Download Copy for in Review March 2013 Being the generation to end Global

Copy for in Review March 2013
Being the generation to end Global poverty
“Our Prime Minister has the chance to make a significant and long lasting positive impact for
people living in poverty around the globe,” says the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu.
Writing in the Yorkshire Post, the Archbishop backed the Government's commitment to overseas
aid and highlighted the importance of the Millennium Development Goals.
"I believe on the issue of International Development. This Government – and this Prime Minister –
have, so far, have shown a real willingness to make things better for those struggling overseas.
Poverty is multi-dimensional. Targets must recognise the inter-connections between different
types of deprivation in health, education, hunger, economic power, personal autonomy and the
political/public voice. It is too easy to look at the bottom line figures and forget we are dealing with
real people, facing real life or death struggles.
When we ask “who is our neighbour?”, we should not just look over our garden fence but also at
those living next door in our global village. Jesus’s love was transformative and all-encompassing.
It is said “the last shall be first and the first shall be last”.
Let us put the welfare of the poorest and most vulnerable at the heart of our policy agenda at
home and overseas. Let us not forget those who through no fault of their own find themselves at
the bottom of society. No-one deserves to be written off. With God, there are no lost causes."
Church delight as end to “Misery Making” scrap metal trade becomes law
The Church of England has warmly welcomed the passing of the Scrap Metal Dealers Bill, which
cleared its final legislative hurdle in the House of Lords which recently Royal Assent.
“This has been a long battle,” says the Chair of the Church of England’s Cathedral and Church
Buildings Council, Mrs Anne Sloman, OBE. “We are absolutely delighted that this two year
campaign, led by the CofE’s Cathedrals and Church Buildings Council, will now become law. We
are thankful that the damaging and misery making unregulated trade in scrap metal might now be
brought to an end through proper regulation leading to a reduction in crime for communities across
the country.”
“I am grateful for the number of organisations and individuals whose hard work has led to the
successful passage of this Bill, not least the Bishop of London, Lord Faulkner of Worcester and
the Second Church Estates Commissioner Sir Tony Baldry MP.”
The Bill, introduced to the House of Commons as a Private Members Bill by Richard Ottaway MP
and to the Lords by Baroness Browning, will introduce effective regulation of the Scrap Metal
Trade and finally ends anonymous access to cash for scrap metal.
In March 2011 a report to the Home Office from the Church Buildings Council called for new
regulation of scrap yards to regulate the trade effectively and take away the incentive for metal
theft. The regulation called for has been given in the Act, consolidating cashless trading, a
licensing system, a national register of scrap yards and compulsory taking of identification at the
point of sale. The police will have powers of entry to enforce the new regulations and to close
yards where illegal activity is suspected.
Banks must serve society not rule it says Archbishop
The Archbishop of Canterbury has said the banking sector is failing the “common good” in an
article published by the financial news service, Bloomberg. Archbishop Justin has been a member
of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards since its inception in July 2012. He says
banks, “must serve society, and not rule it”. Archbishop Justin is critical of business standards
which have cost the British tax payer billions since the 2008 global credit crunch and warns that
the banks have yet to show that they are doing enough to promote “what in Catholic social
teaching is known as the ‘common good’.”
The Archbishop called for a clear separation between “utility and investment banking”, but he also
warned that he was “deeply suspicious of the intensely complex regulatory structures that are
emerging out of the crisis”. Instead he said he favoured creating “a culture of virtue” among senior
leaders, rather than pushing increased regulation. “There are no simple answers to the current
crisis in banking, but there are simple principles,” he said. “They come down to saying that
financial services must serve society, and not rule it. They must be integrated into the economy,
not semidetached. They must recognise human fallibility, not assume the effectiveness of human
imagination.”
archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/5012/bishop-justin-writes-in-bloomberg-on-virtue-vice-and
-banks
Parishes deliver vital Community Services
A new study by the Church Urban Fund has highlighted the vital community roles performed by
the Church.
Archbishop Justin said the economic crisis offered the Church its “greatest moment of opportunity
since the Second World War” to reach into communities.
The CofE’s 16,000 churches already serve a vast range of critical community needs, and many
Anglican buildings double up as shops, playgroups, GP surgeries, food banks, citizens’ advice
bureaux, post offices, refuges and homeless shelters, complementing their primary role as places
of worship.
Find out more about the Cathedral and Church Buildings Division’s ‘Open and Sustainable’
campaign or access the full report.
churchcare.co.uk/churches/open-sustainable
cuf.org.uk/sites/default/files/Research/The_Church_in_Action_Church_Urban_Fund_2013.pdf
The survey’s key findings
6,500+ CofE parishes now provide special services for elderly people, schoolchildren, parents and
new immigrants
80% reported that individual parishioners provide informal help to people struggling with issues
such as isolation, family breakdown, drug abuse, domestic violence or spiralling debt
54% of clergy said they run at least one organised activity to address a specific social need in their
area, and many organise several. Activities range from parent and toddler clubs to highly
specialised debt or stress counselling, community cafés and food, clothes or furniture banks
More than 10% said they run street “patrols” providing blankets and food to homeless people or
helping drunk people get home safely.
