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Newsletter

Vol. 7 no. 2
Apr 2007

Keynote Address: Experiment in Practical Peacemaking

News of members - Seminar at Faslane

News of members - Multifaith Forum on Nuclear Issues

Downing Street e-petition response and Cartoon

Letter from World Council of Churches

Defeat over Trident

In the News (FoR, Norman Kember, Peace School, Cuba, Avaaz, Star Wars, Brian Haw, BAE Systems, Israeli football boycott, Slave Trade, Friendly fire, 2nd Amendment)

Book Reviews: Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer: Jesus against Christianity

Committee and Fellowship news including FURY Workshop and New logo

notes and dates

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An Experiment in Practical Peacemaking

Keynote Address by Revd Roberta Rominger
July 2007 sees the end of the United Reformed Church’s seven year moratorium on policy decisions on human sexuality. It is still painful to remember the debates and votes of the 1990’s. We were divided. People were threatening to leave if the vote did not go their way. The moratorium preserved our peace for the time being.

I’m sure I’m not alone in the conviction that debates and resolutions were not the best way to approach issues that touched us so deeply. How could we be satisfied with a “winners and losers” outcome, given all that is at stake? Did I have the right to vote on someone’s identity before God? Or someone’s passionately held beliefs? There has to be a better way, and we who are committed to the causes of peacemaking should be looking for it.

In Thames North Synod in 2005 we agreed to experiment with a different style of corporate decision making. Intrigued by stories from the Uniting Church of Australia, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the World Council of Churches and (more recently) FURY*, we decided to try our hand at decision by consensus.

There is a theological basis for this. It is very basic: we are not there to declare what we want; we are there to discover what God wants. Resolutions and debates favour the orators among us, and the people who know how to win arguments, by fair means or foul. If you can get 51% of the people to agree with you, you’ve won. Never mind that the church is actually split down the middle, or that 95% of the people in the room haven’t spoken. Do you know the feeling of sitting in a debate thinking, “This is the wrong question!”? Or how about the experience of being stomped on for saying what you think, when you seriously suspect that a lot of people agree with you?

In consensus decision making, the aim is a genuine dialogue that allows the right answer to emerge. The opinion of the meeting evolves through listening and response. The final result is not a “vote” as such, but a common agreement as to the way forward. It does not mean that everybody ends up wanting the same thing. But it means that everyone gives support to whatever step is identified as being best for the whole body. 		In practice, it is colourful! Each member of the council is given an orange and a blue card. Orange means, “I am feeling warm towards this idea.” Blue means, “This argument leaves me cold.” Cards are shown at the end of each speech. Chairing the meeting becomes as much an art as a science. Faced with a Roberta Rominger
Photo from Thames North Synod website, with thanks.
mixture of orange and blue cards, you ask people from the blue constituency what they are thinking. Easy enough. But the discussion can go in interesting directions from there. People who started out happy with the original motion find themselves changing their minds. The chairperson must test the mind of the meeting again and again from various angles. This in turn sparks new insights. It is creative and dynamic, and everybody participates – even those who would never in a million years have the courage to speak!

If time allows, the method encourages breaking into buzz groups, especially where there is an impasse. A motion to defer a decision till later in the meeting is also welcome: the extra reflection time can allow an answer to emerge that has eluded the meeting thus far. Prayer invites us to look to the Spirit for guidance – very important when we find ourselves riding in separate directions on our respective hobby horses.

In Thames North we have not witnessed any major miracles so far. But I’m sure we have heard voices we would not have heard under the old system. We have considered many more options. And time and again we have surprised ourselves with unity and mutual respect. To be fair, it isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. It isn’t as tidy as the old system, and some of our members are unhappy with that. But the honest sharing of views, the freedom to change one’s position, and above all the sense of having arrived someplace new together all contribute to that mutuality which is essential for peace.

Revd Roberta Rominger is the Moderator of Thames North Synod of the URC and a patron of the URCPF.

