Clergy and lay leaders recently gathered for a Bishop’s Study Day on the theme of Christians and Politics, to learn more about how our faith inspires our engagement with social and political issues.
Bishop Martyn opened the day with a keynote speech, sharing his own sense of vocation as one of the Lords Spiritual since 2022.
From being sceptical about whether bishops should sit in the House of Lords, he said, he had “come to see this calling as an extension of my original calling to be a missionary”, with the third, fourth, and fifth marks of mission particularly relevant to his current sense of vocation.
Bishop Martyn then talked about how many people view the country as “broken”, with confidence in politicians, institutions and public leaders at a historically low ebb. He went on to comment on rising social polarisation, and minority groups being scapegoated.
Although this context can make any kind of political engagement feel daunting, Bishop Martyn encouraged those present that churches have a vital role to play in rebuilding trust, fostering community cohesion and supporting vulnerable people with dignity rather than judgement.
This led on to four workshops: on poverty, community organising, community cohesion, and trauma-informed approaches to safeguarding.
Jess Foster, Head of Church Engagement at Trussell, led the session on poverty and shared how churches play a pivotal part in emergency food provision, with nearly three quarters of food banks located in churches.
She explained how churches were particularly well placed to offer the hospitality and friendship which people living in poverty so often needed – as one in four people who visit a foodbank say that that is the only social interaction they have had that month.
Jess also encouraged people to reflect on how they could become a “Micah 6:8 church”, which does justice, loves mercy, and walks humbly with God – and as part of the latter, how we could be more open and inclusive to those living with hunger and hardship.
In the workshop on community cohesion, the Revd Canon Dr Tom Wilson and Riaz Ravat introduced the varied work of the St Philip’s Centre and opened the floor to questions about how people could engage better with those of other faiths and respond to divisions more broadly in their neighbourhoods.
Tom shared advice for how to facilitate difficult conversations across difference – by, for example, framing what can and cannot be discussed at the outset, and being clear on whether you are exploring disagreement to understand one another or whether you are looking to ‘win’.
Tom and Riaz also defined three marks of good community cohesion: reciprocity, people who would not normally spend time together doing so, and laughter.
The workshop facilitated by Timothy Hall, from Cambridge Citizens, and the Dean of Leicester, the Very Revd Karen Rooms, who chairs Citizens UK, introduced people to the practice of community organising, and how it differs from other modes of “changemaking” like advocacy and service provision. They also explored how a relational approach – which is at the heart of community organising – can help church leaders to find and develop others who can support the church’s mission.
Louise Warner, Diocesan Safeguarding Training Officer, led a session on trauma-informed safeguarding, in which she introduced what trauma is, the impact it has, and the causes of it. The group reflected on what situations in their contexts could be challenging for those with experience of trauma, and how those contexts could be made more inclusive.
Finally, they considered a Circle of Control image and how church leaders can look after themselves when supporting people with experience of trauma.
During the day, The Venerable Richard Trethewey, Archdeacon of Leicester gave an update on what was previously known as the Social Responsibility Panel. Now reconfigured as the Loving Service Group, the plan is to have representatives from every Minster Community in the diocese involved, with the first meeting of the group expected over summer.
