Staff pilgrimage leaves us inspired…

Prayer, The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged Julian of Norwich, Norwich, Norwich Cathedral l May 15, 2014

Susanne Mitchell, the Co-Ordinator of our Presence and Engagement Network, blogs about a recent staff away day – to a place with a long spiritual history…

On a Saturday midway through Lent, CTC staff boarded the 9.00 from Liverpool Street station bound for Norwich: home of Julian, Anchoress, writer and mystic.

Led by our Chaplain, Sr Josephine Canny, we sat in a cell-like chapel and learned about this remarkable 14^th century plague survivor famous for her “Revelations of Divine Love.” This is indeed a prayerful, peaceful, ‘thin’ place. Unlike Nuns, Anchoresses remained in the world – their cells were designed with a window into the main church, where Mass was said, another window to communicate with a maid who saw to their practical needs and, most importantly, a window to the outside world. It was here that people came with their anxieties and requests for prayer.

Success! Money raised for first house by our Missional Housing Bond

The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged Affordable Christian Housing, Diocese London, Eden Network, Missional Housing Bond l April 15, 2014

Our Development Director Tim Thorlby blogs on a major milestone reached in our first social investment project. In 2013, a new partnership of Christian organisations, including the Contextual Theology Centre, launched the first ever London Missional Housing Bond. We can now reveal that this first Bond successfully raised nearly £400,000 of capital, and that we have selected the location for our first ‘missional house’…

The London Missional Housing Bond has been developed and launched by a partnership of Christian organisations – the Contextual Theology Centre, the London Diocesan Fund (Diocese of London), the Eden Network and Affordable Christian Housing.

The Bond was launched in 2013 by the Bishop of London. Nearly £400,000 has been secured in investments from individuals, churches and charitable trusts. Investors put their money in for up to five years, in return for which they earn up two per cent interest per year.

Singing with joy – another SingSpire success story

SingSpire l and tagged BabySong, Cantignorus, Choir, Community music, SingSpire, Tower project l March 31, 2014

In this blog, our SingSpire Co-ordinator, Tom Daggett, brings us up to speed with the progress of our community music programme…

Since setting up the SingSpire programme I’ve begun to realise just how singing together can be a community-building initiative. We are committed to this idea and to helping churches realise this potential.

SingSpire’s work thus far has largely focussed on getting new initiatives off the ground. We launched a new ‘Babysong’ group in Stoke Newington and we’re working on an exciting new children’s choir, bringing together four churches and three schools.

Shining a light: making our streets safer

Community Organising l and tagged Bethnal Green, City Safe, safety, tower hamlets l March 24, 2014

In this blog we here from Emmanuel Carriere, who is a member of the congregation at one of our partner churches – St Peter’s, Bethnal Green. The church has been involved in setting up City Safe havens in its local area. Emmanuel describes a recent event where people of all different backgrounds came together from churches, mosques, schools and other institutions involved in Citizens UK to ask for improvements in street lighting to make their community safer…

I am Emmanuel Carriere and I am 18 years old. I go to Cambridge Heath 6^th form and St Peter’s Church in Bethnal Green which is a member of Tower Hamlets Citizens. I am involved in working for a safer borough because I want to see a positive change happen in the community that I grew up in and still live in.

The first time I was asked to get involved with the CitySafe campaign I was a bit hesitant to start. I didn’t really feel confident to go for opportunities that were handed to me. However, when the chance came again from Caitlin [Community Organiser at St Peter’s] I was really excited about it and a lot more confident than a year ago.

The GP Practice caring for the whole person

Shoreditch Group, The Centre for Theology & Community l and tagged Bethnal Green, the mission practice, the Shoreditch Group, whole person care l March 17, 2014

Helen Moules, the Co-ordinator of the Shoreditch Group, blogs about an exciting pilot project on whole person care taking place in east London…

If you are a church or community leader you are warmly invited to join us at The Mission Practice on Thursday 20 March from 8:30am – 9:30am for a networking breakfast, with a focus on sharing the progress of a whole person care project currently being piloted in Bethnal Green.

The Mission Practice is a Christian-run GP surgery in Bethnal Green. It has been successfully operating for many years, but recently decided to branch out more in the the developing area of ‘whole person care.’ The idea is very simple – to effectively enable people to live “life in all its fullness.”

For the poor or of the poor?

The Centre for Theology & Community l March 14, 2014

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.

Lent – the way of the Cross

Prayer l and tagged Catherine of Sienna, Lent, St Francis, Stations of the Cross l March 3, 2014

In a blog marking the start of Lent, our Chaplain, Sr Josephine Canny OA, offers a reflection on the way of the Cross…

Christian awareness is shaped by the death and resurrection of Jesus. From the early centuries Christians wished to trace his footsteps from the Praetorium to the house of Caiphas and then to Calvary – a reminder to them that they had “died with Him” in Baptism.

When it became difficult to travel to the Holy Land, they created ‘replicas’ of Jesus’ last journey in their own countries. Usually these were outdoors. Much later they were brought inside the Churches to form what we recognise today as the Stations of the Cross. This tradition is often attributed to St. Francis and provides a simple form of meditation on the Passion.

It is a form of meditation which has become popular during Lent – based essentially on the Gospels and some passages handed down through tradition.

The following is best read and meditated upon slowly (I have taken it from an Assumptionist publication (the Religious Order to which I belong).

Bringing two worlds together

Community Organising, Urban Leadership School l February 5, 2014

The Buxton Leadership Programme was launched by CTC to bring the world of Westminister closer to that of daily life some of the UK’s poorest neighbourhoods – and to equip a new generation of Christian leaders to engage in public life in these very different contexts.

Caitlin Burbridge, Sarah Santhosham and Selina Stone are on the inaugural programme – and Caitlin blogs here about the experience…

‘Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity’ (Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate).

Pope Benedict’s assertion well encapsulates for me the purpose of the Buxton Leadership Programme; that by growing to understand God’s desire for the development of all peoples, and learning more about the obstacles to this reality, we might help the evolution of a new authentic, just and loving politics in which Christians can bear witness to ‘truth’. The experience has raised for me a number of important questions: about investing in young people around issues that capture their imaginations,and the need for the church to contribute to a more full bodied politics which does understand the potential ‘authentic development of every person and of all humanity’.

Introducing our new leadership school

Community Organising, Urban Leadership School l January 29, 2014

Building on three years of work as our Near Neighbours Co-ordinator – and decades of experience in inner-city ministry and mission – Tim Clapton is now the Director of the Contextual Theology Centre’s new Urban Leadership School.

In this blog he introduces its exciting range of training programmes, and explains how you can get involved!

In the last eight years, the Contextual Theology Centre has welcomed almost 100 Jellicoe Interns to East London. These students (most of them undergraduates) spend four weeks in a local congregation involved in community organising. Some of these interns have gone on to year-round placements with our partner churches, or to become full-time members of staff.

Just Love: Theology for the local church

Events l January 26, 2014

Our Development Director Tim Thorlby blogs on what happened at the second of the Centre’s new programme of seminars for local church leaders. The seminar marked the publication of our new Lent book called Just Love written by Angus Ritchie (CTC Director) and Paul Hackwood (Executive Chair of the Church Urban Fund).

On Tuesday 21^st January, the Centre welcomed over 20 local church leaders and practitioners from across London to take part in the second 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 local churches with the latest theology and practice on a key issue and then to provide the space for discussion and reflection.

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