*Fellowship of United Reformed Youth

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News of Members - Seminar at Faslane
The Faslane Naval Base, on the Clyde, some 35 miles North-West of Glasgow, is the home of Britain’s fleet of four submarines which form the UK strategic nuclear deterrent. Beginning on 1st October 2006, the Faslane365 campaign (www.faslane365.org) has been organising a series of blockades in order to disrupt and if possible close the base, whilst drawing attention to the character and purpose of the nuclear weapons. By the end of December 2006, 42 blockading groups had taken part in the protest and they had maintained a presence at the base for 59 days. The police had arrested 429 protesters but only 4 of these had led to appearances in court. On 18th December, Margaret Healy-Pollett of the All Saints King’s Heath Social Justice action group participated in the blockade, was arrested and released the following day. Margaret’s example was one of the factors which persuaded me to take part in the Academic’s Blockade which was planned for Sunday 7th January. The idea was rather unusual. A seminar would take place outside the North gate of the base. University academics would be invited to present their papers and a group of students would also join the seminar. I had hesitated in deciding to go myself until my son Tom offered to drive me in his car all the way, accompany me during the event and bring me back. I therefore prepared my paper, which is an ethical critique* of the Defence White Paper published on 4th December.

Tom and I set out on Saturday 6th January at 9.40am and arrived at the Friends’ Meeting House, Glasgow at 3.50pm. This was where the planning meeting for the following day was to take place from 6.00 to 10.00pm. A lively group of about 35 academics had gathered and spent the evening discussing the outline of the seminar which would begin at 10.00 on Sunday morning and finish by 4pm. Taking 3 more participants with us, Tom and I drove to Helensburgh, a town about 5 miles from the base itself, where we spent the night in the flat of Olivia Agate, who has moved to Helensburgh in order to provide a resting place for protesters.

On the Sunday morning at 8.50 I received a telephone call from BBC WM and gave a short live interview. We then drove to the base, parked the car, dressed in warm, weather-proof clothes and took our place in the meeting, which had now grown to about 50 academics. Tables and chairs were set out. There was a clip board and an amplification system. About 30 students from the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Sussex and Edinburgh, who had spent the night blockading the gate, joined us. About 15 papers were presented during the seminar, from professors and lecturers from America, Sweden and the UK. The papers represented a wide range of critical analyses of nuclear warfare including its military, political, economic, environmental and ethical aspects. There was even a presentation by a primatologist, who compared the aggressive behaviour of chimpanzees with that of men. About a dozen police observed the proceedings and seemed interested in what was going on.

 		At about 2.30pm, following an agreed signal, we picked up our chairs and went on to the road itself just in front of the gate, expecting to be arrested more or less immediately. Faslane seminar
The gate closed with a clang and we all cheered as the automated voice from inside the base could be heard announcing that the North gate was ‘temporarily closed’, whilst the sirens shrieked and the guard dogs barked furiously. Many of the students chained themselves together. Those who were not in a position to risk arrest stayed on the footpaths, watching, cheering, and taking part in the singing. Time went by. We watched the police who appeared to be quite unconcerned and smiled back at us. It was difficult to tell whether this was because the group of protesters was so large or because the police had decided to adopt a more tolerant policy. It started to rain. It grew dark. I was clutching my arrest bag with a copy of the gospel of John in Braille and my medications. The police continued to gaze graciously. We seemed to be involved in a stand-off. Our principal organiser then had a conversation with the officer in charge and came back with the message that the police did not intend to arrest anyone but at the same time they would not permit us to remain there all night. We were told that a group of Scottish MPs had decided to take the next shift. We were invited either to stay until they arrived, with the possibility of being arrested or on the other hand to go since the seminar was now concluded.

I had to decide whether to tell Thomas to drive back to Birmingham alone while I stayed on, since he had to be teaching in school on Monday morning. Many of the academics seemed to be getting ready to go whilst some of the students seemed determined to stay there. At 4.15pm Thomas and I left for Birmingham. The round trip was 669 miles and Tom did a wonderful job driving home all the way through relentless rain. We arrived in Birmingham not long after midnight, exhausted but satisfied. The following day we learned that the police had moved in at about 7.00pm. 17 academics and 18 students were arrested, held overnight and released on Monday morning. Several of the Scottish MPs were arrested on Monday.

During this brief experience at Faslane I met some wonderful people and learnt a great deal more about the danger and the horror of Britain’s weapons of mass destruction. I feel that I have gained valuable experience about putting Christian faith into action in the presence of an inhumane and immoral government policy which is opposed by all the main Christian churches in Britain. I hope to return to Faslane later in the year. Who will go with me?

