Birmingham – Page 2

FAITHFUL PHOTOGRAPHERS NEEDED

Written on July 22, 2013. Posted in Near Neighbours.

Near Neighbours is calling for photographers with a faithful focus to train their lenses on the friendships that have been built across the city between people from different religious traditions.

We are looking for pictures that capture one of three themes:
Friendship
Faith
Community

A selection of the photographs will be displayed in St Philip’s Cathedral from 16-24th November which coincides with Interfaith Week. The winning entrants will be awarded Adobe software packages to help them develop their images and create more professional pictures.

Judges viewing the pictures will include:
The Dean of Birmingham, the Very Revd Catherine Ogle
Internationally renowned graffiti artist, Mohammed Ali
Professional photographer at Outroslide Photography, Dharmendra Patel
The Bishop’s Director of Interfaith Relations, Dr Andrew Smith.

Birmingham’s Near Neighbours Co-ordinator, Jessica Foster said: “We have funded some 130 projects in the city which aim to turn neighbours into friends and build lasting relationships between people of different faiths.

“We would love to see images of all sorts of relationships and activities that show how people in Birmingham work together, play together, eat together, share together and laugh together, building stronger communities and growing in understanding.”

Photographs should be submitted to Jess@nearneighbours.com and will be displayed on the Near Neighbours Brum Flickr site. A selection will be displayed in Birmingham Cathedral from 14th til the 23rd November 2013. The competition is open to any amateur photographer based in the West Midlands.

Follow the competition at #nnbrumpics

Young People Meet Birmingham Faith Leaders

Written on July 19, 2013. Posted in Dialogue, Interfaith.

How do we inspire a new generation of young people to take their faith and the faiths of others seriously? In June Andrew Smith went with the Birmingham Faith Leader’s Group for their annual day away. The main part of the day was a meeting between the Faith Leaders and pupils from Hagley Catholic High School Sixth Form. After eating lunch together there was a chance for the pupils to ask the faith leaders questions around the theme of ‘Views on life after death’. The questions were probing and insightful and opened up some lively discussion amongst the faith leaders. Because of their good relationships and willingness to enter into honest and robust dialogue the pupils experienced a healthy discussion where people didn’t agree but were able to talk honestly about their views. The frankness of the pupil’s questions was refreshing and opened up topics that weren’t planned for but which gave space for good discussion.

The young people gave their assessment of the day:

“The day Hagley Catholic Sixth Form met the Birmingham Faith Leaders Group by John Horton, Amy Price, and Laura Kirton. On the 24th of June members of the Hagley Catholic High School Sixth Form met with the Birmingham Faith Leaders group at Harvington Hall. The day began with the Sixth Form being introduced to the different representatives of each faith and the collective group were told what the schedule for the rest of the afternoon was. After the introductions were over we all gathered together in the dining room for a delicious vegetarian meal to suit all religious values. After our lovely meal we started the tour of the hall. The guide showed us a few of the priest holes made by Saint Nicholas Owen, our patron saint. One of our students even got the chance to try out one of the priest holes, much to the religious leader’s amusement. We had the experience of going into the Harvington hall chapel and were told about the difficulties of being a Catholic priest during this time period, certain details such as the position of the windows so that anyone trying to have a secret mass would be able to see the soldiers coming. This then led the guide to show us a secret compartment under the floorboards to hide all the priest’s religious belongings which was fascinating. One of the more interesting priest holes was located under the grand staircase when you lift up a few of the steps and more than a few students were shocked to see a mannequin looking back at them from the hiding place. Post-tour we gathered in the Great Chamber for our question and answer session with the faith leaders. There were representatives of several different faiths including Sikh, Buddhist, Muslim, Christianity and Judaism. This gave us a real chance to gain an insight into each of the individual faiths and their beliefs. In particular we talked about the issues of life after death from each religions’ perspective and we also enjoyed a discussion about conversion and proselytization, which was very insightful. Overall it was a very fulfilling experience for all of the students and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be in a room with so many different faiths co-operating together, speaking openly with each other. The culture of respect and sharing of beliefs was very much appreciated by us and one that we are keen to pursue in the future. It really inspired us as a Sixth form to see such good being done by such a diverse group and we would like to thank the Birmingham faith leaders group for this amazing experience that we will never forget, and we hope this opportunity arises again for us and others around the county.”

Dear Birmingham Book Launch

Written on June 11, 2013. Posted in Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre, Transforming Communities.

The Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre hosted a book launch for local academic and author Karamt Iqbal. His book, which he describes as a conversation with his hometown, explores the plight of the growing Pakistani community in Birmingham. Karamat presented the book to the guests and explained that it came both from his personal experience of coming to Birmingham from Pakistan as a young boy as well as his many years of working for the city council on diversity issues and his current academic study.