Common Worship Lectionary app launched
The essential digital accompaniment to the Church of England’s Lectionary of daily readings and
services is now available as an app for iPad. It provides the Common Worship lectionary readings
in full with live links to Bible passages in the New Revised Standard Version.
Developed by Aimer Media, the Lectionary app enables users to:
Read the full text of all Bible readings set for every day in the Church’s calendar
Access the Collect and Post-Communion Prayers for the week at the touch of a button.
Mark and annotate records - ideal for sermon-writing and service planning
Browse the Lectionary by date, season, event - or all three
Find full details of when seasons, Principal Feasts and Festivals (Saints’ days) occur and which
liturgical colours are appropriate for the day.
Lectionary: The Official Common Worship Calendar from the Church of England is available to
download at iTunes at itun.es/i6JP7V8 and includes a free 14-day subscription. Before or after
the trial subscription has finished, users can sign up to one of two choices of three-monthly
subscriptions - one with and one without access to the NRSV readings.
A demonstration showing how the app works is on YouTube at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6rtDiycY9w.
Threatened hedgehogs at home in churchyards
A new survey, to monitoring the decline of the British hedgehog, has called on the parishes of the
Church of England for help. Working with Shrinking the Footprint, the CofEs national
environmental campaign, the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and British
Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) believe that our 10,000 churchyards could be natural
homes for hedgehogs who are emerging from hibernation at this time of year.
The survey aims to find out more about the creature’s patterns of behaviour, the results of which
will help inform practical conservation action.
Hedgehog numbers in Britain are declining by three to five per cent each year. The loss is most
apparent in the South West, South East and Eastern regions of England.
“Like all animals, hedgehogs need food and shelter both of which are likely to be found in the
increasing number of churchyards, which are managed in a wildlife-friendly way,“ says Judith
Evans, promoter of the Living Churchyard scheme for St Albans diocese. “We encourage the
creation of compost heaps and log piles in all suitable churchyards. As well as acting as shelters
these features attract slugs invertebrates and other food sources.”
David Shreeve the CofE’s national environmental adviser says, “Supporting this survey underlines
the Church’s commitment to caring for creation, as spelled out in the Fifth Mark of Mission. Our
10,000 churchyards boast a wealth of wildlife and are hopefully home to a good number of
hedgehogs.”
WorshipWorkshop
WorshipWorkshop is a Church of England website designed to help schools create their own
patterns of worship around their own themes. It offers prayers, songs, Bible readings and other
useful words and ideas taken from the Church’s liturgy.
The resources are arranged according to a special ‘map of worship’. Each element is
downloadable on its own from the resources section.
“While hundreds of schools are already using the site for Collective Worship, churches are also
discovering its usefulness in planning a Service of the Word,” says Mary Hawes, the National
Going for Growth Adviser. “Because it follows the rhythm of the church year, it’s always topical and
the song bank has a terrific range of songs and hymns which can be downloaded, so if you don’t
have a musician you can still sing together.”
Where will you buy yours
Congregations, schools and individuals are supporting the Real Easter Egg 2013 campaign and
helping change a life.
Of the 80 million chocolate eggs expected to be sold in the UK, the Real Easter Egg is the first and
only Fairtrade egg to explain the meaning of Easter on and in the box. Now in its third year, the
Real Easter Egg 2013 has a free activity pack in the box which includes the Easter story, activity
poster, free i-video download and a sticker set. The resurrection text from Mark can also be found
inside the lid along with the greeting “Happy Easter!”
With each sale of The Real Easter Egg a donation is made to Traidcraft Exchange to support
some of the poorest farmers in the world. More than £40,000 has been donated so far. A Fairtrade
Premium is also paid to farmers allowing them to invest in their community buying everything from
school books and solar panels, to providing fresh water supplies.
“It is encouraging to hear many lives have been changed by people receiving a Real Easter Egg. It
is proof that the events of Easter, including the death and resurrection of Jesus, have the power to
open minds, change lives and offer real hope,” says David Marshall, founder of the Meaningful
Chocolate Company. “It is also a boost for charitable giving, Fairtrade and the work of trade
justice. I hope individuals will hunt out a Real Easter Egg this year.”
For information on where you can buy a Real Easter Egg see the egg hunter, provided by Google,
at
realeasteregg.co.uk
The life-style carbon calculator
Launched to mark Climate Week, a new app from the Church of England offers smartphone users
the opportunity to assess the size and reduce their carbon footprint.