John Hull


John Hull is a URC elder and chair of the Social Justice Action group of All Saints, the parish church of King’s Heath. He is also Emeritus Prof. at Birmingham University and Hon. Prof. of Practical Theology at the Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education.

*A comprehensive paper The Replacement of Trident as well as a summary of the Critique of the Defence White Paper, both by John Hull, can be obtained from the newsletter editor, as hard copy or as e-mail attachment.

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News of members - Multifaith Forum on Nuclear Issues

On Saturday 17th February, CCND organised a Multi-Faith Forum to discuss and share views on nuclear weapons. We were fortunate to have a speaker from each of the Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain and Muslim communities, as well as a written contribution from a Jewish leader. Sadly, this mix was not reflected in the audience of about forty, who were in the main Christians.

Although there were varying views about the use of violence and the justification of war, each faith representative spoke firmly of their belief in the sanctity of life and against the indiscriminate use of force. This was often backed up by quotations from their sacred writings or founders. To all, nuclear weapons were seen as immoral and should never be used, even as a deterrent as this implied a readiness to use them. Having established this common ground in the morning session, the afternoon was open to questions and comments from the floor.

Both the speakers’ addresses and the later discussion raised some challenging issues. The hypocrisy of the nuclear countries was exposed in their desire to keep, if not expand, their own nuclear capabilities while objecting to any other country joining ‘the club’, and we were urged to find ways to protest against the replacement of Trident. 		This was not in the spirit of the Non Proliferation Treaty, and it was deplorable how little progress, if any, had been made on the promises made by the signatories. We were asked to consider what would be the risks and benefits if the UK renounced nuclear weapons, yet reminded of those whose current livelihood depended upon working in the arms industry.

I found it very encouraging that all the major faiths could agree on the scandal of making and using nuclear weapons and at the end of the day we agreed the following statement:

“We believe that the common position held by our Faith traditions, expressed as the sanctity of life, leads us inexorably to say that the only real security for the world and the most responsible position for people of faith in our traditions is to call upon our nation and other countries of the world, steadily and in a verifiable manner, to eliminate these weapons from the face of the earth. We, therefore, totally reject the replacement of Trident, the UK’s nuclear weapons system.”

Diana Townsend; February 2007

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Margaret Beckett and Des Browne have responded to the Downing Street e-petition to “champion the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, by not replacing the Trident nuclear weapons system”.

They state that “deciding to maintain our deterrent is completely consistent with the NPT” and that they intend to dismantle about 20% of our stockpile, as much as they feel reasonable in view of “an increasingly uncertain world”. They feel they “strike the right balance between our commitment to a world in which there is no place for nuclear weapons, and our responsibilities to protect the current and future citizens of the UK”.

The full text of the reply is available from the newsletter editor. 		Proliferation cartoon

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A letter from the World Council of Churches
To Mr. Stuart Dew
Secretary for Church and Society
United Reformed Church

Dear Mr. Dew,

Greetings to you and to your churches. This letter is going to the WCC member churches in the United Kingdom in view of the Trident nuclear weapons decision now nearing a key vote in the parliament of the UK.

The WCC Executive Committee last week issued a statement on church vigilance against nuclear proliferation. The statement outlines current threats to the international control of nuclear arms as well as signs of progress such as the recent creation of a new nuclear-weapon-free zone, in Central Asia.

Among its recommendations to member churches and the international community, the Executive Committee recognizes the recent advocacy for disarmament by UK churches and references the decision facing UK authorities:

"d) commends churches in the United Kingdom for their efforts to stop the replacement of the UK’s Trident nuclear weapons system and adds the voice of churches around the world in support of that goal.

"e) urges the UK government to set an historic example of leadership for the whole international community in the above matter by fulfilling its disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. To do so would effectively challenge the other nuclear weapons states to abandon their own double standards regarding the legitimacy of weapons of mass destruction and would clearly remove an incentive for non-nuclear-weapons states to proliferate." 		We share this action both as an expression of support now and in the spirit of the WCC Assembly "Minute on the Elimination of Nuclear Arms" last year. Perhaps a reminder of international church concern may strengthen last-minute efforts to influence the vote of certain members of Parliament.