Having told part of his own story and the history of Pakistani’s in Birmingham the book covers a wide range of topics:
Education
Health
Crime
Representation in private and public organisations
Representation in the media

Overall the picture he paints is fairly bleak with Pakistani’s coming out with poor health, low academic standards, over representation in the prisons and under representation in the media. Then in a very hard hitting and challenging section Karat asks what the problem is and looks at the issue of racism across a number of institutions in Birmingham. He argues forcefully that Pakistanis are excluded from a variety of posts either through lack of role models which results in fewer people aspiring for the posts and people being unwilling to promote as the post is only ever on merit. Or the networking culture that means those out of the networks never get a look in. Whilst he acknowledges this happens within the Pakistani community he points out it tends to be for much less well-paid jobs.

He then explores issues of religion, culture and language before making recommendations for the future.

You can read more about Karamt’s work and order a copy of the book at his Forward Partnership website.

The Gift of Giving and Friendship

Written on June 4, 2013. Posted in Christianity, Dialogue, Islam, Tackling Poverty, The Feast.

Today two young men from The Feast project Y4M (Youth for Moseley) visited the Sparkhill food bank for a behind-the-scenes look at what happens to food once it’s donated.

These young men from Moseley School, one Christian and one Muslim, joined forces to make a video encouraging others from their school to take part in a food drive that will start soon.

Not only were these two representing the Y4M after school club, but they were also representing their faith and looking at how they could work together to tackle poverty.

When asked why they were willing to give up a day of their holiday to help out they said:

“It’s important because not only is it written in the Qur’an, but it nourishes your own soul, knowing that you are making a difference. When you give, it removes your own selfishness.” said Bilal.

“I like helping people. I was always taught to respect people and the Bible says to do for others what I’d like them to do for me. It’s part of who I am. Being Tswana (from Botswana) that’s how we’re grounded – you just know someday, someone will need to help you.” Mandla said.

These young men have also become pretty good friends in the short space of time they’ve known each other. Having met in the after-school club (Y4M) just 3 weeks ago, they spent most of the journey to and from the food bank talking about their faith and their beliefs. It was so encouraging to hear them speak so positively about each others faith and to have them both speak so passionately about recent events in the media.

When reflecting on their day, Bilal said: “It’s kinda cool when a non-Muslim defends a Muslim because it shows the brotherhood between them. It touched me when Mandla said he knew that all Muslims aren’t like how the media negatively represents us at times.”

“Bilal called me a friend and a good guy – that’s something I don’t get every day, especially from a Muslim. It made me feel quite good about myself and about how other people from a different religion can still view me an appreciate me.” said Mandla.

Today I thought we were simply going to a food bank to see how food is collected, stored and distributed. What I witnessed, however, was a marvellous gift of friendship, exchanged between two young men of different cultures and different faiths.

Building a Peaceful City

Written on May 23, 2013. Posted in Interfaith.

Sometimes events outside Birmingham can have a big impact on people here and on relationships between people of different faiths. In the past few weeks Dr Andrew Smith has been involved in working with Muslims and Buddhists affected by the plight of the Royhinga people in Burma. This has resulted in some work to build friendships between the communities here in Birmingham and a statement from the Birmingham Faith Leader’s Group which you can read here. Statement on Burma

He was also part of a city wide group who write a response following the brutal murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich on 22nd May. That response can also be downloaded and read here. Birmingham Condemns Woolwich Murder – Statement

Graduates plan for the Future

Written on May 14, 2013. Posted in Catalyst.

On the 11th May the Catalyst course came to an end. The day finished with a graduation meal at Al-Faisal’s restaurant in Birmingham. About 50 guests attended and heard about what had happened on the course and the impact it had on the group members.

The evening concluded with the members being awarded a certificate and being presented with a personalised Catalyst hoodie. Major Sam Edgar from the Salvation Army and Rabbi Margaret Jacobs were representing the Birmingham Faith Leaders Group and handed out the certificates and hoodies.

During the evening the group explained that they are intended to continue meeting as a younger faith leaders group. Plans are well underway for their first meetings and updates on how to keep up with their progress will be coming soon.

Welcoming the Stranger – Birmingham Churches Winter Night Shelter 2013

Written on March 5, 2013. Posted in Christianity, Community Regeneration, Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre, poverty, Thrive, Uncategorized.

January 19th 2013 saw churches open their doors to homeless people and offer a bed to those who need it. Building on last year’s pilot, this year 6 hosts churches; 4 Church of England churches and 2 Baptist churches, offered shelter and hospitality for 6 weeks in January and February. The project was a collaboration of so many churches, projects and individuals. It included over 300 volunteers from a range of churches and traditions staffing the shelter; providing food, sleeping overnight and generally making guests feel at home. Guests were referred to the shelter by SIFA Fireside and also by outreach teams from Reach Out Network and Grace Bible Fellowship, who, as well as referring rough sleepers into the shelter, also met them at the pickup point and chaperoned them to the venues helping them to settle in. Transport was provided by church projects and Shencare Community Transport along with volunteer drivers for each night, and at each venue there was a volunteer coordinator who managed the shift and food rotas. To date the project has provided shelter to 31 guests, and offered a warm place to sleep during what has been, at times, a bitterly cold couple of months. Wonderfully, during their time with us, some of our guests have been able to find work and accommodation, and we have also been able to work with Midland Heart Homeless Services team to help guests access any support available to them. One of our guests who had been homeless for 4 years, with the support from an experienced volunteer, was helped to make a successful homeless application which resulted in him being given accommodation. Thank you to all those who have given their time, resources, prayer, money and support to make this project such a great success in providing shelter, hospitality, friendship and support to those who have used the shelter this winter. It has been such a blessing to many guests and volunteers alike. However in terms of tackling homelessness it is only really scratching the surface in helping to address the issues that are faced by those sleeping rough. There is a strong desire from The Birmingham Christian Homeless Forum, Housing Justice and Thrive Together Birmingham to engage and help to mobilise churches and Christians who are passionate and committed to supporting homeless people. We are trying to do this by developing this and other projects, and to work with other voluntary and statutory organisations to be part of addressing the needs of homeless people face. For more information about how you can support this and other homeless projects please contact e.neill@HousingJustice.org.uk or info@thrivetogetherbham.org

