Faiths engage - St Philip's Centre
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Faiths engage Monthly Newsletter—Issue 19— March 2021
WELCOME
Welcome to the March 2021 issue of Faiths Engage
It is good to welcome James Blackhall to the staff of the St Philip’s Centre, to support
and develop our “Confident Christianity” project, which is funded by the Methodist
Church. James will be taking a lead in providing sessions for Methodist churches, as
well as input into circuit and district events.
James says: “I am really excited to join the St Philip’s Centre. Having studied Theology
and Religious Studies during my degree and MA I am passionate about interfaith
dialogue and work. I have recently finished my training to become a Methodist Local
Preacher in Leicester and when I’m not working at SPC I also work for the Leicester
Trinity Methodist Circuit in a schools and community work role.”
If you would like to know more, please get in touch with him - courses@stphilipscentre.co.uk
In this issue you can read about some of our recent training for Christian groups, the winner of the St Philip’s
Centre Diversity Award at the 2021 Leicestershire Police Awards, our come e-dine together project and work we’re
doing with Near Neighbours. Also included are details of a survey of faith communities you may wish to
participate in.
Tom Wilson
Coming up in March
Book a place by e-mailing onlinetraining@stphilipscentre.co.uk
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Confident Interfaith Engagement for Christians
On Tuesday 2nd February, I facilitated a day of interfaith On Tuesday 23rd February, I facilitated an afternoon of
engagement for interns on the New Wine Discipleship reflection for those training for ordination in the Anglican
Year. Through the wonders of Zoom we were joined by Church at St Mellitus East Midlands.
participants in Leicester, Leicestershire and Stamford,
We packed quite a lot into just under two hours. Sean
Lincolnshire for a busy day.
Arbuthnot gave a presentation on how far right groups
We began with an introduction to Jewish views of claim Christian identity, and Bernard Glick reflected on
Christianity from Uri Gordon before Liz Wilson and Christian anti-Semitism. We took a short break and in the
Aamenah Patel led a discussion on the portrayal of Mary second part of our session we heard from Nicola
in the Qur’an and the Bible. After lunch the participants Benyahia on her experiences of her son being radicalized
reflected on their learning from the morning before by Islamist extremists and Sumaiya Mulla on her
doing case studies and Bible studies to deepen their encounters – good and bad – with Christians across
understanding. Leicestershire. I rounded it all off with a brief reflection
For some of those taking part it was their first step into on the nature of Christian engagement with people of all
interfaith encounter; we sincerely hope for all of them faiths and none.
that it will not be the last! We are really grateful to all our Thank you to all four of our speakers and to Jitesh Patel
faith practitioners and to Chris Szejnmann of Holy Trinity for hosting us.
Leicester for inviting us to run the day.
Tom Wilson Tom Wilson
The Faith in Communities Project
The most important challenge facing society today is COVID recovery and determining the most effective ways to
achieve this. Faith communities have demonstrated incredible resilience over the period of the pandemic, in
providing innovative solutions to complex problems, making a valuable contribution to all of society.
As we prepare for COVID recovery, the Good Faith Partnership is running this survey entitled 'Faith in
Communities' in partnership with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This survey will
form a report to Government on how faith communities are responding to current needs, the key challenges they
face and pressing needs/plans to provide for the most vulnerable in society.
The report is particularly focused on learning how government/local agencies might aid and accelerate the positive
impact of support provided by faith communities nationwide. The results of the survey and the report will form
the basis of recommendations to Government on how to achieve this.
The Good Faith Partnership (GFP) is a social consultancy group working at the interface of faith, society and politics
to provide impactful social change.
You can participate in the survey by clicking on this link.
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St Philip’s Centre’s Diversity Award Winner Announced
Each year, St Philip’s Centre sponsors an award at the Leicestershire Chief Constable
Awards Ceremony which, this year, was held ‘virtually’ on 12th February. We are
delighted to report that the winner of the SPC Diversity Award for 2020 is Chief
Inspector Manjit Atwal QPM.
Manjit is no stranger to awards, having received many accolades over her 24-year
career, including Student Officer of the Year, Beat Bobby of the Year, Asian
Community Person of the Year to mention a few. More recently, she was awarded a
Queen’s Police Medal (QPM) in last year’s birthday honours list for her dedication to
the job and support shown to others.
You can find out more about Manjit here.
Come E-Dine Together!
As part of World Interfaith Harmony Week, we paired families who had never met before from nine different
religions & beliefs and many cultures to build friendship, understanding & to overcome isolation. They came
together over Zoom to share food and fellowship. Although World Interfaith Harmony Week was the first week in
February, the meals have continued throughout the month. With thanks to Bobby’s for the delicious food.
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Near Neighbours
We are grateful to the Ministry for Housing, reviewed all the data thoroughly. Are there side effects?
Communities and Local Government for supporting us, Yes, but these are relatively minor, and certainly not a
via the Near Neighbours programme, to encourage reason to not get vaccinated. If anyone has particular
people to take the Covid vaccine when they are offered concerns, then they are advised to speak to their GP
it. We are working with a range of grass roots before being vaccinated.
community groups and individuals to encourage
conversations and discussion about the vaccine. We Our approach has been to work with communities,
have also worked with the local clinical commissioning ensuring that people are able to voice their questions
groups and Shrinker digital to produce some short films and have their concerns addressed directly by those
that encourage people to get vaccinated. You can view with the specialist knowledge to be able to answer
them on our YouTube page. them. This work fits very well with our overall aim of
helping people learn how to live well together.
Having attended a number of webinars myself in which
people discuss their concerns, I think it is very important
that people are genuinely heard, as many of their
concerns are quite legitimate. How were the vaccines
developed so quickly? Because of the amount of money
spent on it, the cooperation between different
organisations and the sheer hard work of countless
individuals. Have they been tested properly? Yes, on
thousands of people, and the approval process has Tom Wilson
Coming soon...
Funding Support
St. Philip’s Centre is grateful for the funding it receives from the following and from many individual supporters, Friends, Associates and
Member Churches
Allchurches Trust Leicestershire & Rutland Masonic Near Neighbours—(MHCLG)
Anglican Diocese of Leicester Charity Association (LRMCA) Northampton District of the Methodist Church
The Baptist Union Leicester City Council Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner
Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham Leicestershire Police Open Society Foundations
Home Office Masonic Charitable Foundation P & C Hickinbotham Charitable Trust
The Laing Trust Methodist Connexion Spalding Trust
Leicester College N C Bellefontaine Trust
faiths engage is the newsletter of St Philip’s Centre Ltd
2A Stoughton Drive North, Leicester LE5 5UB
Tel: 0116 273 3459
admin@stphilipscentre.co.uk
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