From outside the UK, it has been heartening to hear of opposition to the government's Trident plan from churches, from various sectors of society, and from the public at large. A decision to delay the Trident decision would be welcomed in the UK and far beyond. We pray that your government may still be able to respond to this larger and increasingly important framework for its actions. Nuclear affairs are global affairs.

Thank you for the broadly ecumenical public witness that churches in the UK are making in this matter. May it be sustained until the matter is resolved consistent with the spirit and the letter of the NPT. The continued existence of nuclear weapons remains a challenge for churches around the world.

Yours in the Name of the Prince of Peace,

Sincerely yours,

Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia
General Secretary

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Defeat over Trident
In spite of the efforts of Alex Salmond and others within Parliament and tens of thousands outside, in spite of the disapproval of most UK church leaders and of millions of citizens, both within and outside the churches, and in spite of several resignations at junior ministerial and aide level within the Government, Parliament voted on 14th March to upgrade the Trident submarines.

A motion to postpone a decision on the renewal of Trident until 2014 was defeated by 167 votes to 413, over 90 Labour members voting in support. The vote to upgrade the submarines was carried by 409 to 161, around 85 Labour members voting against.

The Editor’s Scottish friend Dave Parry, who forwarded these details (and Alex Salmond’s speech), invites us to “lick our wounds, carry on struggling and remember the last verse of Christian dost thou see them…” 		This reads:

“Well I know thy trouble,
O My servant true;
Thou art very weary,
I was weary too:
But that toil shall make thee
Some day all Mine own;
And the end of sorrow
Shall be near My throne.”

J M Neale.

Footnote: This hymn was in Congregational Praise but is absent from Rejoice and Sing. Perhaps “...Christians! Up and smite them…” in verse 1 and the name of the set tune (Holy War) were deemed to send the wrong message, though the enemies are clearly internal—the true meaning of Jihad—or are the “Powers” which Walter Wink exhorts us to engage.

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In the News

Contact the newsletter editor if you would like more details on any item
  • The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR) has published the first issue of its new bi-annual magazine Peace by Peace. See www.for.org.uk/pbpmag for contents and download (.pdf) or contact FoR on 01865 748796.
  • Norman Kember’s book Hostage in Iraq, published by Darton, Longman and Todd, appeared on 23rd March. It can be obtained through Ekklesia, in which case proceeds go to peace and justice causes or, at lower cost, from Amazon. Any offers to review it?
  • You may find Peace School of interest. Peace School is a year long programme, exploring what it means to be a peacemaker in every area of life: local and global. The course combines four short residential events with web-based activities and individual exercises. For more details see www.peaceschool.org.uk.
  • Whatever is happening in Cuba? Or, perhaps more relevantly, what is being planned to happen after Fidel Castro? Depending which website you read, either efforts to restore democracy by responsible US and European diplomats or a US-led coup to set up a regime controlled by ex-patriot puppets currently being groomed in Florida. It would seem best if, in spite of his poor health, Dr. Castro outlives the Bush incumbency in Washington. ¡Viva el presidente! - at least for another couple of years.
  • Internet users may like to inspect www.avaaz.org. This organization “...is a community of global citizens who take action on the major issues facing the world today. The aim...is to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decisions...members act for a more just and peaceful world and a globalisation with a human face…” Avaaz has organised online petitions and virtual marches on Israel-Palestine, Zimbabwe, Iraq and climate change. Well worth a visit.
  • “Son of Star Wars” is back in the news, in two respects. Although details are not clear, it seems that the UK has re-opened discussions with the US. Why we should be encouraging what is arguably the most irresponsible US Administration ever is a mystery. Almost more worrying is the readiness of the Polish and the Czech Republic governments to accept missile defence hardware on their soil, though there is strong popular opposition.
  • Tate Britain is hosting artist Mark Wallinger’s reconstruction of Brian Haw’s one-man peace vigil outside the Palace of Westminster. Brian Haw himself has said “They’ve done me proud!” It follows the dismissal of a court case against him, brought on security grounds.
  • BAE Systems continues to do well from weapons. Not content with making £1bn profit, it managed to wriggle out of a possible bribery charge. A wonderful rôle model for our young urban gun– and knife-toters.
  • URCPF Committee Member Hazel Barkham, attending a peaceful blockade at Aldermaston, was stopped by the police because she had recently been near a Ministry of Defence Establishment.
  • The United Nations has recently agreed that 2009 will be the International Year of Reconciliation.
  • There are calls (see e.g. www.palestinecampaign.org) for a boycott of the Israeli football team, including matches against England, in view of the difficulties created by Israel for Palestine to take part in international football. Readers are reminded of the huge effect of sports boycotts on Apartheid South Africa.
  • This is the bicentenary year of the abolition of the Slave Trade, followed eventually by the abolition of slavery itself. Except that neither was abolished—they both still happen. What was achieved was their outlawing. No longer was it acceptable, no longer would civilized states support it even though, like war, slavery was said to be endemic to humanity. We look forward to a time when war is similarly outlawed.
  • The tragic death of Lance Corporal Matty Hull, from US “friendly fire” has now been found in court to be manslaughter, as it was avoidable. The charge has been rejected by the US authorities. Not surprisingly, perhaps—if friendly fire can be interpreted as manslaughter, could war be construed as murder?
  • Finally, there are attempts in the US to change the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution (the right to bear arms for personal defence), to restrict it to sports use. The Christian Newswire website, in support of retaining the amendment as it stands, states that the proposal “simply ignores the millions of times firearms of various types are used each year in the United States for legitimate defensive purposes”. Millions?

