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NATIONAL CONSULTATION: "Good Neighbours?"
REPORT
The Baptist Union and Joppa jointly organised a national consultation held on 1 March 2007 in Leicester. The day was held at the St Philip’s Centre for Study and Engagement in Multi Faith Society, situated in Leicester.
Around 30 Baptist delegates met from across England for a day which included input from speakers, discussion groups and a visit to a local mosque.
The first speaker was Prof Paul Weller who is Professor of Inter-Religious Relations at the University of Derby and a Deacon at Broadway Baptist Church. He spoke on "Religions in the UK: Contexts & Issues". He highlighted the fact that religion and religious groups are very much on the agenda today - especially in government circles. The 2001 census asked religious questions for the first time. This has enabled the faith makeup of the UK to be seen more clearly than before, showing how Inter-religious matters inevitably involve issues of ethnicity.
He said that all thinking about society in the UK must be 3 dimensional - including the perspectives of Christianity, secularism and the diversity of faiths.
He highlighted the recent trend to move on from the aim of "integration" (or "multi-culturalism") as this may run the risk of the "ghettoisation" of communities leading parallel lives. (a copy of the slides is available here)
The second session entitled "Relating to our Neighbours" was led by Revd Dr Andrew Wingate - an Anglican Priest and Director of the St Philip's Centre [photo]. He outlined the work of the Centre in the training of clergy and lay Christians to be "confident Christians". He said that all such training should be ecumenical, bringing together Christians of all denominations. Our faith neighbours are not interested in our denominational allegiances. They also provide training to Police on inter-faith relations and run 5 different dialogue groups with local faith communities in Leicester.
He went on to speak about relating to our neighbours. As Christians we need to go to where people are - not wait for them to come to us. The ministry of Paul took place in diverse places like Leicester, not places like Herefordshire!
The aim of the St Philip's Centre is to move people from confrontation, rivalry and suspicion - to dialogue, friendship, cooperation and witness.
He outlined the essential characteristics of dialogue:
- It begins when people meet people - not when a Sikh meets a Christian, but when Resham meets Mark.
- It depends on removing misunderstanding and building up trust.
- It leads to common service to the community.
- It is the means of authentic witness.
The third session was led by the Chair of the Joppa Group, Revd Dr Nicholas Wood, a Baptist minister and Fellow in Religion and Culture at Regent’s Park College. Nick spoke on "Jesus, Dialogue and Evangelism". He began with the recognition that Christianity like Buddhism and Islam is a missionary faith. However, mission in the past has been shaped by western colonialism and imperialism. This has meant that some faith communities are suspicious of Christians in dialogue - fearing that dialogue is it an attempt to convert people. On the other hand there can be a suspicion from fellow Christians that those engaging in inter-faith dialogue have sold out on mission.
He concluded by saying that the content of Christian witness is Christ (John 1v14). Although it is often assumed that those in dialogue are weak on Jesus, this is not the case. He also said that the character of Christian witness must be Christ-like. We must live like Christ with humility, integrity and sensitivity (1 Peter 3v15-16).
There were also opportunities for discussion in small groups during the day, which raised a number of important issues. The consultation was concluded with a session at which issues were raised for future thought and planning by Joppa and the Baptist Union. This was led by Revd Graham Sparkes, Head of the Faith and Unity Department of the Baptist Union.
The day was not all talk - the group also visited the local Masjid Umar mosque to observe the prayers. Following the prayers, the Imam, Maulana Muhammad Sindhi spoke to the delegates and answered their searching questions. [photo]
So now it is over to Joppa and the Baptist Union to give further thought to the issues raised at this valuable consultation!
Mark Burleigh
This event forms a part of the work funded by The Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund
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