Movement magazine issue 155

movement
THE MAGAZINE FOR CHRISTIAN STUDENTS
ISSUE 155 SPRING 2017
INTERVIEW:
RUTH HUNT
We caught up with
the Chief Executive of
Stonewall PAGE 12
BELONGING, WELCOME
AND HOSPITALITY
Matt Ward asks how
students find church
communities PAGE 23
RE-ENCHANTING
THE ACTIVIST
A feature review of
Keith Hebden’s book
PAGE 26
BEING WORKING
CLASS IN THE
CHURCH
Adam Spiers reflects
PAGE 32
MOVEMENT Issue 155
1

CONTENTS
EDITORIAL 4
COMING UP 5
NEWS 6-8
GROUP NEWS 9-11
REVIEWS 41-43
INTERVIEW:
RUTH HUNT 12-16
The Chief Executive of Stonewall
tells us more about their work, and
how her Catholic faith shapes the
way she sees the world.
CAMPAIGNS:
END
HUNGER UK 17-18
Find out about SCM’s latest campaign
and what you can do to get involved.
WHY WE
ALL NEED
THEOLOGY 19-20
REBEKAH BLYTHE
Why theology is for everyone, not just
theology students.
THE PERFECT
CHURCH IS... 21-22
We asked SCM members to share
what they look for in a church.
THE LONG READ:
BELONGING,
WELCOME AND
HOSPITALITY 23-25
MATT WARD
How do students find church
communities?
FEATURE REVIEW:
RE-ENCHANTING
THE ACTIVIST 26-28
KEITH HEBDEN
His new book is out now, and he has
kindly given SCM permission to print
an excerpt from it in Movement.
THE LONG READ:
DISCIPLESHIP,
ASYLUM
SEEKERS AND
REFUGEES 29-31
BEN BANO
A look at the legacy of Dietrich
Bonhoeffer.
THE LONG READ:
BEING WORKING
CLASS IN THE
CHURCH 32-34
ADAM SPIERS
Why aren’t working class people
going to church, and what can we
do about it?
THREE
PERSPECTIVES
ON HEALING 35-37
Three SCM members share their
views on healing.
RESOURCE:
STUDENT
SUNDAY 38-40
ROSIE VENNER
A simple liturgy for groups and
churches to use to mark Student
Sunday in February.
2 MOVEMENT Issue 155 MOVEMENT Issue 155
3

The theme of this issue is that of
welcome, inspired by the theme of
Student Sunday 2017 – All Are
Welcome. Inside you’ll find an
article by Adam Spiers looking at
the issue of class in the church, as
well as a reflection from Ben Bano
on the refugee crisis and what
prompted him to take action. We’re delighted to bring
you an interview with Ruth Hunt, the Chief Executive
of the LGBT rights charity Stonewall, who shares with
us her passion for ending inequality and how her faith
shapes the way that she sees the world.
What do we look for in a church? SCM members share what
their perfect church looks like on page 21, and Matt Ward shares
his findings from his doctoral research investigating how recent
graduates find a sense of belonging in new church communities.
We also have all the usual news from the movement, as well
as a resource to use with your group or community to mark
Student Sunday written by Rosie Venner.
This is my first issue of Movement as Editor, having joined General
Council as a trustee last August. On a personal note, I would like
to thank the previous editor Debbie White for encouraging me
to take over the reins as editor of Movement. I hope that I can
do as good a job of editing this magazine as she did.
If you have any ideas for future content, or would like to
contribute an article, then we’d love to hear from you! Please
email editor@movement.org.uk or get in touch with the office.
GEMMA KING
If you find it hard to read the printed version
of Movement, we can send it to you in digital
form. Contact editor@movement.org.uk.
Student Christian Movement
Grays Court, 3 Nursery Road, Edgbaston,
Birmingham, B15 3JX
t: 0121 426 4918
e: scm@movement.org.uk
w: www.movement.org.uk
Advertising
e: scm@movement.org.uk
t: 0121 426 4918
Movement is published by the Student
Christian Movement (SCM) and is distributed
free to all members, supporters, groups, Link
Churches and affiliated chaplaincies.
SCM is a student-led movement inspired by
Jesus to act for justice and show God’s love in
the world. As a community we come together
to pray, worship and explore faith in an open
and non-judgemental environment.
SCM staff:
National Coordinator: Hilary Topp, Finance and
Projects Officer: Lisa Murphy, Groups Worker:
Lizzie Gawen, Fundraising and Communications
Officer: Ellis Tsang, Faith in Action Project
Worker: Ruth Wilde, Regional Development
Worker: Rach Collins, Administration Assistant:
Ruth Naylor
Editorial Team:
Gemma King and Lisa Murphy.
The views expressed in Movement magazine
are those of the particular authors and
should not be taken to be the policy of the
Student Christian Movement. Acceptance
of advertisements does not constitute an
endorsement by the Student Christian
Movement.
ISSN 0306-980X
Charity number 1125640
© 2017 Student Christian Movement
Design:
morsebrowndesign.co.uk & penguinboy.net
COMING UP
STUDENT SUNDAY
19TH FEB 2017
Join students and churches around
the world on 19th February to
mark the Universal Day of Prayer
for Students (UDPS) or ‘Student
Sunday’. SCM has produced a
resource toolkit for 2017 on the
theme of ‘All Are Welcome’ that
can be used by churches, groups
and individuals. You’ll find a simple
liturgy outline from the toolkit on
page 38, and the full toolkit can be
downloaded from the website at
movement.org.uk/studentsunday
CALLED TO BE…
SCM GATHERING,
10-12 MARCH 17,
MANCHESTER
Students and recent graduates will
be gathering in Manchester this
spring to hear from Fr Timothy
Radcliffe O.P., a Catholic priest,
theologian, and the Consulter for
the Pontifical Council of Justice and
Peace, who will be speaking about
vocation. There will also be space
for prayer and worship, workshops
and time to explore Manchester.
SCM Friends are invited to join in
on the Saturday evening.
For more information and
to book your place visit
movement.org.uk/events
MOVEMENT 2017
SCM SUMMER
GATHERING AND
AGM, 9-10 JUNE
2017, LEEDS
Join us in Leeds as we celebrate
the year with our annual summer
gathering! The programme will be
packed with speakers sharing their
stories and workshops to inspire you
to put your faith into action. There
will also be space to be creative and
time to relax and unwind at the end
of a busy year!
For more information and
to book your place visit
movement.org.uk/events
SAVE THE DATES!
EFFECTIVE STUDENT WORK
TRAINING 6 & 7TH SEPTEMBER 2017,
BIRMINGHAM
GROUP LEADERS’ TRAINING 7 & 8TH
SEPTEMBER 2017, BIRMINGHAM
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NEWS
CELEBRATING
UNITY AND
DIVERSITY
AT THE SCM
GATHERING IN
SCOTLAND
Last October SCM was thrilled to
hold another gathering in Scotland,
organised by Debbie White and
the SCM Glasgow Network. The
theme for the event was unity,
and the weekend culminated in a
‘unity meal’ on Saturday evening,
an Agape-style meal where
participants shared their stories and
experiences.
Taking place from 14-16 October
2016, the gathering brought
together students, SCM members
and groups from Birmingham,
Edinburgh, Glasgow and St
Andrews. It was held in
collaboration with Wellington
Church Glasgow, with the help of
Wellington’s student outreach
worker Lizy Newswanger. On Friday
evening, students heard from
Syrian refugees in Glasgow, in
conjunction with Wellington
Church’s International Welcome
Club, who also prepared a fantastic
tabbouleh meal.
‘It was great to see students and
SCM friends coming together
over the weekend for panels,
discussions, food, dancing, worship
and fellowship,’ said Rach Collins,
SCM’s Regional Development
Worker. ‘We explored big questions
of faith, whilst meeting SCM friends
and others who had stories of SCM
over their lifetimes.’
SCM member Emily Wheeler said,
‘Over the whole weekend I loved
seeing how different people are
called to worship God in their own
individual ways. As a fairly recently
baptised Christian, I’ve pretty much
only encountered Anglican services,
so the opportunity to try out other
types of worship was absolutely
amazing.’
Students and SCM Friends heard
from Rt Revd David Walker, Bishop
of Manchester, who shared his
research into church attendance,
exploring trends in churchgoing
for different groups of people.
Workshops included a lively panel
discussion on creativity and faith
with Vicky Gunn, Emily Wheeler,
Alasdair Dunn and Taylor Driggers.
Other workshops included a look
at Ignatian Spirituality, a practical
session on making rosaries, and a
workshop on mental health led by
Lizy Newswanger.
Special thanks to Debbie White
for putting in countless hours
organising such a fantastic event.
We look forward to the fifth SCM
gathering in Scotland next autumn!
SCM JOINS END
HUNGER UK
CAMPAIGN
SCM has joined the End Hunger
UK campaign, a joint initiative
led by 12 leading UK charities
including Church Action on Poverty,
FareShare and the Trussell Trust.
The campaign was launched on
World Food Day 2016, and aims to
end food poverty in the UK.
‘Despite living in the seventh richest
country in the world, there are now
more than eight million people at
risk of going hungry every day.
