Prayer for those receiving exam results

As you receive your exam results, may you feel the love of God surrounding you.

You are a wonderful creation of God, made of love, light and hope,

May you feel the love of God surrounding you.

God is with you, whether you are celebrating or are disappointed,

May you feel the love of God surrounding you.

We thank God for your uniqueness; for your individual gifts and skills,

May you feel the love of God surrounding you.

As you take your next steps in life,

May you feel the love of God surrounding you.

God’s love will surround you wherever you go – may you also make that love known to others.

Amen

Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson elected as Moderator-elect to serve from April 2025

We are delighted to welcome Reverend Dr. Tessa Henry-Robinson as the new Moderator-elect of the Free Churches Group. Tessa will support the current Moderator, Reverend Canon Helen Cameron, in her first year before assuming the Moderator’s role in April 2025. The Free Churches look forward to working with Tessa over the coming months.

Tessa said, “I welcome this opportunity to work collaboratively in an ecumenical capacity. My background and work within the United Reformed Church (URC), which is itself an ecumenical union of churches, have uniquely prepared me for this role, emphasising my leadership capabilities as well as my commitment to ecumenism, inclusivity, and justice.”

Tessa has just completed her year as Moderator of the URC General Assembly and continues to have pastorate responsibility for four URC congregations in east London. Her work as the Moderator of the URC General Assembly involved engagements both in the UK and internationally. She has significant experience in church operations, making her well-placed to navigate and lead complex discussions and initiatives across Free Church denominations. Her ministerial and professional journey includes significant milestones that align closely with the values and objectives of the Free Churches Group. As the first Black and/or ethnically minoritized woman to serve in her current roles, she is committed to diversity, empowerment, and racial justice.

A message from the FCG Moderator-elect, Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson

I am deeply honoured to become the Moderator-Elect of the Free Churches Group. I look forward to supporting the current Moderator, Reverend Canon Helen Cameron, during the first year of a four-year term and to learning more about the work of the Free Churches. As a committed ecumenist, I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with the 27 Free Churches denominations/groups who are currently members of the Free Churches Group. I understand that the FCG is growing, and it will be a pleasure to be part of the leadership team welcoming new members. I see this role as a calling and feel deeply connected to our diverse and vibrant Free Churches community. My extensive experience within the United Reformed Church (URC) has shaped my commitment to ecumenism. I believe that by working together, we can more significantly contribute to the common mission of sharing the love of Jesus Christ and the hope that His love brings to our world.

I have just completed my year as Moderator of the URC General Assembly and currently serve as the immediate past Moderator. This role provided me with broad leadership and representational experience both within the three-nation context of the United Kingdom and internationally. My contributions to the URC, including roles on the Mission Committee, the Church Life Review Group, the Business Committee, and the Faith and Order Committee, have deepened my understanding of church operations and honed my ability to lead complex discussions and initiatives.

As a Black woman - the first women of an ethnically minoritised background to become General Assembly Moderator in the URC, I bring a strong commitment to diversity and empowerment. My advocacy for racial justice within the URC and my role in Cascades of Grace, an initiative empowering minoritised women, underscore this commitment.

My curiosity about the triune nature of God, coupled with my background in community education and development, ministry formation, and anti-racism training, highlights my dedication to theological ecumenism and fostering an intercultural church environment. My academic work, including a thesis on intercultural inclusion, remains central to my ethos.

As an Associate Tutor in Womanist Practical Theology at Westminster College and a member of the editorial boards for the Journal of Practical Theology and the International Journal of Black Theology, I engage in scholarly discussions that bridge theory and practice. My pastoral service and community engagement further exemplify this commitment.

My upbringing in Trinidad and Tobago, which included attending Roman Catholic and Methodist churches and participating in Anglican and Pentecostal denominational activities, has shaped my approach to faith and diversity. This background, combined with proven presentation skills and the ability to engage and inspire diverse audiences, equips me to represent and collaborate within the Free Churches Group leadership.

I am confident that my vision, experience, and commitment to ecumenical networking, justice, and empowerment have prepared me well for this role. I look forward to contributing to the Free Churches Group and furthering our impact on communities and society.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve the Free Churches in England and Wales.  