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Book Reviews - 2 for the price of one!

Two reviews of Jesus against Christianity by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer
It’s always comforting to read a book which confirms your suspicions which, to date, you’ve been hesitant to express. Yet this is a far from comforting book. It invites you to radically rethink what you believe about God and his power, about how you interpret the parables of Jesus, and how you understand your mission as a disciple of Jesus.

Pallmeyer sets out to discredit the overall Biblical view of God as “a brutal and vengeful judge” and argues that God, as Jesus portrayed him, is non-violent, gracious and compassionate. He points out how there are very many different, and often conflicting, images of God in the Old Testament and especially that of “a pathological killer.” Even in the New Testament, the apocalyptic passages continue this idea that God will eventually bring about justice through wholesale murder. Pallmeyer, while recognising that the gospels have to be read with discernment, claims that Jesus rejected this idea that God needs to punish people in order to appear to be just. He interprets many of the parables as Jesus’ exposure of the current political system under Roman domination and how all are invited to share in an alternative kingdom where none are oppressed or destitute. Thus, God has invitational rather than coercive power, and always acts with love rather than in judgment.

In the main, I agree with the author’s analysis, but for me there were some loose ends. I was left wondering about forgiveness and the interpretation of miracles. 		In the author’s emphasis on looking for the historical Jesus, there seemed a hint that perhaps we could ignore the latter as well as the resurrection event. Yet, I would recommend this book, and especially to anyone who is uneasy about the general picture of God as judge who needed appeasing, which many Christians support. I believe we need to proclaim more strongly that God is in essence love, and echo Julian of Norwich’s assertion that there is no wrath in God towards people.

That we get the opposite impression from the Old Testament is almost overemphasised by Pallmeyer. He devotes his first ten chapters to exploring the nature of God as described there and acknowledges that Jesus would have absorbed this as his cultural background. However, in the rest of the book he considers how Jesus broke away from these concepts and proclaimed a God who asked us to love our enemies and thus break the spiral of violence. This message is as relevant today as it was in first century Palestine. Poverty and oppression continue to be rife, and our justice systems are based on retributive rather than restorative justice. War is still accepted as a way of life although it mostly results in many deaths.

Those who follow Jesus are called to work for justice in a non-violent way and, like subversive weeds, to spread the good news about God’s kingdom and the invitation to enjoy abundant life.

Diana Townsend
This book is for people who have unasked questions, share a thirst for greater justice and deeper spirituality, try to make sense out of God in a violence-torn world, who are uncomfortable with the creed and doctrinal straitjackets, who are deeply challenged by Jesus' embodiment of love of enemies and troubled by Christianity's embrace of militarization and war, who are sickened by poverty and Christianity's cosy relationship with unjust economic systems, who long to be part of a community of discipleship, who struggle with the Bible's inspiring and disgusting images of God, who teach children about a loving God while censoring many genocidal biblical stories, who find hope and encouragement in Jesus' life while questioning the atonement as an appropriate explanation for Jesus' death, who no longer embrace images of God the Almighty in a world of suffering, and people who are open to a Christianity grounded in the life and faith of Jesus.

