Mission at the Sharp End: Focus on the North West

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Starting today County and National Ecumenical Officers will be meeting for their annual 48 hour consultation.  This consultation is organised by Churches Together in England, through their Field Officers and the planning is through a regional group of County Officers.

This year's consultation is called Mission at the Sharp End and it focuses on the North West.  The consultation will be based in the North West and through various workshops and presentations will examine how thew churches collaborate over mission.  Here is a brief outline of the various projects and where possible links to more information.  All of these sites are worth a visit.

1. Chaplaincy for ex-offenders and the reduction of offending.  This will include a speaker from Cumbria Reducing Offending Partnership Trust.
2. There will be a speaker from Churches Together in Cumbria about the practicalities of inter-faith work.
3. A showcase of Salford's Media City and an exploration of how intermediate bodies can use the media.
4. Yesterday I posted the Methodist Church's press release about one aspect of Keith Ineson's work in agricultural chaplaincy.  He will be speaking generally about agricultural chaplaincy in Cheshire.
5. Situated right in the heart of Liverpool docklands, Liverpool Seafarers' Centre extends the hand of friendship to thousands of seafarers every year. It is a charity operating a frontline service to provide practical and emotional support for seafarers, the often invisible workforce on whom we all depend to ship 95% of UK trade. The Centre first opened its doors in 1956 but more recently it has become a joint work of the Anglican Mission to Seafarers and the Roman Catholic Apostleship of the Sea.
6. More than ten years ago Churches Together in Cumbria set up a Social Responsibility Officer post accountable to its Social Responsibility Forum. The consultation will highlight some of the initiatives that have resulted at county level, share a variety of examples of projects in Carlisle, including the city centre retail chaplaincy, and encourage participants to explore projects and potentials in their local situations.
7. The consultation will also hear from the new Dialogue Development Officer at Blackburn Cathedral.  This new post has been featured in the media, eg by the BBC and Ekklesia.

All of these initiatives are worth covering in more detail and I may be able to do that in the future.  One of the aims of this blog is to share news of ecumenical activities all over the country, leave a comment if you are aware of any you would like to see featured.

Related articles

• Agricultural helpline extends support to gay farmers (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Training Course for Ecumenical Officers (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• West Yorkshire Ecumenical Council: Unity Post (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• CTE Enabling Group, March 2011 (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)