Parents are regularly skipping meals
to feed their families; and 500,000
people are now dependent on food
bank parcels to survive,’ says Ruth
Wilde, SCM’s Faith in Action Project
Worker. ‘For such a rich country,
this is a scandal that needs to be
addressed. By joining the End
Hunger UK campaign, students
across Britain are adding to the
conversations that will put pressure
on our leaders to respond and end
this scandal once and for all.’
The campaign has begun with a
series of ‘Big Conversations’, which
will be held on social media using
#EndHungerUK, and at local charity
and community group events
across Britain. The Big
Conversations will take place until
March 2017. Participants will be
asking, ‘What one thing can the
government do to end hunger in
the UK?’ Resources can be
downloaded at endhungeruk.org.
Students have joined the
conversation by writing their
answers to this question on a
paper plate, taking a photo of it
and tweeting the picture using
#EndHungerUK. Student groups
and link churches can also host a
Big Conversation event, which can
be done in partnership with a local
foodbank. You can find out more
about the campaign and how to get
involved on page 17.
SCM is encouraging the movement
– students, groups, Link Churches
and supporters – to get involved in
this campaign in any way they can.
Together, we can create a cry for
justice that cannot be ignored any
longer, and create a hunger-free
society in the UK.
STUDENT
SUNDAY 2017
RESOURCES NOW
AVAILABLE
The time has come again to join
hundreds of students, churches
and communities around the world
to celebrate Student Sunday, which
is taking place on or around 19
February.
You can now download a free
resource toolkit from the SCM
website to prepare and plan
activities for Student Sunday.
Our theme this year is ‘All Are
Welcome’, and we are encouraging
churches and groups to pray
together for students and create
a welcome for people from all
backgrounds. The resource pack
contains prayers, reflections,
liturgies, all-age activities
and stories of students being
welcomed into churches and other
communities around the world,
and can be downloaded from
movement.org.uk/studentsunday.
If you are part of a church, please
also consider arranging a collection
for SCM, either during Student
Sunday or at another convenient
time. Donations will go towards
SCM’s work helping more students
to deepen their faith, explore their
calling and take action for justice.
Visit movement.org.uk/support-us/
collections for more information.
Over...
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CHURCH
LEADERS FEAR
NEGATIVE
IMPACT OF
UNIVERSITY ON
STUDENTS’ FAITH
– NEW SCM
REPORT
There is a significant lack of
support for young Christians going
to university, with some church
leaders holding mixed views about
the impact of university on a
person’s faith, according to a new
study published by SCM.
The survey of 118 respondents
revealed that many church leaders
hold a negative perception of
the university experience when it
comes to faith. Only 17 percent
of respondents felt that it was
likely that people leaving their
congregation to go to university
would find another Christian
community. Twenty nine percent of
church leaders said they thought
the move to university resulted in a
negative impact on people’s faith,
with 52 percent saying the impact
was mixed.
‘This survey highlights the need
for a more joined-up approach
linking youth work with higher
education work,’ said Hilary Topp,
SCM’s National Coordinator.
‘With such a negative perception
of how university can impact a
person’s faith, churches need more
innovative and diverse ways to
connect their young people with
vibrant faith communities.’
Support for young Christians to
continue engaging with faith at
university is lacking. Forty five
percent of respondents said an
online platform where students
could find another local church
or Christian community would be
the most helpful tool to prepare
young adults for faith at university.
However, only four percent said
that they directed people to an
online listing or something similar.
Twenty two percent of churches
said they did nothing for people
in their congregation leaving for
university.
‘We hope that this survey can
be a starting point for further
investigation into why churches
might view university as a place
where faith diminishes, rather than
flourishes, for some young people,’
added Hilary Topp.
The full report of the findings,
which can be viewed at movement.
org.uk/news, was written by
researchers from the St Mary’s
Centre, a Christian research
institute working in the fields of
religion and education.
GROUP NEWS
SCM LEEDS
SCM Leeds has had a great first term this year! Lots of
new students have got involved, and we’ve had some
amazing events. Worship leader and head of Christians in
Politics and Christians on the Left Andy Flannagan came
and spoke to us about how Christianity can save politics in
October. It was interesting to hear his story, and inspiring
to hear the hope he has for the seemingly desperate
situation of politics at the moment, encouraging us to get
involved locally and use the political system from the inside
to work for change.
We also have had some great fun social events such as
meals out, quiz nights, and a film night where we reflected
on the theological themes in the Lego movie. In between
all of that we meet regularly for quiet and reflective Taizé
worship, which is a lovely break from coursework and busy
university life. We’ve recently been approved as a Students’
Union affiliated society too!
EMMA TEMPLE
ESSEX PROGRESSIVE
CHRISTIANS
Progressive Christians started the year by launching our
White Poppies for Peace campaign by selling them from
freshers’ fair onwards, as well as writing some resources
about the difference between peace poppies and Royal
British Legion poppies which we promoted on our Facebook
page in the days leading up to Remembrance Sunday.
Also this year we have increased members’ involvement
by asking them to choose our meeting date and times
through an online survey taken by all those who visited our
table during the freshers’ fair. Whilst this meant starting in
November rather than straight away, we believe it will help
new people feel more like part of our community.
Just because we started our meetings late, it doesn’t
mean we were not active! We have been running stalls
weekly and have also voted for the charity we’ll be
supporting in term one, which will be Autism Anglia.
Finally this year we will have a single theme: living a Jesuscentred
life. To do so we will be reading through Michael
Hardin’s The Jesus Driven Life and discussing how Jesus
read his Bible, and what it really means to follow him and
be children of his Abba.
SIMONE RAMACCI
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CAMBRIDGE METHODIST
SOCIETY
Last term was a promising one for MethSoc in Cambridge!
I will admit to being a bit worried at the beginning of this
academic year, as we’re a small society and numbers have
been a problem for a while now. However, as with Moses
(although with perhaps fewer plagues) the Lord delivered us
and we’ve gained three new regular members!
Our talks on John and Charles Wesley have been very
successful, and I for one, not having been raised a
Methodist, have found them very grounding. We treated the
congregation of our church to a Bangers and Mash supper
on Guy Fawkes Night, raising money for two homeless
charities in Cambridge, where sadly many sleep rough.
MethSoc is also spearheading the drive to give our church a
greater online presence, and a Facebook and Twitter page
for our church will be up and running shortly (once the
finest Wesleyan memes have been created).
This year we’ve been exploring our partnership with the
SCM network in Cambridge, and I look forward to these,
and other ecumenical activities, increasing after the New
Year. We finished off the year with our annual winter retreat
and we’re looking ahead to the Methodist Student Weekend
in January.
ST. ALKMUND’S CHURCH,
DERBY
Wow, well what a year it has been so far! St Alkmund’s
is a lively, charismatic evangelical Anglican Church which
happens to have the University of Derby in the parish. This
year we’ve continued to be involved in the Chaplaincy, which
has involved running a weekly Fairtrade lunch, working
alongside the Students’ Union on a green sustainability
allotment project and, next year, climbing Kilimanjaro (sort
of!) for Fairtrade Fortnight.
We’ve seen a few new students join us and our 18-30s
missional community network has grown from about six in
July to about 18 who are in and around it. As a Pioneer
Minister I am keen to encourage and empower people to be
who they are in Jesus where they are now. It can be slow
work but we forge forwards trusting in God. There’s plenty
else I could mention, so I guess watch this space! (If you’re
ever in Derby, come say hi!)
When you see the Holy Spirit spark, ask what fuel you can
add...
BEN MARTIN, LAY PIONEER MINISTER AT ST
ALKMUND’S DERBY
SCM MANCHESTER
We’ve had a jam packed term at SCM Manchester! We had
Tim Baker, from All We Can, to speak and we now have
a better understanding of issues faced by refugees and
Christian charities working to help refugees. Following on
from this we discussed, planned and conducted a studentled
Sunday service at St Peter’s House on the theme of the
refugee crisis using some of the All We Can resources.
Earlier in the term we held a discussion on how to keep faith
on campus and tried out lectio divina together. We’ve also
done a Bible Study on the whole book of Jonah and heard
Brian McLaren talk about his newest book The Spiritual
Migration.
Recently Revd Raj Bharath Patta, a PHD student in
Manchester, talked about Dalit theology and the key thing
we gained was knowledge on how Christian movements
can contribute in promoting human equality.
CHI ZHANG
BIRMINGHAM METHODIST
SOCIETY
The University of Birmingham MethSoc has been pretty busy
so far this year! As well as the usual Monday dinners, curry
nights, film nights and the occasional worship, we also held
a joint event with the LGBTQ and oSTEM (Out in Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) societies, where
we made mocktails together, as well as a games night
with UBASH (University of Birmingham Atheist and Secular
Humanist Society) and Christians in Science.
One weekend last term we travelled down to Oxford to
visit the University’s John Wesley Society. We had a very
enjoyable weekend, with fireworks, a tour of Oxford, church,
Sunday lunch and going out Saturday night. We hope to
return the favour in the future.
Some members of MethSoc took part in a candlelit
remembrance service by the clock tower on campus on
the Friday of remembrance weekend. We have also been
keeping the Food Exchange going by collecting waste food
from campus every Friday.
