Tag: Dialogue

Sunrise in Sparkhill 3

Written on . Posted in Interfaith, Near Neighbours.

As people arrived at the park they couldn’t fail to notice an impressive new mural that had been painted on the back wall of the old Sparkhill Swimming Pool. The picture was the work of local artist Mohammed Ali from Soul City Arts. The mural was designed to reflect the Olympics, faith and the swimming pool.

Mohammed worked with young people from The Feast in planning and painting the mural and incorporated their thoughts and skills into the final picture. The work was able to go ahead through a Near Neighbours grant and is a great example of the impact those small gants can make amongst people and for an area.

The work on the mural took place in the days and weeks leading up to the 1st July and, despite torrential rain and thunderstorms, was finished just in time for everyone at Sunrise in Sparkhill to see it.

Much has been talked about the legacy of the Olympics and Sunrise in Sparkhill will certainly leave a legacy in Birmingham. This beautiful mural will be around for many years for people in the area to enjoy. Not only that but many friendships were made through the running of the event and will also be a legacy from this exciting and innovative event.

Putting Faith in to Action

Written on . 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

 

 

Men and Inter-Faith

Written on . Posted in Dialogue, Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre, Interfaith.

Why is it that inter-faith events seem to attract more women than men, and that women’s events are often better attended than ones for men. These were some of the questions we considered at the consultation on the 21st March.

First of all we recognised that there is lots of good inter-faith work going on, and that there is an issue of needing to get more women involved in leadership. We also weren’t suggesting that events for women should be in anyway curtailed or undermined by this discussion.

We also acknowledges that there are good examples of men’s interfaith events especially some of the sporting competitions that take place.

We spent a good deal of time looking at what we thought might prevent men attending inter-faith events. Some the the suggestions we came up with included:
Enjoying competative activities that are often missing in inter-faith events
Not seeing the need for just building relationships, more interested in networking or making contacts
Wanting to engage through doing not just talking
Not wanting to be made to feel foolish, for example by sharing in small groups
Different communitities having different expectations of how and when an event is run
Not being convinced that it is worthwhile, so needing the aims and motives to be better articulated

We went on to discuss what we could do to overcome sdome of these obstacles. Some of our conclusions included:
Ensuring joint leadership from different communities in the planning of the events
Finding appropriate competative activities to form the basis for the discussions and engagment
Less talk of relationships and more emphasis on activity, contacts and networking
Focus on specific interest or work groups eg local business men, the elderly, sports

This was a consultation not a conclusion so please feel free to add your comments and thoughts, or discuss these questions amongst men that you know.

 

More Faithful Conversations

Written on . Posted in Dialogue, Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre, Near Neighbours, Training.

Following the successful ‘Faithful Conversations’ training day in February we are running it again on 21st April, this time starting at 7:30 so that those who work during the day can attend.

The programme will follow the same pattern as last time with an opportunity to think about our own faith story and how we can share that with others in a constructive and positive way.

The training also includes listening exercises and the opportunity to hear the experiences and beliefs of others.

The training is taking place at The Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre, 10-12 Court Road, Sparkhill. B11 4LX, and costs £5 per person.

For full details and information on how to book see our events pages or download a Faithful Conversations Flyer

A Faithful Conversation

Written on . Posted in Dialogue, Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre, Interfaith, Training.

On the 9th of February we ran the Faithful Conversations training morning at the Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre. The morning included a chance for people to think through their own faith stories and then to have the opportunity to share those stories with others, to learn how to speak positively about faith and how to listen to others. It was also an opportunity to hear the faith stories, beliefs, practices and experiences of others.

The morning was greatly appreciated by all the participants. Read what they said about it:
There were really interesting discussions held with interesting people
The course was excellent, easy to get to and with parking available
There was a good balance between activities and discussions
It was very useful, I will definitely be having ‘Faith Conversations’

Due to the popularity of this course we are planning to run it again in the evening of Thursday 26th April. You can find all the details on our events pages

 

 

Talking about Faith

Written on . Posted in Dialogue, Interfaith, Training.

Getting people of different faiths into the same space is the beginning of process that can be hugely enriching, transformative and exciting but it does not happen naturally. How do conversations move from the superficial to the spiritual without feeling artificial and stilted?

To help people think through how they can have conversations about faith that have integrity and honesty we are running a training day at The Faithful Neighbourhoods Centre on Thursday 9th February 2012.

The course will run from 10am to 1pm and will include lunch. The cost of the course is £15 (£10) concession. To register contact Parm Sidhu the Centre Administrator.

Birmingham Interfaith launch for Near Neighbours

Written on . Posted in Dialogue, Near Neighbours.

A £5 million fund was launched in Birmingham city centre today as part of a series of events to mark inter-faith week. The Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor Anita Ward, welcomed more than 40 faith leaders and voluntary sector representatives to the event in the Council House.

She was joined by the Dean of Birmingham, the Very Revd Catherine Ogle and the Bishop’s Director of Inter-faith relations, Dr Andrew Smith.

Dr Smith said: “Near Neighbours aims to strengthen existing interfaith networks and build new friendships at a local level by uniting faith communities to transform their neighbourhoods.

“Grants of up to £5,000 are available to charities and faith communities to help them start a new project which will bring people from different faiths and ethnicities together. Since the end of September, more than £40,000 has been given out to groups across the 13 eligible wards.”

The fund is also supporting the work of the Christian-Muslim forum, the Nehemiah Programme and The Feast, a charity which brings young people of different faiths together to share their beliefs. Three Nehemiah community workers are due to take up posts in the city after Christmas.

Near Neighbours is a Government-funded programme which operates in four locations: Leicester, East London, parts of Bradford, Oldham and Burnley and 13 wards in Birmingham. In Birmingham it is based at the Faithful Neighbourhood Centre in Sparkhill.

Development Worker, Jessica Foster, said: “We are delighted by not only the number of applications we are receiving but also by their creativity and the range of projects we have funded. At the moment I seem to be receiving one application every day but we are keen that word of the fund reaches every community within the eligible areas of Birmingham and we reach beyond the usual suspects to the grass roots of our neighbourhoods.”

The eligible areas of Birmingham are the 13 wards of Ladywood, Soho, Nechells, Lozells and East Handsworth, Aston, Washwood Heath, Bordesley Green, Edgbaston, Moseley and Kings Heath, Sparkbook, Springfield, South Yardley and Hodge Hill.

For more information please contact

Jessica Foster
Near Neighbours Development Worker
Tel 0121 675 1155 or 07817 853452

  • 1
  • …
  • 3
  • 4
Menu
Keep in touch
Sharing is Caring
Get in touch

FNC
1 Colmore Row
Birmingham
B3 2BJ

Maintained by MI Business Services Ltd.  |  Terms & Conditions  |  Privacy Policy