Near Neighbours and Interfaith Week

Written on November 30, 2012. Posted in Interfaith, Near Neighbours, Uncategorized.

Interfaith Week became Interfaith Fortnight in Birmingham with a packed programme of launches, workshops and activities to celebrate all that is happening locally and nationally to bring people from different faiths together.

We kicked off here a day early with the fabulous launch of our Faithful Friends photography exhibition. We are so excited about that and there is so much to say that we have a separate page on our website dedicated to it and will blog about it later.

The following Tuesday, our photographer, Dee at Outroslide, led a worskhop for us on taking better pictures which was both fun and interesting. Many of us revealed that we did not really know how to use our cameras properly so we are hoping to run more workshops in the New Year – watch this space.

On Thursday we went to hear the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, give his final reflections on interfaith relations. It was wonderful to hear him praise the state of relationships in the UK, describing them as the envy of many countries in Europe, and even more wonderful to hear him praise the work of Near Neighbours, urge Government to fund it again and describe it as the embodiment of recent thinking about interfaith engagement. We are hoping audio of the text will appear soon on his website.

We were delighted to welcome the Christian-Muslim Forum to Birmingham on Monday (26th November) to launch their report on their women’s work. There was a fantastic atmosphere as Christian and Muslim women chatted over lunch, heard about the local and national friendships being built and then joined in a drumming workshop together. Plans are now afoot for more drumming workshops in the New Year – watch this space.

The following day we were back in London for the national Together in Service celebration organised by our funders, the Department for Communities and Local Government. It was great to hear Pritpal and Kiran from Nishkham talk about their engagement in faith-based social action and we got a few seconds to explain to Baroness Warsi what great things are happening in Birmingham thanks to their support of Near Neighbours.

It has also been a great pleasure this week to join in the celebrations at the Nishkam centre to mark Guru Nanak’s birthday and to hear Brian Maclaren speak about his book, Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road. Urging Christians to a strong, benevolent identity that approaches people of different faiths offering solidarity and hospitality, he affirmed what is already happening here in Birmingham. Near Neighbours is delighted to be one small part of the relationships and activities that are bringing people together and building stronger and more compassionate communities in this city.

Catalyst Birmingham Launched

Written on November 26, 2012. Posted in Catalyst, Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre, Interfaith, Near Neighbours, Training.

One of the programmes funded by Near Neighbours is the Catalyst leadership programme for young leaders. Aimed at people aged 20-30, this programme brings together people of different faiths in that age bracket and provides training on leadership issues.

Catalyst Birmingham has a cohort of 13 which includes Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Muslims. On November 24th they met for the first time and spent the day getting to know one another and thinking through what the qualities of leadership drawing on their own experiences of leadership and inspirational leaders from within their faith traditions.

The group will meet once a month for the next 6 months and will cover topics such as conflict resolution, character and personality, practicalities of leadership, recruiting volunteers, risk assessment and faith and leadership in the public sphere.

They will also have to devise and run a Near Neighbours project as part of the course.

Our hope is that this group will go on to form the core of a group of young faith leaders engaged with inter-faith work and social issues in Birmingham.

Foodbanks Benefit from Joint Harvest

Written on October 15, 2012. Posted in Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre, Interfaith, Uncategorized.

Foodbanks across the city have been receiving food collected by people from faith communities who have come together to celebrate harvest festival.

Harvest is traditionally celebrated by churches and is a time when worshippers are asked to bring food to give away to people in need. This year, a new initiative called A Year of Service has encouraged people to come together throughout the year to celebrate one another’s festivals.

This year, several churches have been supported by faith communities to collect food and distribute it – most choosing to give the food to local foodbanks. St Alban’s Church in Highate worked with the local interfaith group to collect food for a foodbank based at Central Mosque. St Paul’s Balsall Heath collaborated with Balsall Heath Forum and two local schools while All Saints Church in Kings Heath worked with ISRA-Feed the poor to gather donations.

The collection organised by All Saints and Isra yielded 235 kgs (almost quarter of a tonne) of groceries. A spokesperson from the Narthex Foodbank in Sparkhill said that the food collected would feed 10 large families for three days and is equivalent to 450 individual meals.Find out more about Narthex Foodbank here.

Tag: Birmingham