The Shrinking the Footprint app focuses on energy use at home, in the office and at church and
allows users to share their progress via Facebook and Twitter. In addition the free app offers useful
information and tips on reducing your impact on the environment and an environmental ‘Thought
for the Day’ written by the Christian Ecology Link.
The app, currently being trailed by the eco-congregation at Chelmsford cathedral can be
downloaded now from both the Apple App and Google Play Stores.
“The Shrinking the Footprint app allows everyone in the Church of England to get involved in
reducing their carbon footprint,” says David Shreeve, the National Environmental Adviser. “We
hope people will download it and along with our pilot in Chelmsford give us feedback to help us
fine tune it what we believe will become THE Christian carbon calculator,” he says. “
The launch of the Shrinking the Footprint app is just one of the 1,700 events happening as part of
Climate week (4-10 March).
Tourism Week
Our church buildings span thirteen centuries of history and provide countless
features of interest. Beautiful and historic churches are to be found in every city, town and most
villages in Britain.
English Tourism Week (16-24 March) offers a great opportunity to flag up the tourism potential of
your church and offer the ministry of welcome.
For more information on church tourism visit ChurchCare
churchcare.co.uk/churches/open-sustainable/extended-and-additional-uses
£1.1m for new facilities
Capital grants totalling over a million pounds have been announced to support facilities projects in
listed placed of worship the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) this year. 88 awards,
valued at £781,000 have been made across the Church of England.
Typical of the projects are the new shower and toilet facilities built by St Peter’s Brighton. On
Saturday evenings the parish provides a meal for 60 members of the local the street community,
offering a safe space and companionship. The new bathrooms will also be used at the Night
Shelter, a project with six other Brighton churches.
Churches must lead on Asylum
“I was shocked by the lack of support and respect shown in this country to those who had fled in
terror from their own, and had arrived in the UK looking for sanctuary and help,” said the Rt Revd
John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds. He was speaking at the launch of a report from a
cross-party parliamentary inquiry into Asylum Support for Children and Young People.
Bishop John added that an increasing proportion of those seeking asylum in this country are
fleeing from religious persecution and that the increasing abuse of blasphemy laws around the
world was part of the problem.
The Inquiry, led by Sarah Teather MP and supported by the Children’s Society, looked at how
asylum seeking children and families are supported by the Home Office. The Report reveals that
alarmingly low levels of asylum support are forcing thousands of children and their families
seeking safety in the UK into severe poverty.
“Those seeking asylum in our country are coming here because they are scared. I was frankly
shocked at the some of the stories we picked up in our report. One case we heard was of a
mother who, despite having applied for asylum support was left with nothing for five months while
her application was being considered. With nothing to live on and nowhere to stay, she and her
two children, aged three and six, had no other option but to sleep on the floor of a mosque and
depend on handouts for food.”
Among its recommendations the report urges the Government to:
Make sure asylum support for all children is in line with mainstream benefits
Abolish the cashless support system (‘Section 4’) immediately
Allow parents to work so they can provide for their families and prevent them from being pushed
into destitution.
churchofengland.org/our-views/home-and-community-affairs/community-urban-affairs/asylum-andimmigration.aspx
Eager for mission and growth?
An exciting new church growth ‘hub’ website has been created to bring together the work of
several teams at the Church of England. Drawing on national expertise the site provides a platform
to share work being done to resource mission and identify components of church growth. Parishes
are encouraged to get involved and contribute their own experiences.
“The site should inspire people to think more strategically about mission and growth and consider
using the ideas on the site, which have worked well elsewhere, in their own parishes and
communities,” says Andrew Hawkings, Strategy Officer at the Church Commissioners.
The site offers examples of how mission and ministry are being shaped in the 21st century. At
Radford parish in Nottinghamshire, a Lay Minister and two Assistant priests have seen turned two
parishes that were in shape decline into thriving hubs of their communities. That project has just
been awarded a development funding grant of £100,000 by the Archbishops’ Council and Church
Commissioners to further develop the children’s and families work.
Across the Midlands, the church of St Philip and St James in Hodge Hill, Birmingham is situated in
one of the 7% most deprived parishes in the Church of England. But the congregation of Hodge
Hill church found a new model of community engagement after their church building, which had
been designed for community purposes as well as for worship, fell into a dangerous state of
disrepair, forcing them to move out. Supported by a grant from the Church Urban Fund’s Near
Neighbours funding stream, the congregation of St Philip and St James have discovering different
ways to be present in the community, finding out what people are passionate about and
connecting them with each other to help make things happen.
