Ekklesia looks forward

This year, Ekklesia, the Anabaptist-angled Christian political think-tank, marks ten years of operation. Depending on how you count, it’s eleven. But ten is rounder!

Recently we have been reporting, researching and commenting on issues including land reform, disability and welfare reform, the use of the Bible in debates about sexuality, education, global justice, peacemaking and more.

We value our growing partnerships with the Critical Religion Association, the Festival of Spirituality and Peace, and Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, among others. Plus Anabaptist-influenced friends in Scotland, of course!

At present there is work being done on longer-term development and funding. Finance is tight for us and for many friends who share our values.

More: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk

Anabaptist Theology Forum news

A further meeting of the Anabaptist Theology Forum (which usually meets in England, but has participants from Scotland) is being considered for December 2013, but we do not have a date or details at present.

Sadly, the long-term venue for our overnight meetings, Offa House Retreat Centre near Leamington Spa, had to close recently. That meant we had to postpone our April/May gathering.

A website has now been established as a point of information and contact. We will be in touch with those on our mailing list, or who have written in, shortly.

Go to: http://anabaptisttheology.wordpress.com/

Stirring the pot for CPAG

Our friends from the Festival of Spirituality and Peace team will have a stand under at St John's Church, Edinburgh (corner of Princes Street and Lothian Road) on Friday 25th January 2013, handing out porridge to anyone who cares to stop and have a chat. They will be there from 8am to 12pm or whenever the porridge runs out.
Following the success of their last porridge stall we have chosen to support the local charity Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland (CPAG).

One in four of Scotland’s children are officially recognised as living in poverty. In some areas over one in three children grow up in poverty. With Scotland’s undoubted wealth CPAG believes this is a scandal. There is no reason why our child poverty rates should be so much higher than in many other European countries.

Poverty remains one of the most serious problems facing children today. Its effects last a lifetime, negatively impacting on health, education, social and physical development and seriously harming future life chances and opportunities.

CPAG in Scotland was established in 1999 and works to raise awareness of the devastating impact poverty has on children in Scotland, maximise families’ incomes by helping to ensure those eligible for benefits and tax credits receive their full entitlements and campaign for positive policy changes to end that poverty.

You can sign up to let them know you're coming at Eventbrite.

Christmas greetings!

Exploring Anabaptism in Scotland sends warm Christmas greetings to all our friends, allies, enquirers and passers-by.

The birth of Jesus is the sign and substance of God-with-us... and God with us in vulnerability, not power and pomp. At the heart of the Christian message is an invitation to community, to peacemaking and to the kind of just living which makes love real in corporate form.

We look forward to continuing the journey with you in 2013, and to reporting on our last 'cafe conversation' earlier this month...

[Image (c) and courtesy http://alightdancetheater.org]

Edinburgh cafe discussion on church and community

In terms of 'Exploring Anabaptism in Scotland', we have something cooking in central Edinburgh for Sunday 16th December, early afternoon.

It will be a small, friendly, informal cafe-style conversation. By which we mean it'll be in a cafe! We will have Mennonite guests from North America with us, too.

The meeting will take place in a community cafe not far from Waverley rail station at 1pm through to around 2.30pm or 3pm.

Appropriately enough, it will focus on the theme of 'church and community'

If you would like to join us, please email contact details to: simon.barrow@ekklesia.co.uk

Street porridge sale to raise homelessness funds

Our friends at St John's Church in Edinburgh, the team behind the Festival of Spirituality and Peace, and the Streetwork homelessness charity will be holding a 'street porridge sale' from 8am to 1pm on Wednesday 12th December.

The idea is to raise money for Streetwork's direct engagement with single homeless people in Scotland, and also to increase awareness of the challenge and problem of homelessness.

The porridge distribution will be taking place outside St John's, which is on the corner of Princes Street and Lothian Road in Scotland's capital. 

For more information about this specific event, contact Annika Wolf, St John’s Church, Edinburgh, EH2 4BJ. Email: info@festivalofspirituality.org.uk Phone: 0131 2284249

Anabaptist Theology Forum

The Anabaptist Theology Forum will meet again near Leamington Spa, in England, from 5th-6th December. It is open to people from all around these islands (and indeed has enjoyed the contribution of German and Dutch guests in recent years).

There are a few spare spaces at this event for those with a serious interest in both modern and historic Anabaptism.

Dr Richard Bourne, author of Seek the Peace of the City: Christian Political Criticism as Public, Realist, and Transformative will be presenting on John Howard Yoder and restorative justice. Dr Ruth Gouldbourne of Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church in London will be introducing the Hubmeier communion liturgy. And a discussion session will focus on where the 'post-Christendom' analysis of our religious situation is heading, including an interview contribution from Dr Stuart Murray Williams, editor of the After Christendom series of books published by Paternoster Press.

More information here - if you are interested in attending please contact us as soon as possible. 

[Image courtesy and (c) of Graber Designs]