Category: News

Traidcraft

Traidcraft

Traidcraft was founded as a faith organisation in 1979, and has promoted fair trade ever since. In January 2023, it went into administration.

They are encouraging their customers to support the many fair trade suppliers with whom they worked.

Transform Trade is a completely separate organisation to Traidcraft PLC and they are not affected by the administration. Their work will continue at www.transform-trade.org

Revelation through Lent

Specifically for those in the Scotland and Shetland region, these 90 minute sessions through lent offer two short series running fortnightly on Wednesday and Thursday evenings (on alternate weeks), from 7.30-9pm on zoom, beginning Thursday 23rd February and finishing on Wednesday 29th March.

Each evening will focus on a different theme from the Book of Revelation and associated texts or theological ideas.

Thursday Evening Series:

  • 23rd Feb Revelation in Context
  • 9th Mar The Now and Not Yet
  • 23rd Mar The Sheep and the Goats

Wednesday Evening Series:

  • 1st Mar Revelation as Fuel for Worship
  • 15th Mar Revelation as Pastoral Guide Book
  • 29th Mar Revelation as a Manifesto for Mission

Attend as an individual OR gather your small group in your home or church and join the zoom from wherever you have gathered!

Come to your chosen sessions, a mini series or all six sessions – whether for personal study or to help you in your role as you prepare for Bible Month in your Circuit.

This is an opportunity to connect with others across the Scotland & Shetland region around the Bible Month theme for this year and is led by Kathryn Campbell, Lorraine Darlow and Michael Wadsworth from the Connexional Learning Network.

Free registration through Eventbrite.

All We Can in partnership

All We Can is doing development differently!

Hear how they are working with Eagles in Malawi.

Meet our Malawi partners, Eagles, and discover how together, we’re doing development differently.

 

Jimmy Likagwa, Church Mobilisation Coordinator, Eagles.

Jimmy Likagwa, Church Mobilisation Coordinator, Eagles.

 

Putting communities in the driving seat in Malawi

At All We Can, we are changing the rhetoric. We believe in the power of partnership – it’s in our DNA. We understand that overcoming the challenges of poverty, crises and social injustice is complex and can only be achieved by working with local organisations, like Eagles, rooted within local communities.

Local organisations like Eagles know the communities, they know the landscape and are able to make real change at a grassroots level.

This March, we’re giving you the chance to meet our Malawi partners, Eagles, and discover their work directly!

 

Community-led initiatives

The Eagles’ church mobilisation process is a sustainable approach as it increases the likelihood of lasting impact.

Working with local structures of churches and communities, it empowers women and men in the community to use existing assets and skills and builds their capacity, creating a mind-set change away from dependency towards a sense of collective responsibility and collective confidence.

 

Members of the Madalitso choir (meaning blessings), in William village.

Members of the Madalitso choir (meaning blessings), in William village.

 

Getting to know the community

Church and Community Transformation (CCT) equips local churches to break mindsets of dependency and work with their community to achieve holistic change, especially for the most vulnerable.

Communities are equipped to identify their own problems, discover the abundance of their own resources, find solutions and act together, taking responsibility for their own development. Church and community mobilisation as an approach has been found to be 26 times more cost-effective than traditional development and 4 times more sustainable.

It works by utilising lasting local structures in the community like churches, empowers local people to radically transform their livelihoods and involves advocating to the government for larger-scale change.

 

Meet The Eagles

This March, we’re offering our supporters the chance to meet the Eagles team directly:

  • Learn about the community
  • Discover our partnership approach in action
  • Be inspired with stories of hope

 

Come and join us on Thursday 2 March to learn more about their incredible work and be part of the transformation.

 

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 18th – 25th January

This year the material has been prepared for world-wide use by churches in Minneapolis, USA, seeking to “explore how the work of Christian unity can contribute to the promotion of racial justice across all levels of society”.  There is a particular focus for the UK on the murder of Stephen Lawrence in April 1993.  More information is available from Churches in Britain and Ireland.

Broughty Ferry Churches Group will observe the Week at a Service led by the Rev. Mark-Aaron Tisdale, in    St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Queen Street, Broughty Ferry, on Friday 20th January 2023 from 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm.  Refreshments will be served after the service.  All are warmly welcomed to this Service.

Lift the Ban!

The Joint Pubic Issues team, which includes the Methodist Church,  is joining those who are calling on the Government to lift the ban on asylum seekers obtaining work.

Watch their video on the reasons why.

Places of Welcome in Dundee

Dundee Council says,

Dundee should be a city where everyone has somewhere to go to be welcomed, to be able to meet other people and take part in activities.

Use the map to find activities, cafes, etc near you.

Room for More?

On Monday, the Prime Minister announced a new strategy for dealing with those the Government describes as illegal immigrants, seeking to push back and restrict people crossing the channel to seek sanctuary in the UK. On Wednesday, more lives have been lost as people made the perilous journey in desperation.

On Monday, the Government chose to impose restrictions and intensify resources to try to stop people seeking a new life in the UK. Today, we need to reflect on our desire to deny other people – who are also made in the image of God – the same opportunity for safety and flourishing that we claim.

On Monday, those who are blessed with safety and resources decided to place limits on those who seek just the bare essentials. Our hearts go out to those whose loved ones have died crossing the channel and those who will try to do the same again.

On Monday we closed our doors a little more to those who are seeking sanctuary. Today we need to declare, ‘There is room’!

Prayer

Loving God, when Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, they were told that they could not be accommodated like everyone else. There was no room in the inn.

When people risk life and limb for a better life for themselves and their loved ones, they are told that they cannot be accommodated like everyone else.

Help us to be those who find accommodation for others.There is room.

Help us to move over and give one another space.There is room.

And help us to reflect on the capacity of your all-embracing love as we journey with you this Advent because, ‘There is room’.

We pray in the Name of Jesus whose love accommodates all.

Amen.

The President of the Methodist Conference, the Revd Graham Thompson