Meeting People – Page 3

Faithful Conversations

Written on September 21, 2012. Posted in Dialogue, Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre, Training.

In September we ran our second ‘Faithful Conversations’ training evening here at the Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre. A group of 13 of us to met to think about how we can have conversations about faith in an informal and non-confrontational way with friends and neighbours.

The evening consisted of a number of activities that involved, amongst other things, people reflecting on their own faith journey, sharing how they celebrate festivals or what impact their faith has on their lives day by day. We also spent time thinking about how we speak and, perhaps more importantly, how we listen. Finally we considered how we cope when we find ourselves in disagreement over faith matters.

The different learning styles were appreciated by the participants who went on to make a number of positive comments about the events.

“The emphasis on simply asking ‘what do you believe’ and taking each person as individuals not representatives of their faith was good.”
“It took pressure off me to defend my faith.”
“It is more about building a relationship with love than winning an argument”
“The variety of activities was very good to get us talking with others about our own faith stories”

The Faithful Conversations course is being run again in Walsall on 29th November. Details are on our events page.

We can also run the course in your area. If you would like to find out more please contact us.

Eid Kabaddi

Written on September 10, 2012. Posted in Interfaith, Near Neighbours.

Near Neighbours Eid Kabaddi event – Monday 27th August, 2012.

Matt Kendall of Aston Near Neighbours writes: Aston Cricket Club were keen to run a kabaddi event at the wonderful Aston Park Pavilion, and we decided to work with them to try to make the event more inclusive for the community and expand cross cultural understanding. The work also was a chance to open up the pavilion to the community as it has been empty and locked for much of its existence since being opened in 2009.
The event had two parts. One was an invitation only cross cultural discussion and explanation of the rules of Kabaddi and the celebration of Eid, and the second part was to enjoy the Kabaddi event.
As well as the general common issues around faith and celebration as a community, what really came from the cross cultural discussions was that the real drivers for a lot of the leaders who are active within their faith groups are to develop and support their community. We were fortunate to have a number of people attending who were senior figures within their various faith communities and all stated that they were strongly motivated by the community development work they are doing.
We still have still some more work to do to build relationships in the area, and we still have 2 more Near Neighbours events left to run – watch this space.

Sunrise in Sparkhill TV Extra

Written on July 31, 2012. Posted in Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre, Interfaith.

We were delighted that The Community Channel chose to feature Sunrise in Sparkhill in the programme about the Olympic Torch relay. We’ve already posted about the interview they did with Andrew Smith in the days leading up to the event. That programe has now been made and featured on their progamme UK 360 on 29th July. The section on Sunrise at Sparkhill comes right at the start of the programme.

Asian Awareness

Written on July 12, 2012. Posted in Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre, Interfaith, Training.

Over the past five weeks a people have come to the Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre to deepen their understanding of Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism. The course was aimed at Christians who wanted to learn more about these faiths and South Asian culture as well as to think through how they might share their faith with people from a different faith background.

The titles of the 5 weeks were:

Towards understanding Islam
Towards understanding Sikhism
Towards understanding honour and shame culture
Towards understanding Hinduism
Towards understanding South Asian children and young people.

Each week was led by contributors with an in depth knowledge of the different faith and culture, and the course included times for questions, reflection, sharing resources and prayer.

The course was run with Pall Singh from East West Trust, Pall has lived and worked in Birmingham for many years and has run this course successfully in a variety of locations across the city.

It is hoped that we can run this with Pall again in 2013. Details will be on our events page when they are confirmed.

Sunrise in Sparkhill 2

Written on July 3, 2012. Posted in Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre, Interfaith, Near Neighbours.

The Birmingham Faith Leaders Group were invited to Sunrise in Sparkhill to lead the crowds in the reading of our faith pledge. Written specially for the event this pledge was inspired by the Olympic aims of ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’. We wanted to capture the aspirational element of that simple phrase and adapt it for a faith context. Our hope is that the pledge can be read by people of all faiths, and although it refers to faith we trust that people of no faith can also use it.

At Sunrise in Sparkhill people were given a copy of the pledge and 3 candles of different colours red, white and blue and Bishop David Urquhart, Bishop of Birmingham encouraged everyone to light these at home, perhaps when watching the Olympics and to recomit to the words of the faith pledge.

We were also jojned by faith leaders from different parts of the city who took candles and pledges back to their areas to be shared with members of their communities.

The pledge reads:
Inspired by the teachings of our faiths, and spurred on by the example of the Olympic athletes may we all seek to be the best we can be.
Increasing our compassion,
Growing in our generosity,
Becoming more hospitable,
Practising greater forgiveness,
Striving together for the good of our communities,
Urging one another on in acts of righteousness
So that we may bring hope and joy, friendship and laughter to enrich the lives of every person who lives in Birmingham

Feel free to use the Sunrise in Sparkhill Faith Pledge yourself and change the place name to your location.

Sunrise in Sparkhill 1

Written on July 2, 2012. Posted in Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre, Interfaith, Near Neighbours.

At 5am on July 1st Sparkhill Park was unusually busy as a team of volunteers assisted by staff from the Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre were busy getting ready for the Sunrise in Sparkhill event. This was due to start at 6am and was a community event to mark the Olympic Torch relay.

The event, partly funded through Near Neighbours, brought together members of the local faith communities including, Christians (Catholic and Protestant), Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims as well as local schools, businesses, the council and police.

The groups provided free breakfast for everyone, games and activities as well as performances on the bandstand that reflected all the faiths represented and which was compered by Nikki Tapper from BBC Radio WM.