It's a book building on the work of other scholars and activists like Walter Wink, James Douglass and John Dominic Crossan, who understand the non-violence of Jesus to be a revelation of a non-violent God. Few scholars dispute that a break between John the Baptist and Jesus occurred.

The book sets out to solve the mystery of Jesus' disappearance from history.

Jesus would wonder why Christians sing carols of his birth, recite a creed going straight from birth to suffering and ignoring his life. Pallmeyer suggests that Christianity is radically disconnected from the Jesus of history. He shows how Jesus' parables exposed systems of abusive power, challenging the domination system controlled by Roman and Temple with the alternative kingdom of God before he was executed by it. The author invites us into an alternative community where abundant life is celebrated and where Jesus is welcomed back into our faith and our lives. 		Chapters 1-10 examine Jewish traditions and expectations of Hebrew Scriptures that informed Jesus the faithful Jew. Chapters 11-25 assess the life and faith of Jesus, focussing on his affirmation, reformation or break with tradition and how that shapes our faith and understanding of God and our life and actions in the world.

This book is easy to read. The chapters are short and the notes come at the end of each. The argument is clear. Pallmeyer would choose to describe God's character in the Bible as violent and just. Jesus built on the Jewish vision of a just God, but the dominant image of God in the Bible is of a pathological killer. We have to rid ourselves of this by confronting and challenging it, with the life and faith of Jesus as our guide, to make sense of the justice tradition. Then we can see parallels in present day conflicts between Palestinians and Israelis. More than one God is described in the Bible. Apocalyptic theology is implausible ground for commitment to non-violence. Jesus undermined the relationship between God and violence. The lived life of Jesus is a better expression of what God is like than unhistorical miracles. Jesus acted non-violently. Violence remains the dominant feature of life today so we need to turn to Jesus' experience of a non-violent gracious God. His power is invitational rather than coercive and his Spirit calls us to new life here and now and to a way of non-violent resistance to oppression. The tiny mustard seed indicates that for Jesus God's domain was a modest affair not a new world empire. Jesus invites us to work for justice, reject violence and embrace a call to be subversive weeds growing in and at the edges of imperial gardens.

It's an invitation to those of us who want to enrich our lives, our faith, our churches and our world.

Hazel Barkham

Jesus Against Christianity … Reclaiming the Missing Jesus by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, published by Trinity Press International; ISBN 1-56338-362-4 2001; 368pp; £15.99

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FURY Workshop

"Make ME a channel of your peace"
We were delighted to welcome over twenty FURY* members to our workshop during their annual conference at Kidderminster in January.

Recalling Micah’s prophecy of world peace and Jesus’ command to love our enemies, we explored topics relating to peace and conflict through discussion altogether and through more personal sharing in smaller groups. This led to considering a worksheet suggesting areas where peace-making skills might be exercised and challenged our own personal commitment.

Overall, the session was lively and thoughtful. Most participants showed an awareness of how conflicts arose in local situations, both within and outside the church, and shared their concerns about how these were resolved. 		In the feedback it was especially noted that the part of the session dealing with our own personal, inner peace was appreciated. At a time when our government seems unwilling to engage in any real public debate about its warlike intentions, it was encouraging to find such a large group of articulate young people prepared to spend two hours thinking about the pursuit of peace.

Andrew Jack & Diana Townsend.

*FURY: Fellowship of United Reformed Youth

Footnote: Encouraging reports have been received by the Committee and future FURY Workshops are planned.

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The Joint Public Issues Team - a reminder
As reported in detail in the January 2007 edition, URC Church and Society now works as part of a team with Methodist and Baptist colleagues. A regular newsletter is issued, highlighting concerns which Peace Fellowship members also share. It can be obtained either by e-mail or as hard copy from the Church and Society office.

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URCPF Committe notes
  • Opposition to Trident will continue; a letter has been sent to Reform.
  • Yorkshire Synod were to hold a Workshop on Peace at their next Synod meeting and a presentation on Peace would be given at Thames North Church and Society Day.
  • Each church in the URC should receive a copy of the new URCPF poster.
  • The Peace Fellowship will take responsibility for the annual NCPO Holy Innocents Day event on the 28th December.
  • The Fellowship is to join the Enough campaign (against consumerism),
  • Next Committee meeting 17th May:
    If you wish to raise any issue, address your comment or question to Andrew Jack c/o the Church and Society office.