We ended the term with a Christmas meal together and we
volunteered at the Carol Service held in the Great Hall.
PHILIPPA JEFFERIES
SARAH WILSON
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INTERVIEW
RUTH HUNT
Ruth Hunt is the Chief Executive of Stonewall, a charity working for
LGBT equality. She studied English at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and
was elected President of Oxford Students’ Union. Before working at
Stonewall, Ruth worked at the Equality Challenge Unit where she led
work advising Higher Education Institutions on sexual orientation
and gender identity equality.
In 2015, Ruth was voted the third most influential LGBT person
in Britain in the Independent’s Rainbow List. She received two
honorary degrees in 2015, one from Cardiff University and the other
from Keele University.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your faith journey.
I’m Chief Executive at Stonewall which is the UK’s leading lesbian, gay, bi and
trans equality charity, and I’ve worked here for about a decade. I’m a practising
Catholic – I was brought up a Catholic, but reaffirmed my faith as I was growing
up, as a teenager. As an adult I’ve always found a home within the Catholic
Church, and my faith is very important to me.
We’ve published resources for Student Sunday on the theme of ‘All Are
Welcome’. We know that some LGBT people do not find churches to be
welcoming places. What has been your experience?
I’ve never experienced a particular problem in the Catholic Church, but I think
that’s because the Catholic Church has its own issues and doesn’t obsess about
this in quite the same way that other churches do. My partner, who’s atheist,
came to Midnight Mass with me last year, and the priest at my church was
incredibly welcoming, and warm, and very clearly acknowledged that we were
a couple. That was very moving, and very important to me that my partner, who
had every reason to be sceptical, was welcome and was part of that community.
And I think it was very straightforward for him to do that, but it made an immense
difference to me and I think that his actions were hugely important. I think it
just goes to show that these things don’t have to be very highly contracted,
governance reviewed processes, and it’s basically about human kindness and
decency and courtesy to people who are part of your congregation.
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13

Can you tell us a bit more about Stonewall and the
work that you do?
Stonewall has been going for 27 years, and we do everything
in our power to help people make wherever they live, work,
socialise, play or pray a more welcoming and inclusive
place. I’m very proud of the work we’ve done with all faith
communities, particularly of our work with schools. We’ve
actively worked with individuals to help them tackle bullying
in their school in a way that is completely congruent with
their faith and philosophy, and have been helping them to
find role models and LGBT people of faith to talk about their
experiences. I think one of the things we’re very aware of
at Stonewall is that young people need to see people like
them, and to know that LGBT people don’t need to abandon
their faith because of their sexual orientation, and that
faith is an incredibly important part of personal well-being
– someone’s relationship with God shouldn’t have to be
abandoned because of their sexual orientation. So we work
very hard to make sure that we do everything that we can to
support schools to do that work well, and we’re very proud
of the work we’ve done there.
More generally, Stonewall has worked with LGBT Christians
to help them work out how they might be able to influence
some of the discussions that are happening at the moment,
the Shared Conversations of course and some of the
debates that are happening within Synod, to try and move
some of these issues forward, and move them away from
something that is a first order issue, into something that
is actually about living the ways of Jesus through pastoral
care and support. It’s been important for Stonewall to play a
role in that, but also to support LGBT people of faith to find
a voice in an arena that can often feel very personal, and
very dismissive of their lived experiences.
We understand that Stonewall has brought together
Christian campaigning groups to work for change in
the church under a project called the LGBTI Mission.
Could you tell us more about that?
LGBTI Mission is an organisation that’s been brought
together by existing LGBT Christian groups, and they asked
Stonewall to come in and provide some support for that.
What we’re good at is running campaigns, we’re good at
getting messages right and helping people articulate what’s
going on, so they came to us and asked for our help with
that, and Stonewall was pleased to offer it. I think what
they realise is that this is a time of immense opportunity for
LGBTI people, and for those who are not LGBTI but support
the church being a more inclusive and welcoming space
for LGBTI people, and they wanted to make the most of
that. I think they’re doing an excellent job of articulating
the issues and their website, lgbtimission.org.uk has a lot
of really good information about what an inclusive church
might look like and how we can get there.
What do you think churches could do to be more
welcoming to LGBT people?
I think the first thing is to acknowledge that some of the
congregation might be LGBTI, or have LGBTI family and
friends. Some of the saddest stories I’ve heard are where
grandparents or parents have felt that they had to leave
the congregation that they’ve been going to all their lives,
that their kids have being going to, because of what is quite
frankly political hostility from the pulpit, or from those in
positions of power, against LGBTI people. I think there’s
a real difference between exploring matters of faith, and
doctrine and liturgy, and basically developing what can
only be described as a very unchristian position on LGBTI
equality. I think what lots of churches are realising is that
churches should be a welcoming place for all who are
seeking to find Jesus in their lives, and to be closer to God,
and that there shouldn’t be a hierarchy of who’s allowed in,
which is such an antithesis to Jesus’ way, and his vision of
what the world should look like.
I think there are some really interesting things going on
in what’s called Inclusive Churches, where welcoming
statements are made very clearly on their websites that say
that everyone is welcome, where it’s clear that same-sex
couples are very welcome to come and have their children
baptised. We’ve heard at Stonewall that some same-sex
couples have been turned away from baptisms, which of
course is against the teachings of the church – no child
should ever be refused a baptism. There’s some really
bad practise out there but also some good, like just taking
care to acknowledge people. One of the powerful things
that my priest has talked about is the diversity of his own
congregation, and how much he welcomes and values that,
saying that there are people who are single, and people who
are finding their way, or might have been adopted, or are in
same-sex relationships, and being included in a list of things
that he was describing as good was very affirming for me,
and I think that’s what it’s about. It’s not necessarily always
about taking a very fixed view on these issues because
that’s not where everyone is at, but it is about creating an
environment where everyone feels able to find Jesus, and
find God.
How does your faith shape how you see the world?
I think that it’s something that we Brits aren’t very good at
talking about, but at Stonewall we are very acutely aware
that who you are makes a difference to how you behave,
and how you act and do things, and that how you do
something is as important as what you do. And there are
people of faith, and indeed people of no faith, who hold a
very strong idea that how people behave is important.
What I find as a Christian, and as a Catholic, is that trying to
ensure that the values that are integral to the Christian faith
shape my approach and response to the challenges in all
areas of my working life is very important for me. Stonewall
supports people to find their way on some of these issues,
and we don’t judge, or name and shame, and we work very
hard to find consensus and build consensus, to build bridges
between communities. That to me feels very Christian. And
even though as an organisation we’re agnostic, that’s a
very fundamental part of Stonewall’s ethos.
What motivates you?
Eradicating injustice motivates me – ensuring that people
have exactly the same opportunities as others even if they
not born with the same access to different things, and that
no one is left behind. That’s absolutely integral to me, that
we treat others as we wish to be treated, that we forgive
those who trespass against us, and that we do everything
that we can to make the world a better place. That’s what
I’m all about, what I’ve always been about. I’m not always
great at it of course, but I try my best.
How do you keep going when things get difficult?
I have an amazing team at Stonewall who are utterly
committed to keeping soldiering on when those who are
against us are getting louder and louder, and we always
know that the fight we’re having is about people who are
in a position of not being able to fight at all. And there
are huge levels of vulnerability amongst members of our
communities, particularly those who are excluded from
home, or their congregations or their schools, who really
struggle to find a way. However tough it gets for us, we’re
actually about those who are fighting a bigger fight, and
making sure that the world is a better place for them.
Who inspires you?
Lots of people inspire me. I think that Archbishop Justin
Welby is doing a pretty difficult job at the moment, and
trying to keep it all together. He’s certainly someone who
inspires me. I’m always inspired by the young LGBT people
I meet who are turning often difficult situations into positive
ones, not only for themselves, but they’re also doing their
best to make the world a better place for those who are
coming after them. I think that is utterly, utterly admirable.
There’s a lot going on at the moment and we need more
heroes, more people who are looking beyond themselves
and looking to make the world a better place, and I think the
LGBT community has a lot of those to offer. It’s a real joy to
be able to work with them.
Do you have a favourite piece of scripture? Oh I always
go back to Ruth, ‘Where you go, I go, where you stay, I
stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.’
(Ruth 1:16)
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I think it’s the most profound level of loyalty and commitment
to God and to another human being that it’s possible to
express. It’s beautiful.
What advice would you give to students? Generally?
Work hard, don’t get too drunk. I think being a student is
such a major transition time in people’s lives that it’s easy
to let go of some of those things that keep you anchored,
and if you do have a faith find ways to nurture that faith.
Don’t lose sight of your needs. It’s a time of meeting lots of
people, so be ready to have your mind changed on things.
If you could have been born in any period in history,
when would you choose? This one. It’s the best one. This
is fine thank you!
Do you have a favourite book? I’ve got lots of favourite
books, but probably Four Quartets. It’s a poetry book by T.S.
Eliot. It’s the most amazing exploration of the fate facing
our modern word and spirituality, and how it all fits together.
It’s a deeply moving book.
You have a very busy job – what do you do to relax?
I cycle, and I swim, and I read and I like good quality television
and I make sure I go to church once a week. Going to church
is an incredibly important part of my grounding rituals.
