The 12th November 2019 was an important day for Sikhs as it marked the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak the founder of Sikhism. The Faithful Friends were involved in a tree planting event in Smethwick between Holy Trinity Church and the Guru Nanak Gurdwara. This was a joint project between the church, EcoSikh and the Canal and River Trust to plant 550 trees in the Smethwick area. The 550th tree was planted at Holy Trinity Church to mark the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak and the friendship between Sikhs and Christians in the area.
How can we use places to encourage and inform friendship, understand and discussion between people of different faiths? The Faithful Friends: On Tour project has done just that; by choosing places of special meaning and visiting them together the group grew in their friendship and discovered new ways of talking about how their faith has been shaped and formed. My Special Place is a new resource designed to help groups run their own programme of trips to places of special meaning. It gives you the background thinking and lots of practical tips on topics such as:
How to get started
Choosing places
Organising the trips
How to have good discussions
You can download My Special Place for free and use it to start planning visits to your special places.
The Faithful Friends: On Tour project has been recognised by Coventry Cathedral and has become their first Together for Hope Community.
Together for Hope is a relational network facilitated by Coventry Cathedral’s reconciliation team.
We are a network of partners who are secular or faith-based organisations.
We are drawn together by the story of Coventry Cathedral, and its partners have an on-going relationship with the Cathedral.
We share a common commitment to work for peace justice and reconciliation. We nurture this among our network through mutual support, fellowship and occasional joint action.
The partnership was formalised at a ceremony at Coventry Cathedral in the morning followed by a civic reception at West Bromwhich Town Hall in the afternoon.
Speeches were given by Rt Revd David Urquhart, Bishop of Birmingham, Rt Revd John Stroyan,The Bishop of Warwick, Canon Sarah Hills, Cllr Ahmadul Haque M.B.E, Councillor Linda Horton, Deputy Leader of Sandwell Council: Cllr Syeda Katun