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A new URCPF logo?
Sara Foyle in the URC graphics office has designed this new logo for the Peace Fellowship. It could replace the olive branch encircling the URC cross-and-fish symbol, which we have used since the inception of the Fellowship. If accepted, it would be used for posters, the joining leaflet and the newsletter; the URC logo would also appear in the newsletter, probably on the back page.

 If you have any strong feelings for or against, please contact the Convenor, Andrew Jack, by letter or e-mail via the Church and Society office, before the next Committee meeting on 17th May. 		Proposed New Logo

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Dates for your Diary:
13 - 14 Apr: Peace History: encouragement and warnings. Non-residential conference at the Imperial War Museum, London. Details from Movement for the Abolition of War, 11 Venetia Road , London N4 1EJ .

21 Apr: MANA concert in Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead London NW3; The Galliard Trio.

28 Apr: Fellowship of Reconciliation Annual Council at St Ethelburga’s Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in London; keynote speaker Jan Schaake, President of the International FoR. office@for.org.uk or 01865 748796.

15 May: International Conscientious Objector’s Day.

18 - 20 May: Youth Conference Building Bridges-Breaking Boundaries in Yardley Hastings, Northants; organized by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Action Reconciliation Service for Peace.

19 May: Churches' Refugee Network Conference; Holy Apostles Church, Cumberland Street, London SW1V 4LY; contact URC office for details.

24 May: International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament.

2 Jun: 22nd Annual Multifaith Pilgrimage for Peace; Westminster Interfaith; tel: 020 7361 4740.

4 Jun: International Day for Children as victims of war. 		4 Jun, 8-9:30 pm: Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali (Bishop of Rochester): ...religion and conflict: The Ammerdown Conference and Retreat Centre, Bath; 01761 433709, centre@ammerdown.org. (This centre is hosting a number of peace and justice-related events this year.)

16 Jun: 22nd Annual Celebration of the London Peace Pagoda; 020 7228 9620.

20 Jun: MANA concert in St James's Church Piccadilly London W1; Sir Thomas Allen/Roger Vignoles.

21 Jun: World Refugee Day.

10 - 13 Jul: Conference of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union: Violence — a stubborn pandemic. Contact conference@modchurchunion.org, 0161 633 3132.

20 - 22 Jul: Called to be Peacemakers. Conference; National Justice & Peace Network. Hayes Conference Centre - Swanwick, Derbyshire; 020 7901 4864, Administrator on www.justice-and-peace.org.uk.

6 Aug: Hiroshima Day.

9 Aug: Nagasaki Day.

21 Sep: International Day of (Prayer for) Peace.

12 Oct: MANA concert in St James's Church Piccadilly London W1; The MANA Chamber Orchestra.

 17 Nov: URCPF Annual Conference at URC House, Regent Square, London.

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Your contribution to the newsletter is needed! Letters, book reviews, devotional pieces, poems, reports, cartoons, all are welcome. Also please let us know of any peace actions, vigils, correspondence with MPs etc you have been involved in. Deadline for the next issue:
*** 28th May 2007 ***
Letters and other material for the newsletter can be sent to the editor (Tony Compton):
  • On paper: via Church and Society, United Reformed Church, 86 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9RT
  • By telephone: ditto 020 7916 2020 or Fax: 020 7916 2021
  • By e-mail: direct to the editor or to the office
United Reformed Church Peace Fellowship — part of Church and Society.
Our Statement:
The United Reformed Church Peace Fellowship is a group of United Reformed Church people who accept God's call to human beings to live in peace and who are committed to discerning and obeying the urgent call of God to pursue Peace with Justice in the world.
Our Patrons:
Revd. Kate Compston
Ms Gabrielle Cox
Revd John Johansen-Berg
Revd. Dr. Fred Kaan
Revd. John Reardon
Revd. Roberta Rominger
 		Our Committee:
Convenor and Secretary: Mr Andrew Jack
Treasurer: Ms Wendy Cooper
NCPO representative: Revd. Hazel Barkham
Revd Sîan Collins
Mrs Anne Lewitt
Mrs Anne Parker
Revd Diana Townsend
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Opinions expressed in articles in this Newsletter do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the United Reformed Church or its constituent parts.

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