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As a congregation, we have links all over the world. We are involved in supporting various projects – some of them as a whole church, some of them through individual contacts. We thought it would be interesting to see the various things that are happening, and keep them in our attention. So, you will notice that, in the foyer, we have put up a map, and marked on it the various places we have links. If you haven’t seen it, please take a look. Perhaps it may encourage more involvement.
Support for the persecuted
One of the aspects of the map labelling that will change regularly is the label we have called persecution. As those who are committed to freedom for all to worship, we are particularly concerned about those whose capacity to worship and work out their faith means that they come under pressure. Our commitment is to pray for these people, and, when appropriate, to write or otherwise campaign for their protection and freedom. Please join us in this search for freedom for all.
We are glad to be in the line of descent from that first Baptist campaigner for freedom of conscience. Thomas Helwys, who wrote in 1612…
Men’s religion to God is between God and themselves, the king shall not answer for it. Neither may the king judge between God and man. Let them be heretics, Turks, Jews or whatsoever, it appertains not to the earthly power to punish them in the least measure.
This is the freedom for all that we pray and work for.
Living justly is one of the calls of following Jesus: ‘This is what God asks of you, only this…to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:8).
But simply to use the words is not enough. Discovering what it means – its impact on our choices, attitudes and expectations is a serious and attention-demanding undertaking.
And it is not one we can do in isolation. It involves conversation, openness to new discovering and a willingness to change.
This leaflet is part of our attempts as a congregation to keep the conversation going. We carry it on in other ways too – in our home groups, in worship, in our various campaigning activities.
Please do join us in our conversation and deepen our attempts to live justly.
Thursdays in Black
In various parts of the world, people have developed patterns of wearing certain colours to identify themselves with campaigns and commit themselves to standing for certain causes.
Thursdays in Black campaign protests began in the 1970s and its roots lie in groups such as Mothers of the Disappeared in Argentina. In the 1980s, Thursdays in Black became an international human rights campaign supported by the World Council of Churches as a peaceful way of saying ‘I support the human right of women to live in a world without violence, rape and fear.’
Thursdays in Black encourages everyone (not just women) to wear black clothing or simply a campaign badge every Thursday as a sign of their support.
Every Thursday people around the world are invited to wear black as a symbol of strength and courage, representing our solidarity with victims of violence, and demanding a world without rape and violence.
At the Assembly of the Baptist Union of Great Britain at the beginning of May , this resolution was passed;
This Assembly affirms those who are part of campaign protests such as ‘Thursdays in Black’ that witness against abuse and violence, particularly as experienced by women and children, and calls on Baptists to look for ways of acting in solidarity with such movements.
This Assembly recognises that one severe form of violence is caused by human trafficking for economic and sexual exploitation.
This Assembly supports the practical steps being taken by partner organisations, including the European Baptist Federation and the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe, to help those who are trafficked and under threat of being trafficked.
If you would like to know more about this campaign, which is just beginning to gain momentum in the UK, please check out the Thursdays in Black website.
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