NEWS
Free Churches Group Health and Social Care Chaplains Study Day
There is a Crack in Everything: reflecting on grief, trauma and resilience in light of chaplain’s experience during the pandemic.
This Study Day will provide chaplains with an understandings of recent developments in the theory related to these themes as well as offering the opportunity to reflect on their experiences through the pandemic. With input from Nigel Fawcett-Jones, Pete English and a specially recorded poetry set from Harry Baker.
Cost:
• £6 for chaplains who belong to a denomination/organisation that is a member of the Free Churches Group
• £18 for all other chaplains
Date: Thu, 4 November 2021, 08:45 - 16:30
Programme
08:45 – digital doors open
09:15 – 09:45 welcome, introduction and opening prayer/reflection
09:45 – 11:00 session one – Grief (Pete English)
11:15 – 12:30 session two – Trauma (Nigel Fawcett-Jones)
Lunch –links will be provided for those who would like to chat over lunch with others
13:30 – 14:00 session three – recorded poetry set from Harry Baker
14:15 – 15:30 session four – Resilience (Nigel Fawcett-Jones)
15:45 – 16:30 Plenary followed by closing prayer/reflection
Speakers
Nigel Fawcett-Jones
Prior to his retirement in 2019 Nigel served 30 years as a police officer with West Yorkshire Police. His experience in his specialised role of Roads Policing saw him develop additional responsibilities as Road Death Family Liaison Officer, Casualty Bureau and Road Death Senior Investigation Officer. He also completed a post graduate diploma in Disaster Victim Identification at the University of Dundee.
Nigel works as a Chaplain Manager for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association which provides crisis trained chaplains who respond to community crises. He and his team have provided chaplain support to the church response at events as diverse as terrorist incidents (Westminster, London Bridge, Manchester), the Grenfell Tower fire and numerous flooding events across the UK. Internationally, Nigel has worked in a chaplain role in Haiti in response to the cholera outbreak, wildfires in the US and terrorism in Belgium.
Since 2019 Nigel has fulfilled the role of Chaplain within the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, Major Collision Enquiry Team and Counter Terrorism Unit. He has also developed training resources for the broader chaplain team of West Yorkshire Police.
Pete English
Pete has worked as a church youth worker & school counsellor for over 25 years. He is project lead for ListeningPeople - from AtaLoss.org. He counsels children and young people in 5 schools in the West Midlands and provides training and support to those who work with young people impacted by loss and bereavement.
Harry Baker
World Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker published his debut anthology ‘The Sunshine Kid’ with Burning Eye in December 2014. The subsequent show of the same name was voted ‘Best Spoken Word show’ of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015. Now a fully-fledged maths graduate and full time poet, His work has been shared on TED.com and viewed millions of times worldwide, as well as being translated into 21 different languages.
(cover photo courtesy of Aaron Lee at Unsplash)
Peace...
Today is International Day of Peace… we pray for peace in our homes and families, throughout our nation and across the world… May we be channels of peace, in the name of Jesus; sustained by God’s grace and upheld through God’s mercy.
We are invited too by our friends in Prison Fellowship to pray for peace…
Loving God, we pray for peace in our prisons.
May God use us as peacemakers, bringing reconciliation in times of conflict.
God, in your mercy, hear our prayers, in the name of Jesus, Prince of Peace. Amen
“Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.”
(cover photo courtesy of Wesley Eland at Unsplash)
The Faith New Deal Pilot Fund
The Faith New Deal Pilot Fund is a new, competitive grant programme to help support faith-based organisations to use their resources effectively within their community and to build trust between national government, local government and faith groups.
The Faith New Deal Pilot will provide funding for projects run by faith groups working on community programmes to support a key COVID-19 recovery objective in their local area. Communities, local and national government will benefit from this improved understanding of the faith sector’s capacity to work alongside and with local public services.
Further detail on the fund and guidance on how to apply can be found HERE.
Please send all questions and enquiries to: faithnewdeal@communities.gov.uk.
Connecting Communities, Serving People, The Church & Social Cohesion
Connecting Communities, Serving People, The Church & Social Cohesion will take place on the afternoon of 30th September and be hosted at Liverpool Town Hall.
This event flyer is available to download HERE.
'Leave them certain' is the theme of this year's 'Organ Donation' Week
Leave Them Certain is the theme for this year’s Organ Donation Week.
Organ Donation Week is coming up later this month. This is an awareness raising week from 20th - 26th September. This campaign aims to encourage us to talk to their loved ones about organ donation as families are always involved before organ donation goes ahead, so that when we die, we can leave them certain about our wishes… That conversation could be the most powerful thing you ever do to help save lives!
For further information about this year’s campaign and how you, your churches and your families can get involved in the discussions about this vital issue.
This is an issue which matters to all of us and we are glad that a couple of years ago Free Churches Group, working with the Blood Transfusion and Organ donation services, facilitated a one day conference with our member churches and groups. This was a useful event to help us to raise the profile and importance of these services, particularly for our churches who have members from Black, Asian and other ethnic communities. We would like to continue to encourage more blood and organ donors from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities to come forward to meet the needs of patients from across our communities. Certain conditions, such as sickle cell and thalassaemia, are more prevalent within these communities.
(cover photo courtesy of Camilo Jimenez at Unsplash)