Jellicoe & CTC prayer diary

Each month, we post prayer requests for the work of our Jellicoe Interns, and the wider life of the Contextual Theology Centre

Please pray for...
- the 20 students from Oxford, Cambridge, London and Sheffield who will be coming on Jellicoe Internships this summer, and the congregations in East London which they will work;
- Ian Bhullar and Liliana Worth, who have worked so hard and to such effect for the Centre in this last year, and are going on to new roles in the year ahead (Ian in China and Liliana in Oxford) - and Thomas Daggett who will help manage this summer's internship programme;
- Joshua Harris, our Research Co-ordinator, as he helps us plan an exciting event with The Children's Society in September.  We will be bringing together Christian thinkers and practitioners to discuss how best to challenge he yawning inequalities of wealth in our society;
- Angus Ritchie, Susanne Mitchell and Michael Ipgrave as we develop the East London  Near Neighbours programme - building and deepening relationships across faiths and cultures.  Pray for the sister programmes in Bradford, Birmingham and Leicester - and for the process of recruiting staff in each place;
- the Jellicoe Community in Oxford - especially remembering those who heard Pastor Peter Nembhard preach so powerfully last week, that his words may have an ongoing impact on their lives;
- all who have attended the wide range of teaching events we have been involved in this spring.  In particular, please remember the 100 Christians who have completed our Building a People of Power course on faith and community organising; the 150 Christians, Jews and Muslims involved in our Scriptural Reasoning event on money and justice, and around 200 church leaders in the East Midlands who gathered to reflect on The Church and the Big Society.  Pray for the congregations in which participants worship and minister, that the relationships built and ideas shared at these events may bear fruit in their local contexts

Pastor Peter preaches at Merton

Peter Nembhard, Pastor of one of our Pentecostal congregations, preached a powerful sermon on Moses, anger and justice - at a special Jellicoe event in Merton College, Oxford.  Song of Moses brought together a group of Christians from very different traditions and contexts - College Chapels and St Aldate's and St Mary Magdalen Churches in Oxford and Pastor Peter's ARC in East London - to pray and reflect together on the call to social justice.

Jellicoe intern Daniel Stone gave testimony on the impact of being on placement at ARC.  Daniel has since been elected Vice-President (Charity & Communities) of Oxford University Students Union.

The service was one of a series of events in which the Jellicoe Community has been connecting faith and life in Oxford, including
...an extended Mass at St Mary Magdalen, interspersed with teaching on why things are done as they are in the liturgy - and its implications for Christian life
...a series of workshops on Community Organising (arranged by Sarah Santhosham, who will be a Jellicoe intern in Shadwell this summer)
...sermons at Balliol, Corpus Christi and Magdalen by clergy from our partner churches

Coming up - on the evening of Wednesday 22nd June - is an event with two of the leading thinkers on faith and organising, Baron Glasman and Prof John Milbank.  Full details of this final Jellicoe event of term will follow soon!

Unique interfaith event on Scripture & money

Leading Muslims, Jews and Christians will meet tomorrow to compare the texts of their holy books on money and justice. In a unique event, 150 scholars and community leaders will gather at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster to use the method of 'scriptural reasoning' - discussing what their scriptures teach on issues such as the charging of excessive interest on loans and a just wage.

Participants in the event, which forms part of Citizens UK's 2nd May "Day for Civil Society", will afterwards join more than 2,000 people in the Hall to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Living Wage campaign.

The Scriptural Reasoning event is being organised in association with the Contextual Theology Centre (CTC) and Cambridge University's Interfaith Programme.  CTC Director Fr Angus Ritchie said:  "The deeper Christians, Muslims and Jews go within their scriptures, the louder they hear the call to justice and mercy. These texts have incredible power and relevance today. They are the foundation of our action for a more just and compassionate economy."

Dr Muhammad Bari, Chair of East London Mosque said: "This unique event of reading from the scriptures is a testimony of our common root and shared values. In Islam 'the best of companions with God is the one who is best to his companions and the best of neighbours to God is the one who is the best of them to his neighbour."

Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, Rabbi of New North London Synagogue, said: “In a week when we read from the Torah that you shall love your neighbour as yourself it is especially important to be together among our neighbours of different faiths in London discussing our shared values.”