CAMPAIGNS
FROM 2016 TO 2018, SCM IS PARTNERING WITH CHURCH
ACTION ON POVERTY AND OTHERS ON A CAMPAIGN CALLED
END HUNGER UK. READ ON TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE
CAMPAIGN AND HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED.
THE SCANDAL OF FOOD POVERTY
In recent years, poverty has been on the rise in the UK. Despite
living in the seventh richest country in the world, there are now
two million people estimated to be malnourished in this country,
with a further three million in danger of becoming so. Parents
are regularly skipping meals to feed their families, and 500,000
people are now dependent on food bank parcels to survive 1 .
THE CAMPAIGN
End Hunger UK is a campaign headed up by Church
Action on Poverty, but it also involves formidable
partners – from FareShare to Oxfam and the Trussell
Trust. Until the end of 2018, we will campaign for a
UK where everyone has access to good food, and
no one has to go to bed hungry.
It is a cliché to say it, but the amount of people living in poverty, unable
to feed themselves properly, is a scandal in such a rich country,
and one which could be avoided with the right policies from our
government. It is also illegal, because in 1976, the UK government
made ‘a binding commitment under international human rights law
to secure the human right to adequate food for everyone’ 2 .
The campaign starts with a ‘Big Conversation’ going
on across the UK until March 2017. Individuals,
churches, food banks and other projects are
all invited to join the Conversation and ask the
question: What does our government need to
do End Hunger in the UK?
WHAT YOU CAN DO
• Join the ‘Big Conversation’ online: write your answer to the question ‘What does our government need to do to End
Hunger in the UK?’ on a paper plate, take a photo of it, and tweet it with the hashtag #EndHungerUK
• Post a screenshot of your tweet to the SCM facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/scmbritain to generate interest
in the campaign and conversation about hunger in the UK.
• Organise a ‘Big Conversation’ event in your area. This can be a coffee morning, a forum or a simple discussion meeting.
You could even try organising it in partnership with a local foodbank.
• Go and watch the Ken Loach film ‘I, Daniel Blake’ about poverty and benefits sanctions in the UK. Take a group from
church, organise a trip with your SCM group, or just go with a friend!
• Once you have written on your plate(s) and tweeted, gather as many plates as possible from your church, group or Big
Conversation gathering, and send them to your local MP.
To find out more about holding a ‘Big Conversation’ event, or to find resources for the campaign, visit
www.movement.org.uk/end-hunger-campaign
1
policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/our-work/inequality/food-poverty
2
church-poverty.org.uk/righttofood
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17

WHY WE ALL
NEED THEOLOGY
The word ‘theology’ might conjure up some intimidating images: the intense
study of God within the halls of academia, a subject confined to lectures
and seminars where only serious study can do it justice, or something only
the most religious can understand. But really theology is an essential part
of the Christian faith. It should give meaning to our faith, enabling us to
deepen our understanding of who God is, and breathing new life into how
we live in the real world. Here are five reasons why I think we should all be
engaging with theology.
1. Theology means thinking about who God is and what it means to believe
in God’s existence.
Therefore, anyone who thinks about God, or relates to God in any way, or lives a certain way based on a belief
in God, is already doing theology.
2. Theology is something we do.
People often think that theology is really wordy. ‘I couldn’t do theology because I don’t really like reading, or
I don’t have complicated thoughts, or I’m no good at long arguments.’ But we don’t just think or talk about
theology – we do it. We do theology as part of our worship through the songs we sing, what our places of
worship look like, what customs and rituals we take part in, what creeds and prayers we say, and in the way
we interact with other people in our churches. We also do theology in any conversations we might have with
others about God. And we do theology through the many varied ways that Christians live out their faith through
their actions, demonstrating God’s love in the world. All of this is doing theology, so really, we all do it. We just
don’t necessarily know that we’re doing it!
3. As Christians, theology surrounds our whole experience of faith.
So, having decided that theology is important because we do it, it’s important that we should do it intentionally.
Intentionally doing theology will change the way we live, and the way we think about God and our relationship to
him. Intention is important in everything we do and we should live intentionally, otherwise we are simply going
through the motions of life.
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WE ASKED SCM MEMBERS TO SHARE WHAT THEY
LOOK FOR IN A CHURCH
As Christians we want to seek God in everything that we do, and doing theology is a way for us to do that.
Through actually reflecting on the views we hold about God, and the way we live because of those views, we
find that we understand ourselves and our faith more. We then know why we believe what we believe, and our
relationship with God is strengthened by that.
4. Theology is part of being in relationship with God.
When we’re in a relationship with someone, we’re constantly learning more about them. Even when we’ve
known them for years and years, and we could answer a million questions about them, there are still new things
for us to discover about one another, like the way they respond to a new situation, or the way they show a new
extent to which they love you. Part of being in a relationship is this constant openness and desire to learn more
about (and draw closer to) the other. And in the case of our relationship with God, this learning and drawing
closer is theology!
5. When we are more aware of our own views and why we hold them, we are
more able to hear other, different, views about God.
The perfect
Church is...
Because our own thoughts on God go deeper, and we see them running through everything we do and say,
we are more able to communicate our beliefs. And therefore when somebody believes something different, we
don’t feel that they are threatening what we believe, and in turn we don’t need to try to threaten what they
believe. In this way, we can remain in conversation with people who believe different things to us. Being able
to talk together about difference is what breaks down prejudices and builds up peace and friendship between
people – something increasingly important in our world today.
So theology is important because we’re all already doing it, and becoming aware of that strengthens our faith, our
relationship with God, the way we live and decisions we make, and the ways we engage with other people about
belief. Doing theology is an integral part of any Christian’s journey.
Rebekah Blythe is an SCM member who studied at the University of Cambridge. She recently graduated
with a degree in Theology and is candidating for ministry with the Methodist Church. She loves church,
theology, social action, the great outdoors and being creative – and blogs about all of these and many more
topics at inthebranches.weebly.com
More fascinated by
questions and doubts then
by answers and certainty,
has a commitment to
building the kingdom of
God ‘on earth as it is in
heaven’, and willing to
learn from others – both
churches I’ve been a member
of as a student have let a
local Imam do a sermon.
ROBIN HANFORD
Inclusive, friendly, has
genuine people and takes
action in the community,
and provides opportunities
for learning.
EMILY WHEELER
Inclusive, with an active
concern for social justice,
enjoyable and theologically
sound liturgy, and
friendly people.
Inclusive, active in caring
for others, friendly, and
sings some decent hymns.
Ideally, but not necessarily,
Church of Scotland or
URC.
IONA KIMMITT
There’s usually only one
Orthodox Church wherever
I go, so I have to go there!
JONATHAN MURDEN
CAITLIN WAKEFIELD
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Inclusive, open to different
ideas, has traditional
worship music and isn’t
excessively creedal.
SIMONE RAMACCI
Welcoming, inclusive, with
a proper sermon, decent
music, good hymnbook
(preferably with music
printed). Preferably decent
tea/coffee after and willing
to experiment with liturgy.
Child-friendly.
RACHEL DOUGLAS
A community I want to
be a part of, which gives
people room to find their
own answers to questions.
Regular communion is
important to me, and
good music is a bonus.
Somewhere that is both
reverent and relaxed –
where the holy presence is
felt but no one will get too
uptight at kids making
noise.
DEBBIE WHITE
(Being a first year about to
move to a new city,) one
that is welcoming and open
minded.
CARMEL RYAN
One that has good homilies
(not too long though!),
regular Roman Catholic
‘extras’ like Adoration
of the Eucharist, pretty
statues and stained glass
windows, but most of all:
a lively congregation with
a good cross-section of ages
and people who are serious
but not TOO serious about
their faith. I like churches
which are open outside of
Mass/Adoration times too
so that before, say, an exam,
you can pop in, say a quick
prayer, light a candle and
skedaddle, no matter the
day or time
SHANIKA RANASINGHE
THE LONG READ
BELONGING,
WELCOME
& HOSPITALITY
MATT WARD
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Over the last few years I’ve
been looking at how people
find church communities to
belong to. I was particularly
interested in people who were
graduating from university
after having been actively
involved in a church during
their studies. What I’ve found
seems to ring true with people
who have made transitions at
other points in life too.
One of the things that became clear during my research was that there
is a big difference between someone who attends church and someone
who belongs to a church. You’ll know for yourself whether you’re someone
who attends or belongs. If you’re attending, maybe you’re new, you’re just
having a look, checking somewhere out to see if it’s for you, or maybe
you’re going because that’s what you’ve always done. If you belong, you’ll
talk about the people who you know and care about, the amazing things
that your church community is doing and what you’re involved in. The thing
that makes the difference between attending and belonging is receiving an
invitation to contribute to the life of the church community. When you start
to contribute, you soon discover that you feel ‘at home’.
Being ‘at home’ is at the heart of what it means to belong. Home may not
be a singular place. Indeed, it may not be a physical place at all. Given the
transient nature of university life, the sense of home and dwelling may
need to be conceived of as being located in the wider relationships that you
have been invited to participate in, rather than the physical geographical
space you live in.
