Categories: uncategorized
Date: 14 September 2011 10:36:21
Every so often you get to the morning opening of your e-mails and it fills you with excitement and hope. This is not something, I have to say, which tends to be a regular occurance, but today it was.
There were two e-mails that really caught my attention and got me thinking, "this is it" - "this is people getting real".
The first e-mail was from the Transition Durham network. It read as follows, "Some of you may know that Janiece and Paul have recently acquired the old church in Sacriston and are going to transform it into a community arts facility for music, theatre, dance etc. We need some help in the form of man/womanpower for the initial stages of construction work comprising mixing mortar, repointing masonry, stone wall building, shifting materials around, that sort of thing. "
I know Sacriston, having preached there a few times, and it is a really interesting community located several miles from Durham which will truly benefit from this facility. Exciting times.
The second e-mail that came through was one of the regular updates that gets sent to churchy types in Durhamvia the Grapevine network, (the local Catholic church handily put key dates from this on their website). This e-mail related to a current council initative called "Althogether Healthier", which the council have published a delivery plan for. The e-mail I saw was advertising an event at the beginning of next month which is described within the following:
"The Churches Regional Commission & North East Regional Faiths Network have been working in partnership with Durham County Council to consider the distinctive contribution faith communities can and do make to the life of our County. The recent publication of the brochure ’Faith in Sustainable Communities’ outlines some of this work and introduces a programme of conversation styled workshops to be organised during 2011–2012 across the County reflecting on the Sustainable Community Strategy for County Durham. Five Key themes are at the heart of the Strategy: Altogether Wealthier; Altogether Better for children & young people; Altogether Healthier; Altogether Safer; Altogether Greener.
Faith communities have a distinctive role in most communities and neighbourhoods; in some situations providing resources and services; in others, along with other community groups and organisations expressing views and opinion which inform and shape policy formation and implementation.
This first conversation will focus on ‘Altogether Healthier’ and hear about some current projects from faith based organisations. An aim is to identify challenges and changes, personal and political, which may need to be addressed at all levels. The roundtable discussions will provide opportunities for dialogue on critical and key questions, the following provides some examples:
What prospect ‘wellbeing for all’ in this future period of austerity?
I personally find this exciting, particularly as the said e-mail also included a link to a document which I cannot find to link to called Faith in Sustainable Communities. This gave details of stuff which is already happening in the area which is enriching people's lives and comes from faith based communities.
As a member of the local faith and LGBandT communities as well as of course a member of the wider community in which both are located - we cannot divide ourselves off from the wider contexts in which we live - I find community initatives like this second not only exciting but important to keep abreast of and possibly get involved in. The results of such consultations impact on the resources available for our communities and this cannot and should not be forgotten.
In terms of the first initative I think it is brilliant too, because it will benefit the wider community - and I hope that the local faith communities get involved not simply as Christians, but as Christians who realise that it is their community which they are a part of faith or no faith.
Whilst I still have major reservations which have been detailed elsewhere I am beginning to think "The Big Society" could be more than a Tory con to get the third sector to do stuff with less funding than they were getting previously. What it could be giving us is the imagination to think another world and way of doing things is possible - strangely a theme and way of thinking which has re-emerged within and outside of the church time and time again over the centuries ;)
Note and disclaimer: both e-mails were being circulated in the public domain which is why I feel it is appropriate to give details of them on here.