racial justice & multicultural ministry
TRANSCRIPT
Racial Justice & Multicultural Ministry
RJMM Notes & Resources March 2009
Believing in Hope
All around us there are a multiplicity of events and happenings that can cause us lose hope. Credit Crunch, failure of our financial institutions, businesses folding up, redundancies, climate change, more conflicts and a host of other negative events are enough reasons for us to despair and become cynical.
Yet, in the midst of all these there are also signs or shoots of hope. These signs/shoots may be small or are materialising too slowly. This may be the case with the many small initiatives related to taking the environment and climate change seriously. Who could have imagined the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the removal of Apartheid in South Africa? And, who would have believed that a president of the US would have been someone of mixed and African-American heritages?
Believing in Hope is the theme for our overnight RJA gathering. Christian hope draws its strength from a God who is involved in human history, to the point of being incarnate in histories. This means hope needs to be rooted, taking many cultural forms and shapes. Hope calls us to see in every person the face of Christ, as the best in each of us.
Through faith and through hope, we are called to watch, wait and believe in spite of the evidence around us. We need to believe in more than what is believable in order to work with others to participate in God’s “fullness of life project”. Believing in hope is critical to any long distance spirituality of resistance necessary in today’s world.
So for our overnight RJA Consultation, I invite us to share, in our conversations, a few concrete examples of signs of hope in our contexts and personal journeys? In the meantime, let us hold on to hope in spite of the evidence around us!
Michael j
The URC is a multicultural church committed to empowering the whole church in transforming
mission and ministry!
Advocates Consultation Dates: Friday 24th April, 2009 –
Saturday 25th April, 2009
Venue: St Mary’s Convent,
Handsworth, Birmingham
Believing in Hope
The Meeting starts at 2:00pm on Friday
(with light refreshment) and will finish by 3:00pm on Saturday.
Multicultural Celebration 2009
Saturday December 5th, 2009 @ Carrs Lane URC, Birmingham from 10am
A Table for All People
Keynote Speaker: Revd Roberta Rominger (General
Secretary United Reformed Church)
This is all age event for the whole Church
1. Afe Adogame et.al (ed.). Christianity in Africa and the African Diaspora (Continuum, 2008)
2. Lechion Peter Kimilike Poverty in the Book of Proverbs: An African Transformational Hermeneutic of Proverbs on
Poverty (Peter Lang, 2008)
3. Sally Nash, Skills for Collaborative Ministry (SPCK, 2008)
4. Marvin Sweeney, Reading the Hebrew Bible after the Shoah (Fortress Press, 2008)
5. Jean Zaru, Occupied with Non-Violence: A Palestinian Woman Speaks (Fortress Press, 2008)
6. Torry & Thorley Together & Different: Christians engaging with people of other faiths (Canterbury Press,
2008)
http://www.jrf.org.uk/ The Joseph Rowntree Foundation
http://www.interreligiousinsight.org/index.html Journal of Dialogue and Engagement
http://www.faithinitiative.co.uk/ Journal on Embracing Diversity
http://www.max7.org/default.aspx Online Ministry Resources –Media
www.fairtrade.org.uk Fairtrade Webpage with resources
www.wwdp-natcomm.org Women’s World Day of Prayer
www.chaste.org.uk Sex Trafficking – Not for Sale Sunday
www.justfortheloveofit.org Living Alternative ways – Swapping skills & ideas
www.sheffieldlets.org.uk Trading in Stones
1. Milk (2009)
2. Ten Canoes (2007)
3. Slumdog Millionaire (2009)
4. Wondrous Oblivion (2005)
5. The Class (2009)
http://hcentrenew.aegisdns.co.uk/index.php
http://london.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00b
C A L E N D A R NO T E S
CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION (THAMES NORTH & SOUTHERN)
PLACE GOLDERS GREEN URC, LONDON
DATE MARCH 28TH
, 2009
TIME 10.30AM
Theme Committed to Hospitality
GHANAIAN CONFERENCE (URC GATHERING)
PLACE HIGHCROSS URC, TOTTENHAM
DATE MAY 23RD
, 2009
TIME 10.30AM
Theme ‘The Power of Love & Fullness of Life’
MULTICULTURAL EVENT 2009
PLACE CARRS LANE URC, BIRMINGHAM
DATE DECEMBER 5TH
, 2009
TIME 10.00AM – 4.00PM
Theme ‘A Table for All’
ASIAN CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE
PLACE SLOUGH ASIAN URC
DATE OCTOBER 3, 2009
TIME 10.30AM
BOOKS WORTH READING
WEB PAGES to Bookmark
FILMS WORTH SEEING
PLACES TO VISIT
Calvin Colloquium 1509-1564
CTBI & University of Exeter: For more information visit
http://www.cte.org.uk/Publisher/Article.aspx?ID=136964
Sunderland
United Reformed Church
Download whole document from:
http://83.137.212.42/sitearchive/cre/publs/alottodo.html
Lent Resources from CTE online: http://www.ctbi.org.uk/CGM/355
Scottish Churches and Contemporary Migration, Conference Report
http://www.acts-scotland.org/racialjustice/resources.shtml
G O O D P R A C T I C E S - R J M M
This space is an opportunity for all of us to add to the list of good practices [including stories] that can be shared with the
wider Church. Here are a few to start us off! Kindly add by sharing your good practice via the RJMM Office.
1. To successfully identify problems and develop appropriate interventions, some churches have found the
following to be useful: Listening to the views of BME members themselves, through focus groups, surveys and
involving them in management committees or steering groups; consulting and involving BME participants, local
community leaders, and specialist ethnic minority organisations.
2. Give much thought to all presentations at Synod gatherings and in the local congregation by considering the
following: Have you considered the composition of the group/team of people making a live presentation? How can you
encourage wider participation; Have you considered the nature and content of any power-point or video/DVD? Have you
thought about visual images, photographs or symbols that we use? How can your presentation best reflect the multicultural
nature of the Synod?
3. Organize an anti-racism training in your church and invite other advocates to be involved. Encourage your
church or Synod to sponsor an event with local human rights organizations on racism. Support local grassroots
organizations dedicated to combating racism. Write editorials in your local newspaper (including Reform)
expressing your views on issues related to racism, refugees, and a multicultural society.
RESOURCING RJMM
OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST
The 2009 Yorkshire and the North East Cymanfa Ganu
Welsh Hymn-Singing Festival at Hallgate United
Reformed Church, Hallgate, Doncaster - Saturday 9th
May 2009. http://www.cte.org.uk/Articles/139088/Churches_Together_i
n/News_Events_Jobs/Events_and_Calendar/Yorkshire_and_
NE.aspx
Racial Justice Sunday 2009 – Darlington URC Racial Justice Sunday 2009 – Darlington URC
Racial Justice Advocates Day November 2009 EMLOMA Gathering February 2009
Secretary for Racial Justice & Multicultural Ministry 020 7691 9872
86 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9RT, United Kingdom Michael N. Jagessar (Revd Dr)
PA for RJMM Office (Frances Hawley) 020 7691 8655