In addition to the Church Growth Research programme, the site hosts the Resourcing Mission
Bulletin, which is a quarterly publication that draws upon lessons learned from existing ministry
and mission and spread ideas about the opportunities for growth. Elsewhere, a team of CofE
bloggers share their experience of church growth and mission in an informal way.
Speaking about the Ministry Development section of the site, Dr Tim Ling, the National Continuing
Ministry Development Advisor says, “At its heart this is about equipping and developing the
Church’s ministers in order that they may stimulate and enable the whole Church to participate
more fully in the mission of God in the world.”
The 29 initiatives funded by the Church Commissioner’s and Archbishops’ Council’s Development
Funding stream for church growth in deprived areas feature as project profiles. Three million
pounds has been invested into initiatives that were proving to be effective in terms of mission and
growth, with the aim of others using the ideas in their local area across the Church.
churchgrowthRD.org.uk Twitter: @ChurchGrowthRD
Tackling domestic abuse
One in three women around the world is raped or beaten in her lifetime, according to the United
Nations and the issue of gender violence is highlighted in a Church of England podcast ahead of
this month’s UN Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW).
Stella Creasy MP talks about the work of the One Billion Rising campaign in the podcast, which
demands an end to all violence against women and urges church and faith groups to support its
work.
Mandy Marshall, the CofE representative at March’s UN Commission, said the role of churches is
vital both acting as an information hub as well as offering support to women who are abused. “At
the Commission one of my roles is to promote the importance of using the local church in
addressing gender-based violence. The One Billion Rising campaign underlines this message and
I would urge as many as possible to sign up to it today,” says Mandy.
Dr Charles Reed, the Archbishops’ Council International and Development Affairs Secretary says,
“The issue of gender violence can often be overlooked but Home Office statistics show that in the
UK alone, 25% of women will experience domestic abuse at some point in their lifetime. The
Church of England will be using the UK Presidency of the G8 Summit to focus on two key
concerns - hunger and gender-based violence.”
Mandy, who is co-director of Restored (ending violence against women) will be using social media
to keep supporters updated during the Commission which runs from March 4-15
Twitter: @UNCSWCofE
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cofe.uncsw
Blog: http://cofeuncsw.wordpress.com/
Email: [email protected]
Listen to the podcast at
http://www.churchofengland.org/media/1665864/stella%20creasy%20podcast.mp3
University education in conflict with Christian values
In a recently published booklet, the Church’s National Higher Education Adviser says that some of
the current changes to university education are in direct conflict with Christian values.
Dr Stephen Heap writes that the present individualised, instrumentalised and marketised policies
for higher education are at odds with Christian approaches to education. Universities are about
more than serving the economy by generating wealth and helping students to get jobs, he writes.
In “What are Universities Good For?”, Dr Heap says, “Behind the changes, even behind the
increase in fees, is a view of higher education which is open to challenge in the light of Christian
and more general thinking”.
He stresses that theologians have argued that universities are not only about the economy “but
about holistic development, helping to form students, not just into good employees, but into good
citizens and good individuals who are able to face life’s challenges and opportunities in a moral
and wise way.”
Although he admits that not everyone will accept the Christian framework he says most would
recognise “that human beings need to discern wisely what can best be done, not only for
themselves but for the common good.” Without that, he says, higher education will fail both
individuals and societies.
“Universities can and must contribute not just to the economy but to holistic individual and
community development, helping us to live wisely in a rapidly changing world,” says Stephen
The booklet also looks at the whole history of higher education in England - and its Christian roots.
Give the blood flowing through your veins
Every day 7,000 units of blood are needed in the UK. A new church campaign, launched jointly
with the NHS, aims to highlight the need for more blood and organ donors and encourage
donation as another way of personal giving within churches.
The fleshandblood campaign marks the first time the NHS has worked alongside the Church on a
national initiative of this kind. “Fleshandblood is an exciting opportunity for the Church,” says the
Rt Revd James Newcome, the Bishop of Carlisle. “Christians have a mandate to heal, motivated
by compassion, mercy, knowledge and ability. I would encourage all individual Christians and local
churches to help address an important social issue and generously serve the communities to
which we belong. Being willing to give our time, money and gifts is a significant aspect of our
stewardship of what we have received. But this applies just as much to the blood that flows in our
veins; and the organs that are such an intrinsic part of our bodies.
More than 1,000 people die each year in the UK waiting for an organ transplant while
approximately 225,000 extra blood donors needed each year to maintain consistency of blood
donations in the country.
“By raising awareness amongst its members and community about the daily need for blood
transfusions and organ transplants across the NHS, we hope to banish myths, educate people and
encourage blood and organ donation,” says Lorna Williamson, Medical Director of NHS Blood and
Transplant service. “Donating blood, joining the Organ Donor Register, or consenting to organ
donation from a deceased loved one is a unique gift and one that can truly save lives.”