Wherever it is, the place that you feel ‘at home’ is going to have shown
some form of hospitality to you. If they didn’t, you’d never have received
that invitation to be part of the team that runs the community café, or
ended up leading the youth group.
Hospitality is all about invitation and welcome. It suggests that there’s an
identifiable community which people are invited to and welcomed into,
and that those who are extending a welcome are already fully part of the
community. The invitation to be part of a church community goes further
than that, it is about being invited to be part of the body of Christ. Two
points are worth considering here.
First, Jesus had an itinerant ministry and did not form a church community
to which people were invited. Instead, His invitation to others was to ‘come
and follow me’. It is an invitation into personal relationship with Jesus, and
into the space that is his personal space. In some ways it is the sort of
invitation that is not unfamiliar in our everyday lives, the invitation to ‘come
and sit with me’.
Second, during His ministry Jesus often appears to invite himself to receive
other people’s hospitality. For example Jesus invites himself to the house
of Zacchaeus (Luke 19: 1-10). Here it is not Jesus who acts as host, but He
is clearly the one who does the inviting. As such, Jesus turns the normal
process of hospitality upside down. It is normally only those who have the
means of offering a place of hospitality who are able to do so, yet here
Jesus takes an initiative not normally seen in polite society. Inviting yourself
to a meal (then as now) may be considered rude. On the lips of Jesus,
however, this is entirely welcome, because it represents an invitation into
The thing that makes
the difference between
attending and belonging is
receiving an invitation to
contribute to the life of the
church community. When
you start to contribute, you
soon discover that you feel
‘at home’.
People arriving at university having previously been part of a church community
will want to find a place of belonging again. Some find it easily, often helped
along by contacts and connections in the place they’re moving to. Some
people are bold enough to go out and create invitations for themselves – to
become the welcoming guest. We need to remember that their self-invitation
is not impudent or self-serving, but instead flows from the deep relationships
of the Trinity. Many of us are not quite so confident – I certainly wasn’t as a
student!
Some struggle to find those invitations to community. That means those of
us who are part of church communities, who have found places of belonging
that offer us the deep sustenance found in God’s love, need to be ready to
invite others to come and join us. The invitation shouldn’t just be to come and
see, but to come and join in, to contribute, to shape the life of the community.
In my research it was the people who had received invitations to contribute
to the life of a church that said they belonged. The invitations they received
were genuine ones, they were informed by someone having listened carefully,
discovering the skills and gifts that they brought, and at times they were
invitations to do things that were new to that church.
However and by whoever the invitation is offered, in the context of a community
rooted and grounded in love, welcome and hospitality should represent an
invitation to dwell with God and with the community of the people of God. It
is truly an invitation to belong.
relationship and turns Jesus into ‘the welcoming guest’. That welcome is
developed in a human sense – Jesus sits and eats with Zacchaeus who
has prepared a meal and invited others to join him. But the welcome is also
there in a divine sense. Zacchaeus experiences the love of God that offers
an acceptance beyond anything he has previously experienced, which
ultimately transforms his life and the lives of those around him.
When seen in the life of the church, this form of self-invitation and inverted
welcome may be considered an outworking of Christ’s dwelling in and
with us. Paul’s prayer for the Christian community to be rooted in love,
(Ephesians 3: 17 ‘Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are
being rooted and grounded in love’), suggests that if we are to love as
Christ loves we need to have our security, our identity, and our sustenance
deeply rooted in God’s love for us.
When we have previously experienced that deep love it is something that
we desire to find again. When someone is disconnected from a community
that had previously felt like ‘home’ they’re likely to have a deep desire to
discover a new community that once again offers them the opportunity
and resources to be rooted and grounded in love.
Matt Ward is Anglican Chaplain
at the University of Leeds and Leeds
Beckett University. He has recently
completed a doctorate entitled
‘Searching for Belonging: An
Exploration of how Recent University
Graduates Seek and Find Belonging
in New Church Communities’ at
Durham University.
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FEATURE REVIEW
RE-ENCHANTING
THE ACTIVIST
BY KEITH HEBDEN
Keith Hebden is a priest and activist, and has recently been appointed the new Director of the
Urban Theology Union (UTU) in Sheffield. His new book ‘Re-enchanting the Activist’ is out
now, and he has kindly given SCM permission to print an excerpt from his book in Movement.
There are some useful analogies, both old and new, that
help us grasp our lack of understanding of God. The most
famous of these is the story of a group of people who
discover an elephant in the dark:
A band of people arrive in the market square in the dark
and come across an object that they can’t make sense
of. The first person reaches out and grabs the elephant’s
ear: ‘Clearly, this is a rug that’s been hung out by
someone.’ The second grabs a tusk: ‘How can you think
it’s a rug?! It’s obviously a spear.’ A third person grabs
at the elephant’s leg and replies, ‘But surely it’s a tree? I
can feel the trunk.’ By this time, I imagine, the elephant
is wondering what on earth is going on but the people
groping around in the dark are relentless in their groping
and arguing about what it is they each experience.
We cannot see fully, and what little we know about God
we reliably misunderstand. We describe our experiences
well, but we understand them poorly. None of us can talk
meaningfully about God. When I was eight years old, I
loved watching a TV series called The Invisible Man. I’m
not saying that God is an invisible man: stay with me. I
remember two things that were odd about the invisible
man: first, he was unusually grumpy and second, he wore
bandages and sunglasses which seemed to defeat the
whole point of being invisible. It might have been more
nuanced than that but – hey! – I was only eight. He was
invisible, but when he wore bandages, sunglasses and a
hat and coat, you could see him. But you couldn’t really
see him, just the bandages and so on. We wrap God up
in our sacred texts, rituals and experiences. These are not
to be confused with God, and yet so often they are. These
things both conceal and reveal God at the same time. In
fact, they can only reveal God by the act of concealing.
Finally and most usefully, there is the analogy of dance.
Someone can describe a ‘Barnaby’ to be as energetic
and fun, but they aren’t talking about a person but rather
a series of organised relationships between humans set
to music: a dance. The dance is not the people or the
movements any one of them makes. In a sense, the dance
is the space between the people who take part. This is
what should be positively meant by ‘God of the gaps’. God
is hosted, rather than discerned, in the space between
‘You’ and ‘I’. This analogy offers a direct challenge to the
individualistic spirituality and piety that are so popular
today. We construct God from the shadowy shapes of
our shared experience, and these shadows are animated
– given spirit – and reveal God to us. Since the dance
is always changing so too is the revelation, hence the
contradictions that we endlessly face in our quest to find
God. Believing in God is pointless, participating in God is
divine.
(pp.68-70)
RE-ENCHANTING
THE ACTIVIST:
SPIRITUALITY AND
SOCIAL CHANGE,
Keith Hebden. Paperback.
ISBN: 978-1785920417
SCM’s Faith in Action Project Worker, Ruth Wilde,
caught up with Keith to discuss some of the issues he
tackles in the book.
How would you describe the book to someone who might want to read it?
I would say that I and other activists I’ve met don’t always look after ourselves,
spiritually or otherwise, and we end up running into the ground. We need to
connect ourselves with the divine in order to look after ourselves and our
wellbeing in order to do what we do and give it meaning. That’s what this book
is about. It’s about finding the meaning in action and finding out what actions
come out of the meaning that you have in life.
You describe God beautifully in the excerpt, but later in the book you say
that God, like self, is a human construct. What would you say to both
atheists and people of faith who may be shocked at the way you blur the
boundaries between atheism, theism and spirituality? I think it’s something
you have to experience, and once you know that it’s something to experience
rather than explain, you don’t have to explain it. There is nothing you can say to
explain to someone the experience that you have that doesn’t, in the explanation,
detract from the experience. That’s the trouble with religion, I guess: it’s an
attempt to articulate something which can’t be articulated. That’s why the best
we can do is invite people to join in. They can say yes or no, and then if they do
join in, you won’t need to explain it.
‘Like a tightrope walker, we cannot both trust the rope and look at the
rope. The moment we do, we plummet.’ In the book you use this analogy
to describe our understanding of God, and it reminded me of the mystical
apophatic tradition in Christianity, where you can’t say any words for God
because nothing is adequate to explain the mystery of God. But does this
idea mean that we can’t seek God? I don’t know what seeking God would look
like. I’d go back to the participation in God. It’s like a constantly moving stream,
so you can’t say ‘I’ve found God. I’ve arrived’. Seeking for me suggests the
possibility of definitively finding, and if that’s the case, we can’t. We can’t arrive
at God and say he or she or they are here! That’s the danger of the analogy of
seeking God. It’s the apophatic thing again: saying that you seek God suggests
that God is a thing to be found, and we cannot say anything about God that is
really true. All we can say is that God is not a thing to be found.
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Tell us more about how we can participate in God and
why this is important.It depends on who you are and
where you are, but for me it’s been through liturgy and
through social justice. Also, it’s been through sharing stories
with people who are different to me. That’s how I believe
I’ve participated, that’s how I’ve got involved in the dance.
But it depends, I don’t think you can say what it is.
