on from the reading Matthew 13, Bishop Moses gave a short reflection, as follows…

Jellicoe sermon 2014 – Fixing the jigsaw puzzle

Events l and tagged Jellicoe l October 20, 2014

Each year, one of CTC’s staff or partner church leaders preaches the Jellicoe Sermon at Magdalen College, Oxford – a chance to engage a new generation of students in inner-city ministry. This year’s sermon was given by Bishop Moses Owusu-Sekyere, who is also preaching at the CTC Celebration on 28 October!

“We come here today to honour the legacy of Father Basil Jellicoe, Magdalen’s Missioner to Somers Town in the 1920s. Born privileged, on 5th February 1899, Fr Basil studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, before training for the priesthood at St Stephen’s House. Jellicoe regarded the state of his parishioners’ housing as disgraceful and employed his sermons to address this. He is said to have described the slums as ‘an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual disgrace.’

What did he do about it?

He toured the country in his small car fundraising and selling loan stock to fund more befitting housing projects. He gained the support of the Prince of Wales, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Housing Minister in the St Pancras House Improvement Society. In this venture and became the founder of the St Pancras Housing Association and several other housing associations in London, Sussex and Cornwall.

Much still to do, but much to celebrate on International Credit Union day…

Just Money, The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged archbishop of canterbury, Credit, Credit Union, debt, Wonga l October 16, 2014

Our Faith in Public Life Officer, David Barclay, blogs about our expanding and exciting work with Credit Unions. Today (16th October) is International Credit Union Day…

After a high-profile launch in May, CTC has been getting on with the vital task of building a network of churches engaging on issues of money, credit and debt in their community and working with local community finance providers like credit unions.

The project, called the Church Credit Champions Network, is part of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s initiative on responsible credit and saving, started after his high-profile comments on Wonga and other payday lenders.

First Missional House opens – Bishop of London visits to give his blessing…

The Centre for Theology & Community l October 7, 2014

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.

A new chapter at CTC…

The Centre for Theology & Community l September 30, 2014

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.

Community Organising: One church’s story of success, in a year!

Community Organising, The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged 'Living Wage', Citizens UK, Community Organising, Ealing, Simon Cuff, West London Citizens l September 15, 2014

Revd Dr Simon Cuff, Assistant Curate at Christ the Saviour, Ealing and a Research Associate at CTC blogs on the different Community Organising has made in just a year in his parish…

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since our first foray into the art of Community Organising. In September 2013, Andy Walton from CTC introduced the concept of community organising and led a listening session at our ‘Kids in the Community’ youth group. We listened together to the needs of our young people and their concerns about the local area. It was here that we first heard how our teenagers often felt unsafe travelling to and from school on public transport.

Fast-forward to the end of April this year, our young people had shared their concerns with those of students from the nearby William Perkin Church of England High School, and we were all gathered at a West London Citizens accountability assembly. That evening, the candidates for leader of the local council were asked to do four things. One of them was to host and fund meetings with schoolchildren from across the borough and key stakeholders in public transport.

Cleaning up: CTC helps ethical business scoop Dragon’s Den award

The Centre for Theology & Community l September 5, 2014

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.

Buxton is back!

Community Organising, Just Money, Urban Leadership School l and tagged Buxton, Community Organising, Conservative Christian Fellowship, Frank Field, Thomas Fowell Buxton l September 2, 2014

Our Faith in Public Life officer, David Barclay, blogs about the second year of our pioneering leadership programme for young Christians…

The Buxton Leadership Programme is ready for its second year! The programme gives talented young Christian leaders a unique combination of experience in Parliament alongside a chance to practice church-based community organising. The aim is to help develop a new generation of Christian leaders in public life who can bring the experiences of inner-city communities into dialogue with Westminster. Alongside the practical placements the programme provides opportunities for reflection and personal development, including input from some of the leading Christians in public life in the UK. The Programme is named after Thomas Fowell Buxton, the heroic abolitionist who was an MP in the East End.

Citizens Hong Kong: Community Organising across the world

Contending Modernities, The Centre for Theology & Community, Urban Leadership School l and tagged Community Organising, Hong Kong l August 27, 2014

CTC Director Angus Ritchie is spending August in Hong Kong – where he is helping to train local leaders in community organising. In this blog, he reflects on the opportunities and challenges of organising in new countries and contexts…

Broad-based community organising (as practiced by Citizens UK and CTC) has its roots in the Chicago of the 1930s. As times have changed, and as it has been taken up in different contexts, it has had to adapt. But the core principles remain the same: building a more relational culture; being positive about power (so that people in the poorest communities build relational power – ‘power with’ – as a counterweight to the dominant power – ‘power over’ – exercised by a privileged minority); developing grassroots leaders through action, and through all of this, strengthening the institutions of civil society.

Inspired by the experience of the diaspora communities in London, there is now interest in broad-based organising in a number of African countries.

Jellicoe Internship 2014 – we had a ball!

Contending Modernities, Urban Leadership School l and tagged Community Organising, Internship, Jellicoe l August 13, 2014

The Director of our Urban Leadership School, Revd Tim Clapton, blogs here about the Jellicoe Internship 2014. (This summer we had people from a wide variety of backgrounds, who were placed with churches across east London and used Community Organising skills to help improve the area…)

We have been preparing for Jellicoe 2014 for the past seven or eight months with a good deal of recruiting and the organising of accommodation and placements. July suddenly arrived with a cloud of excitement and activity and now it is August and Jellicoe 2014 is all over, done, finished, even the evaluation report is almost written.

13 Christians aged between 19 and 41 joined us for the month of July. Seven were from Oxbridge and London universities, one from the Assemblies of God Bible college and five from congregations in east London. This is the first time Jellicoe has recruited interns from the east London Christian communities and it was excellent having such rich ethnic diversity. We gave participants a solid grounding in Community Organising, but we also spent a good deal of time in the first week getting to know each other and attending spiritual reflection sessions led by our chaplain, Sister Josephine.

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