In all over 1000 people came to the event of all ages and backgrounds. There was great excitement at seeing the torch and real enthusiasm for all the acts who performed. We also had a visit from Anne Barnes who had carried the torch the day before and she showed the torch and allowed people to be photographed with her and the torch.

The event featured much more that will come in future posts

Older People ‘fertile ground’ for Friendships

Written on May 31, 2012. Posted in Interfaith, Near Neighbours.

Big thanks to Matt Kendall for sending us this report of a Near Neighbours project in Aston. If you have a story of a Near Neighbours activity or project we would love to feature it here

Aston Sports and Community Club’s (ASC) Near Neighbours Project is all about reclaiming Aston Park as a resource for the whole community, and while the majority of their activity is around sport and young people, this project is focused on work with the over 50s, a group often neglected in cohesion work locally. ASC’s project includes a series of 6 events where local older people from different faiths are brought together around shared interests and activities in spaces in and around Aston Park in order to build lasting relationships and friendships. Matt Kendall, a Director of ASC, and the project lead explains, “Older people are often the hub of their families, and we believe by building relationships here, when often there hasn’t previously been any work on building cross community understanding, we can make a real difference to both those directly involved, but also their families.”

The first event in the series was a tour of recently revitalised and restored Aston Hall, a beautiful Jacobean stately home in the heart of Aston, which has struggled to attract local visitors, drawing instead from the suburbs of the city. With the cooperation and support of the Hall’s excellent staff, the group of 38 older people from Aston, enjoyed tea and cake together, followed by some directed work in groups around active listening and sharing of each other’s stories of their own memories of Aston, and how they arrived there. Once the hard work was done, the group left on 2 guided tours of the hall, one of which was bi-lingual in Urdu, for the next 30 minutes.

From the signing in records, it was estimated that 21 churchgoers attended, 15 from mosques and 2 further of no affiliation. Feedback from the participants was first class, the organisers being thanked profusely, and ASC’s belief that working with this group was sowing on fertile soil was upheld. ASC believes that this is just the start of positive relationships, and we are looking forward to our next event, which is a partnership with local churches and groups for a Jubilee Big Lunch in Aston Park on Sunday 3rd June – watch this space for more detail.

If you want to know more about ASC’s work with older people do contact Matt by e-mail at info@astonsportsclub.com or visit the website.

Jubilee Celebration

Written on May 29, 2012. Posted in Interfaith, Near Neighbours.

Across the country people are gathering to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the congregation at St. Christopher’s Church in Springfield are no exception. They worked with friends from the Woodlands Road Mosque to organise a big lunch for the whole community. Springfield is a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham, but the church has built good links with people from all walks of life over the yeras. They benefitted from a small Near Neighbours grant to help them fund the games, decorations and activities that were all pert of the celebrations.

Several hundred people attended the event which was helped by the glorious sunshine throughout the day. Whilst the adults sat and eat and chatted children enjoyed playing on the bouncy castle, making crowns, face painting and tucking into an enormous amount of tasty food.

A Warming Welcome at Lozells Food and Faith Festival

Written on May 22, 2012. Posted in Interfaith, Near Neighbours.

The sun might not have been shining but the welcome was as warm as toast as friends and neighbours gathered in George Park for the Lozells Food and Faith festival, funded by Near Neighbours. Organiser, Pall Singh, was one of the first people I spoke to about Near Neighbours when I began this job in July and I was not surprised to receive a bid from him, on behalf of the Lozells Project, quite soon after the fund opened in the autumn. He was pipped to the post, however, by the Buddhists who have a temple just by the Hockey Flyover and were the first organisation to apply for Near Neighbours funding.

So on Saturday, not only did we see the fruit of Pall’s application, as local residents had the chance to meet representatives from their local faith communities and sample a wonderful range of tasty foods but also two of the strands of the Buddhist-based application were represented. Inspire, the music project, provided some of the entertainment on the stage while representatives of the Flour Project were selling the most delicious looking cupcakes.

By 1 pm the park was full of the sounds of fun and music as children enjoyed the fairground rides and bouncy castles and all enjoyed the food, on-stage entertainment and the chance to see the exhibitions on display by community groups and faith organisations. As Near Neighbours we were made really welcome by other exhbitors and appreciated the chance to speak about Near Neighbours on stage with the local faith leaders. So huge thanks to all involved with this fantastic day and huge thanks too to the two local residents who popped back to their house by the park to make us stallholders a cup of tea – much appreciated.

Putting Faith in to Action

Written on May 11, 2012. Posted in Interfaith, Near Neighbours.

Jubilee Debt Campaigner, Audrey Miller, was given a Near Neighbours grant to run workshops for women in Sparkhill on the theme of global poverty. The workshops were run at the Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre in March and Audrey was kind enough to share photos and her evaluation with us.

She said that all four creative workshops received positive feedback from the participants who really enjoyed their interactive nature. Activities ranged from banner-making to debate, from crafts to role-play.

The numbers of women attending varied from eleven to eight for the four sessions and participants were drawn from the Sikh, Muslim and Christian faith traditions.

Amogst the Christians were people from the Seventh Day Baptist Church, Church of God of Prophecy and the Orthodox Polish Russian church – all were new to Jubilee Debt Camppaign Multi-Faith meetings.

Different perspectives were given by women of African- Caribbean, Moroccan, Philippine and Asian heritage, who shared their experiences of poverty and culture.

A Jubilee Debt Campaign information resource pack was given to those attending the session and a fairtrade rainbow scarf was given to each participant and used to “create” a new item. This resulted in turbans, a cotta, bags, a necklace and various styles of scarves.

You can seem more photos from the workshops on the Near Neighbours Birmingham facebook page

Tag: Meeting People