You use the expression ‘one-ness in affliction’ which I
found striking and which reminded me of the expression
‘no-one is free until we’re all free’. How can we create
this ‘one-ness’? We will always ‘other’ others. But if we
can, we should provide spaces where people can have the
opportunity to learn the skills for mystical experience and
spirituality in a religious community which is diverse. This is
what I say is the problem with a lot of spirituality: that it’s
very individualistic and personal. It’s not authentic because
it doesn’t put you in touch with the ‘other’. It’s easy to feel
the one-ness of everything if you never meet anything.
You said something in the book about the ghettoisation
of activism sometimes – that you can feel one-ness
very easily in a way either on your own or in a group
of people you almost entirely agree with. It’s harder
to feel that one-ness with a diverse group of people.
The trouble is people unite round an issue and then find the
people. They should be finding the people and then choosing
an issue together. I think if not it’s the wrong way round.
Is there any way we can guard against being patronising
to groups that we’re trying to come alongside? When
I went to Calais recently, I found that there were groups of
people there who did things with people and asked people
their opinion first, and there were others who just went
there and said ‘I think this should happen’. We went and
had one-to-one conversations with people who lived in the
camp and asked them what they thought needed to happen
and what their priorities were. We weren’t on the other hand
just passive, pretending we had no agency, because that’s
just not true. We all had agency, or else we wouldn’t be
there. If a white middle-class guy goes into a refugee camp,
he has agency, but be honest about your power and agency
and then build the power and agency of other people.
So, listening to people and not just telling them what
to do? Yeah, but to be ready to argue with people as well
– it’s equally patronising to romanticise people on the
margins and think they have all the answers and not argue
with them. Despite all my privilege, I’m willing to have that
argument with people!
THE LONG READ
DISCIPLESHIP,
ASYLUM
SEEKERS AND
REFUGEES
THE LEGACY
OF DIETRICH
BONHOEFFER
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It was a privilege to be invited to the recent Faith and Frontiers conference organised by
Project Bonheoffer, where I spoke about Seeking Sanctuary, the small organisation that
provides support to refugees. For some time I have been involved in raising awareness of the
plight of migrants who have been stranded in Northern France. As a local politician of my
home town of Deal in Kent, there are times when this has been a very unpopular cause.
For me, Bonhoeffer’s life and vision has been a source
of strength and has enabled me in keep going when
the whole process of support and solidarity seems
overwhelming and too challenging. He experienced
and faced up to the turbulent times in Germany at
a time when the binary narrative of ‘them and us’
was becoming all too apparent. Preaching in Berlin
on Psalm 63, one month before he was ordained, he
wrote:
‘Only the one who knows the love
of God, who has been deep in the
darkness of faithlessness and enmity to
God, feels the disturbing power of love
which never ceases, which forgives all,
and who from all distress comes into
God’s world … there is no relief from
this assault on our life. We cannot
escape responsibility and ever anew
God asks ‘What is my life worth?’
Later, at a conference in Fano in Denmark, Bonhoffer
made his position clear, asking the participants to
humble themselves, listen to God’s commands and
adhere to them. He was equally clear about how
peace could be brought about. He said
‘Peace means giving oneself completely
to God’s commandment, wanting no
security, but in faith and obedience
laying the destiny of the nations in the
hands of Almighty God…’
It was a few years later that Bonhoeffer would
describe this process of listening to God’s command
as discipleship, but his message was clear from the
start.
My own journey in meeting the challenges posed by
Bonhoeffer started twenty years ago, when in East
Kent we experienced a wave of migration from Eastern
Europe, with people, mainly Roma from the Czech and
Slovak Republics, arriving in the UK because they felt
persecuted in their own country. It was not a popular
cause – the local media whipped up a frenzy of anger
which still troubles me today. My mother was a refugee
from Nazi Germany, which stimulated my interest in
their cause.
My work with migrants carried on through from 2000
onwards, until the plight of migrants in Calais triggered
the popular imagination – hence our small organisation
Seeking Sanctuary was formed in early 2015 to
coordinate the assistance of the numerous individuals
and organisations that have asked how they could be
of help, as well as to provide advocacy for refugees.
Seeking Sanctuary has managed to raise awareness of
the desperate and squalid conditions in the Jungle in
Calais, as well as highlighting the issue of the number of
unaccompanied minors, many of whom have rights to settle
in the UK. While the Jungle camp is now closed, around
1500 people remain in Dunkirk with more in the small
scattered communities of migrants in centres deep in the
French countryside, often distant from sources of support
and advice as well as from the nearest town. And this is just
a small part of a Europe-wide issue – for example around
55,000 people may have to face winter on the island of
Rhodes alone.
Many thousands, including young people and students, have
answered the call to discipleship and action in a completely
self-giving way, spending weeks and months of their time
in entirely voluntary service in the Jungle. When I was at
L’Auberge des Migrants, a centre for refugees, in Calais
recently, I saw hundreds of people sorting out goods arriving
from all over Europe. The Refugee Community Kitchen
there was serving 2500 meals each day. Many of these
people would not describe themselves as religious, and
this fact helped me to realise that discipleship transcends
all boundaries. Even though Bonhoeffer was writing in a
Christian context, the message of discipleship is universal.
I have also come to learn that discipleship is a mutual
process of giving oneself to the other. This theme is implicit
in much of what Bonhoeffer spoke about, for example he
was always eager to learn from his students. His insights on
the mutuality of discipleship deepened as he found himself
confined in prison with like-minded individuals. And so
discipleship is also a two way process – we are all disciples
to each other.
There have been many times when a migrant has become
a disciple in my eyes. Maurice is from Mauritania. His little
plot of ground has been an inspiration for so many both
inside and outside the Jungle camp. He created a space
for creativity and art, where chickens ran around and
posters are displayed saying ‘This house is an antidote to
racism’. Another source of inspiration has been Henock,
who painted the beautiful murals for the Eritrean Church
which was destroyed alongside the rest of the Jungle in
early November.
Simliarily, I have been inspired by those at the Children’s
Legal Centre, and the people who have created and run
the ‘Jungle Books’ library. Thousands have spent weeks
and months in the Jungle, and are seeking new ways of
helping the migrants who are now dispersed all over France
as well as the 1500 plus people who are still stranded
near Dunkirk. And many people have lived alongside the
hundreds of unaccompanied children, supporting them
while the painfully slow process of processing their claims
takes place.
For me this has been a challenging journey. There have
been times when I have been warned, covertly or otherwise,
not to speak out for fear of losing votes, times when when
I have been mocked on social media for being soft on
immigrants and asylum seekers. But this is little compared
to the challenges Bonhoeffer and his contemporaries faced
when they had to make difficult choices almost every day
of their lives in the midst of the evils of National Socialism.
His example and witness continues to urge us, and a
new generation of young people, to ensure that evil and
intolerance must be fought so that it must not prevail in
years to come.
The work of Seeking Sanctuary is never straightforward,
and there have been times when I have wondered if it is
all worth it, given the obstacles that we face. And yet I feel
Bonhoeffer giving myself and others an uncompromising
message – that discipleship demands a total rather than a
watered down commitment.
Ben Bano
For more information on the situation of migrants in
Northern France and how you can get involved, visit
www.seekingsanctuary.weebly.com
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THE LONG READ
Why aren’t working class people going to church,
and what can we do about it?
BEING WORKING CLASS
IN THE CHURCH
Recently a friend relayed an episode
to me in which they offered a difficult
answer to a senior church minister.
The minister in question, bemoaning
the fact that their churches were
struggling for membership, was
surprised to hear my friend’s
response. ‘Go into your churches
and listen to the accents of the other
minsters there’ they said, ‘then you’ll
find your answer.’ My friend explained
to me that the area in question is a
very working class one, and that when
they had spent time there, only one
minister that they met had a local
accent.
It would be easy to dismiss this story
if one wanted to. Surely this senior
minister is only working with whatever
is at their disposal? If the people going
forward for ministry are not originally
from that area, what can they do?
But of course this story, and such a
dismissal, only reinforces the fact that
there is a problem here. The statistics
bear it out too. A recent YouGov Poll1
found that 62% of churchgoers are
middle class, and just 38% working
class. Of course it could be argued
that it’s too simplistic to see things
in terms of the traditional three tiered
class system, but this would be to
circumvent the issue at hand. However
we view class, the fact remains that
those from poorer backgrounds are
going to church less.
There may be some reading this who
struggle to see what I’m getting at
here, or maybe even think that class
is an outdated idea. I understand. But
let’s dig a little deeper into this.
The dominant culture of our society
is middle class. Why? Because middle
class people can afford to be the
shapers of culture, and therefore of
society. Think of how many musicians,
actors, businessmen and women, and
politicians come from middle class
backgrounds. Sure, there are some
that don’t, but they are the exception
rather than the rule. Why is this? It’s a
question of the ‘haves’ and the ‘havenots’.
All good parents want the best
for their children, that goes without
saying, but whereas with the haves
that may mean music lessons, private
tuition, a beautiful house near a good
school, for the have-nots it means
three meals a day, shoes that fit, and
a roof that doesn’t leak.
You may think I’m overstating this. I’m
not. The second scenario is for a lucky
working class child. I have friends and
close family members who go without
regular meals to feed their children. I
personally benefited from parents that
would willingly and regularly do this as
I grew up.
This is not controversial stuff, though
it should be. Indeed, even the Church
of England’s House of Bishops2
recognises the fact that growing
inequality and child poverty is a direct
result of immoral political decisions.
What this all means is that middle
class people dominate the world of
the arts, of politics, of business, of
science, and of the church. They
become the self-perpetuating shapers
of our culture because they benefit
from those things in the first place, in
a way that young working class people
not only do not, but cannot.
The church must do more to speak
to this situation, to call it out for what
it is, and to not play into it all the
A recent YouGov Poll
found that 62% of
churchgoers are middle
class, and just 38%
working class. However
we view class, the fact
remains that those from
poorer backgrounds are
going to church less.
1 cvm.org.uk/downloads/YouGov-
CVMreport.pdf
2 www.churchofengland.org/
media/2170230/whoismyneighbourpages.pdf
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more. It’s true that the church does
commendable work fighting poverty
and inequality. I love it for that. From
the Trussell Trust, the UK’s single
biggest provider of food banks, to
Christians Against Poverty (CAP), who
do brilliant work helping people learn
to better manage their finances. The
will is clearly there. So why are there
so few working class worshippers on a
Sunday morning?
The key, I think, is culture. When a
working class person walks into a
church, what do they feel? When they
speak to the people in the church, do
those people reflect a reality that they
recognise? If they stick around, how
do they think these people see them?
One of the things I have noticed about
Christians is that the longer they are
Christian, the more disconnected they
seem to become from normality. It’s
true of me and I daresay it may be at
least partially true of you also. There’s
some good to take from this – we
should be maturing as Christians and
as people, but this should not mean
that we change who we fundamentally
are so that the average person on the
street can’t relate to us anymore. We
need to be real.
A few years ago, I was listening to a
radio interview between a DJ and an
academic whose name escapes me.
She was sharing some of the findings
from her research into class and
opportunity. She explained that it’s not
simply that working class people are
afforded fewer opportunities, though
this is a large factor, but that whilst the
practise of ‘networking’ is seen as the
norm for middle class people seeking
employment or other opportunities,
for working class people it’s out of the
question. The working class culture of
work is that any opportunity you may
be lucky enough to get will come your
way because your hard work has been
noticed. To go begging for it is to gain
an opportunity without having to work
for it first, and that is fundamentally
dishonest. For working class people,
you let your hard work do the talking.
So what can the church take from
this? Working class communities often
have a strong sense of morality, and
there can often be a pride that goes
with it. Certainly my working class
roots, rightly or wrongly, are a source
of great pride for me. My family has
what it has because it’s worked hard
for those things, and made difficult
sacrifices along the way. This is
particularly true of my parents, and
a part of that pride is the sense that,
again rightly or wrongly, ‘we are not
a charity case’. This can be a very
strong feeling, and very difficult
for the church to work with. On the
one hand it means an aversion to
handouts, but on the other hand it can
mean not seeking to gain without hard
work. Practically, this can mean that if
a working class person is not invited to
be a part of something, rarely will they
feel that they have the right to be.
One of the great tragedies of all this is
that it means that there is an awful lot
of talent going to waste. It is therefore
critical, if we are to raise and nurture
people effective in various church
ministries, that we actively offer
opportunities when it seems a person
could have, or could develop, talents
in that area. I was lucky enough to
belong to churches at various times
that had people who did that for me.
They know who they are, and I will be
eternally grateful. But we must never,
ever assume that a person knows they
can be a part of something – knows
they can join the prayer team, knows
they can be on the PCC, knows they
can offer to preach, to lead, to serve.
Believe me when I say that this feels
like rejection, and it is a rejection that
is often suffered in silence. But, and
this is important, know that when you
ask a person to take an active role in
ministry, you are not doing them a
favour. They are not there to receive
a condescending pat on the head for
trying ‘in spite of it all’. They are, as
you are, equal partners in the body
of Christ, and they are, as you are,
there to work to build the kingdom of
heaven on Earth.
ADAM SPIERS
Adam Spiers is a member of SCM and
a recent graduate from the University
of Exeter. He is currently studying
for a Masters in Christian Theology
(Anglican Studies) at St John’s
College, Durham University. He blogs
at adamjspiers.wordpress.com
THREE PERSPECTIVES ON...
Healing
TAYLOR DRIGGERS
in need of healing who initiate their
I think progressive Christians need to encounters with Jesus, often crossing
have more conversations about spiritual physical and socio-political boundaries
healing.
and taboos to do so.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m well acquainted To me, these stories are less about divine
with how certain theologies of healing healing and more about what it means to
can be used to manipulate people with ask for the support we desperately want
non-normative bodies and minds into in a world that insists that we shouldn’t
thinking that they are defective and need it, that we should be self-sufficient.
need to be ‘fixed’. I have close friends Healing, in a spiritual sense, is much
and family members struggling with their broader than a purely clinical view. While
mental health who have been told that if it’s important to acknowledge God’s
they would just pray harder, just have a healing power working through medical
little more faith, just ‘get right with God’ professionals, spiritual healing can also
(whatever that means) their problems encompass reconciliation for strained
would magically disappear.
or broken relationships, closure in times
of personal or political conflict, and the
And yet, I still think healing ought to be a
healing of creation.
vital part of the church. The Gospels are
full of stories of healing, and I think we And as the church, we’re called not just
need to seriously consider what a more to join others in prayer for these things,
inclusive theology of healing would look but to actively and materially participate
like.
in the healing process. Not to promise a
magical, instantaneous divine ‘cure’ to
While it would be very easy to see Jesus’
medical or social ills, not to treat each
acts of healing in the Gospels as implying
other’s minds and bodies as problems
that disabled people need to be brought
to be solved, but to follow the example
in line with norms of able-bodiedness, a
of Christ in how we listen and respond
closer look at these stories reveals that
to each other’s needs, even if the things
the agency of the people Jesus heals is
that harm us or cause us frustration
key. More often than not, it’s the people
aren’t going away anytime soon.
The Gospels are full of
stories of healing, and I
think we need to seriously
consider what a more
inclusive theology of
healing would look like.
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AN SCM MEMBER
‘I am one who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s
wrath ... though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my
prayer ... my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what
happiness is.’ Lamentations 3
When I was in my teens, everything fell apart and I
completely lost my faith. I was put in a situation where
I suffered sexual abuse lasting years. My disability began
to have a bigger affect on my life, I realised that I’m queer
and I stuck out in school as being different. It was awful. I
concluded that if God existed, he was cruel and I wanted
nothing to do with him. After all, I’d been praying and
begging to be saved from the hell of my life but there was
no response. I was alone, couldn’t express my suffering
and knew that God simply didn’t care.
Time passed and dragged me along with it; I moved away
and began to study for a degree. Although the sources of
terror were gone, I was experiencing crisis after crisis. I
refused to even think of God, but at the lowest points God
came to me, unbidden. Again and again I’d find myself in
desperate situations; again and again I’d be aware of the
presence of God keeping me safe. A year ago I walked
into Church and found a place where I belonged. I began
to heal.
It turns out that healing isn’t necessarily as neat and
instantaneous as it seems in the Bible. It’s a slow and
painful process, it’s vulnerable, messy and intrusive. My
sources of healing are numerous – I see a psychologist,
I have wonderful people around me and I have faith that
in time, things will get better. Over the last year, I have
discovered a loving God and started to explore why such
suffering occurs in the first place. I want to understand,
but I’m learning to be OK with unknowing and uncertainty.
Perhaps I will never understand. Sometimes wounds
are reopened, sometimes it feels impossible to go on,
sometimes it is all too much. Healing is hard but faith
keeps me moving on towards wholeness.
It turns out that healing
isn’t necessarily as neat
and instantaneous as it
seems in the Bible. It’s a
slow and painful process,
it’s vulnerable, messy and
intrusive.
Over the last year, I have
discovered a loving God
and started to explore
why such suffering
occurs in the first place.
I want to understand,
but I’m learning to be
OK with unknowing and
uncertainty
SOPHIE ENGLAND
Personal experience has taught me that healing isn’t just a physical thing.
Most of us have wounds that aren’t visible, or ones we don’t want others
to see. As a Christian, I am often asked why some people receive healing
and others don’t, or why God allows bad things to happen. My response to
those questions is simple. God does not make those bad things happen. His
love for us is unconditional, unchanging and unfailing, so if something bad is
happening and things aren’t changing then there’s got to be a reason for it.
I believe that God has three answers to prayer: ‘Yes’, ‘not yet’ and ‘I have
something better in mind’. Everything that happens is for a purpose, part of
God’s incredible plan for our lives, and although it is difficult to understand why
one person is healed and another is not, or why you have been waiting several
years for healing, there is always a reason.
I have been a witness to this on a personal level as I had been struggling with
crippling anxiety for several years until one day I chose to go through a door
that God had opened for me. He placed someone in my life who had been
dealing with something similar for a number of years but hadn’t felt able to
talk about it, and because of my ability to understand how it felt, she was able
to open up to me and begin her healing process. This was significant in my
journey as I found the purpose for my pain in supporting somebody else, and
I began to deal with things I had been refusing to deal with for a number of
years.
Sometimes we overlook the small things that happen because we’re waiting
for a big miracle, but actually it’s the small things that are important. If you
were able to do something today that you weren’t able to do yesterday then
that is healing, and if you’re not, then take a step back and ask yourself
whether God has been leaving doors open for you and whether or not you
have chosen to walk through them. Healing isn’t always about God changing
things, it is about us changing things too! God cannot heal us if we are not
willing to help ourselves.
As a Christian, I am
often asked why some
people receive healing
and others don’t, or why
God allows bad things to
happen. My response to
those questions is simple.
God does not make those
bad things happen.
‘But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The
steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never
come to an end; they are new every morning, great is your
faithfulness.’ Lamentations 3
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37

RESOURCE
STUDENT
SUNDAY
A SIMPLE
LITURGY
Every year, individuals, churches
and communities around the world
unite to lift up students in prayer on
Student Sunday, also known as the
Universal Day of Prayer for Students
(UDPS). In 2017, Student Sunday will
be celebrated on 19th February.
You could intersperse
the prayers with hymns,
songs, music, silence or
opportunities for creative
reflection or story-telling.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Come, let us worship God,
All:
Come, sister, brother, stranger, friend.
All are welcome
Leader: Come, let us seek refuge in God,
All:
Come, all who are weary, anxious or afraid.
All are welcome
Leader: Come, let us encounter the mystery of God,
All:
Come, all who are seeking, doubting or hoping.
All are welcome
Leader: Come, let us sing for joy to our God,
All:
Come, all who are wandering or wanting to belong.
All are welcome
Leader: Come, let us listen for God’s voice,
All:
Come, with open hearts.
To be welcomed by God, and to welcome one another
Amen
THANKSGIVING
Leader: Compassionate God, we thank you for the places of welcome we have known.
We give thanks for people and communities who have nurtured our faith
All who have provided us with shelter and support
All who have shared wisdom and stories
All who have inspired us to learn and grow
All who have challenged us to act and speak out
Loving God, we thank you for your enduring love, particularly at those times
when we have felt alone or excluded. Thank you for the moments you have
met us on the road and welcomed us home.
All: Amen
SCRIPTURE READING
(At this point you could invite a student or other member of your congregation to share a
story of a time they have felt welcomed)
CONFESSION
You could use a short sung phrase e.g. a Taizé chant, instead of the words ‘God, have
mercy on us’
Leader: We are called ‘to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us, for the
Glory of God’ (Romans 15:7). We come before God to confess the times we
have fallen short of this calling.
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Student Sunday is
coordinated by the
World Student Christian
Federation (WSCF), and has
been celebrated since 1898,
making it one of the oldest
ecumenical days of prayer. It
serves as one of the tangible
signs of our common life
and the connection between
students and alumni of
WSCF all around the world.
SCM has created a toolkit
of resources on the theme of
‘All Are Welcome’, including
prayers, lectionary reflections
and all age worship ideas.
You can download a toolkit
from www.movement.org.
uk/studentsunday
Short silence
Leader: For the times we have walked away from those in need
All: God, have mercy on us
Leader: For the times we have struggled with difference, and rejected those who
seem ‘other’
All: God, have mercy on us
Leader: For the times we have failed to challenge hatred and prejudice
All: God, have mercy on us
Leader: For the times we not been open to receive the hospitality of others
All: God, have mercy on us
Leader: For the times we have not welcomed one another as Christ has welcomed us
All: God, have mercy on us
All: Merciful God, you hear all that is spoken and unspoken. Speak your
words of forgiveness into our hearts. Renew and restore us, sustain
and strengthen us so that we may love others as you have loved us.
Amen
REFLECTION OR SERMON
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
CLOSING PRAYER
Leader: For the many rooms in God’s house, for the beauty of diversity, for the
discovery of home in the unfamiliar, for the hospitality of strangers, for the
courage to be uprooted, for the times when we find belonging and when we
truly welcome one another.
All: Thanks be to God
As we leave this place of prayer,
and cross the threshold into all that the coming days and weeks bring,
may we carry with us the warmth of God’s love,
may we trust in the life-giving hope of Christ,
and may we dwell deeply in the joy of the Spirit,
so that all people may know the love, hope and joy that comes from
being welcomed by God.
Amen.
Rosie Venner
REVIEWS
SPEAK ITS NAME
As soon as I heard about Speak Its
Name I was excited to review it for
Movement. It is such a well written
novel. Kathleen Jowitt conveys the issues
of being a Christian student involved
in Christian Societies in University
well, and as I was reading it I felt that
Becoming Simple and Wise;
Moral Discernment in Dietrich
Bonhoeffer’s Vision of Christian Ethics, Joshua
A Kaiser. Paperback, ISBN: 978-0227175491
so many of the issues raised were issues
that many Christian students who are
active in various Christian Societies
would face at some point during their
time at University. It was the first novel
that I had read in a long time that
resonated so well with my experiences.
This novel would be great as a book to
read in a student Christian book group.
Overall I would give it a ten out of ten.
GEMMA KING
BECOMING SIMPLE AND WISE
Speak Its Name, Kathleen Jowitt
Paperback, ISBN: 978-0-9935339-07
The best way to read Becoming Simple and Wise, a scholarly book of subtly
developed distinctions based on a doctoral thesis, is to take it personally. Kaiser
proposes that in his life and works, Dietrich Bonhoeffer is trying to understand
how, as a Christian, he can understand God’s will. It can’t be as simple as letting
the pages of the Bible fall open on a passage at random and then taking it
literally.
The heart of this book is the place of spiritual exercise from which we all can
learn, bearing in mind that Dietrich Bonhoeffer insisted that ‘Jesus calls his
disciples not only when they directly confess his name but also when they suffer
for a just cause’ and in his Ethics this blessing is extended to those who are not
Christian. Kaiser’s book takes us through the complex theology of discernment to
a place of practical daily reflection and consequent action in the context of our
own world. It could be a personal handbook.
JOHN BATTLE
40 MOVEMENT Issue 155 MOVEMENT Issue 155
41

DIVERSE VOICES
Diverse Voices is a collection of
theological essays by people from the
Majority World, including China,
Latin America and Africa. Although
it is not clear from the book title, the
essays are all written from a firmly
evangelical viewpoint and, as such, will
not appeal to everyone.
I personally found much of the
book frustrating, because in a way
it is contextual theology, but in an
important way it isn’t. Despite being
written by Majority World theologians
themselves, it does not delve far enough
into the experiences of the people in
different cultures and contexts. The
writers speak about and describe
people’s beliefs in different countries,
but, despite being fairly interesting,
they never really talk about their
experiences.
There were occasional glimpses of
how much better the book could have
been, for example when Dario Lopez
talks about how Jesus’ ‘concrete actions
liberating oppressed persons’ and
‘direct confrontation with the forces of
darkness’ showed that ‘the kingdom of
God had invaded history’ (pg 163), but
these were few and far between.
Overall, the main feeling I have
after reading this collection of essays
is, as I said at the beginning, one of
frustration: I am frustrated that the
contextual theology is not contextual
and I am frustrated that the glimpses
of interesting and more radical
theology are too few and too sidelined
in favour of too much simple
historical description, dry analysis of
other people’s beliefs and defending of
Christian doctrine. It might be some
people’s cup of tea, but it’s not mine!
RUTH WILDE
I, Daniel Blake
Directed by Ken Loach
Certificate 15
Released 21 October 2016
I, DANIEL BLAKE
At the screening I attended, several people in
the room openly wept as the credits rolled. What
makes this film so emotionally harrowing?
The story focuses on carpenter Daniel, who has
a heart attack and cannot work. We then see
him and his friend, single mother Katie, being
systematically destroyed by the Department of
Work and Pensions. Ken Loach’s film touches
on many issues surrounding unemployment:
rogue landlords, fuel poverty, poor education and
privatisation all play their part. The film is well
made, and the acting is so good that it almost
feels like a documentary. That’s why it makes
such an emotional impact – because it draws on
thousands of people’s real stories of navigating
the confusing and cruel benefits system. I, Daniel
Blake reminds us that we are all one crisis away
from the job centre, the food bank or the streets.
ELLIE WILDE
Diverse and Creative Voices: Theological Essays
from the Majority World. Edited by Sung Wook
Chung and Dieumeme Noelliste.
Paperback, ISBN: 0227175468
154 CROSSWORD ANSWERS
Across: 1. Instances, 6. Yawns, 9. Moo, 10. Sternum,
11. Until, 12. Pal, 13. Mishap, 14. Lumbago, 16. Iffy,
17. Ritornello, 22. As if, 25. Chimera, 26. Violin, 27. Tis,
30. Laicise, 31. Ado, 32,5. Still Small Voice, 33. Navigates
Down: 1. Insomniac, 2, 15. Seeds of Liberation,
3,20. Annual Conference, 4. Camp, 7,6. With All Your
Mind, 8. Salvo, 18. Offenders, 19. Pedestal, 21. Nairobi,
23. Soloist, 24,32. Living It Out, 25. Coins, 28. Slav
42
MOVEMENT Issue 155
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scm_britain
student christian movement
Grays Court, 3 Nursery Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3JX
t: 0121 426 4918 e: scm@movement.org.uk w: www.movement.org.uk
44 MOVEMENT Issue 155