Tessa

The Chaplaincy Chain Podcast Launch

The Chaplaincy Chain Podcast is a collaborative project hosted by the Free Churches Group and supported by The Methodist Church. The podcast aims to open up conversations about the joys and challenges of chaplaincy by exploring its depths and breadths. Working with partners in a variety of contexts, we hope to bring a range of perspectives and experiences into the conversation.

During each episode we’ll notice what emerges in the conversation and use this to decide the next link, continuing The Chaplaincy Chain Podcast!

Reflection from Revd Helen Cameron, Moderator of the Free Churches Group

“He did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself” Philippians 2: 6-7

It was a great privilege recently to attend a reception at the Foreign Office celebrating the work of the brilliant charity, Prisoners Abroad. As Moderator of the Free Churches Group which does such important work in the field of prison chaplaincy, advocacy and support for prisoners and their families in the UK, involvement with Prisoners Abroad seems a natural link.  

The charity supports British citizens in prisons across the world, offers particular services to their families and offers important resettlement work with citizens returning to the UK.

Prison conditions across the globe can be very poor and challenging, resulting in limited access to the fundamental basics such as food, clean water, and medical care. Prisoners Abroad work in close partnership with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Last year they reached 1,170 prisoners held in 96 countries. Grants awarded can be used to provide clean water, language translation services, and reading matter to reduce isolation and promote wellbeing. 1,356 families in the UK and overseas were supported by Prisoners Abroad. There is a free helpline, local family support groups, a newsletter and a multilingual support team provide a wide range of support services to families enabling them to stay in touch with their relatives.  The third area of this charity’s work is support in resettlement. People returning from prison overseas are clearly at great risk of street homelessness and destitution. Prisoners Abroad operates a crisis service to offer accommodation so that those returning can access benefits, healthcare, training and employment services. The importance of this kind of intervention cannot be stressed too highly in order to prevent a very vulnerable group of people becoming lost. I was interested in the range of people present at the reception and how few people (only two) were clergy or church leaders.

There was a room full of generous and compassionate people from all kinds of backgrounds concerned for their fellow human beings. The evening provided some surprises – I arrived at the same time as, and left at the same time as, Jon Snow journalist and former Channel 4 presenter. A surprise to me was that the largest number of cases of prisoners abroad are found in the US and the highest number of new cases is also found in the US. 33% of all new cases across the world are drug offences. I did a lot of listening and I learned a lot.

It was very good to speak with Pauline Crow, OBE, the former Chief Executive of the charity, who led the charity for more than 20 years as well as the new Chief Executive, Christopher Stacey. I left encouraged and inspired by the levels of compassion, care and commitment I had encountered.

I am writing this piece in Advent (though you will read it later) and I note that several weeks’ after the Prisoners Abroad reception I am still thinking of the work of this charity, the safety net it offers to prisoners and their family at moments of profound vulnerability, isolation and loneliness. I heard stories that evening that I won’t forget, the granting of monies to prisoners which enabled them to survive, not die in really demanding circumstances. Lives are saved and lives are transformed, families kept connected and human rights protected.

The evening and the focus on the work of Prisoners Abroad reminded me of the values we hold as Christian people, the dignity of every human person whatever their actions, the need for timely intervention to avoid even worse tragedy and the different outcomes that are possible if we care enough to get involved.

This idea, of caring enough to get involved in the messiness of peoples’ lives, for me sums up the truth of the incarnation. God was fully present in the person of Jesus Christ, and chooses to continue to be present through the followers of Christ in the messiness of everyday life.

Justice can be understood as a form of kenosis, or self-emptying. Too often, as Christians we speak of self-emptying or sacrifice but such behaviour is unequally expected of certain (often already marginalised) groups. But when we all give of ourselves freely for others, surrendering the privilege that we hold, the imbalance of power which leads to injustice gives way to a commitment to the good of the other.

Paradoxically, this kind of self-emptying leads to a society in which all can be fulfilled.

Most of the privilege we hold in situations is unconscious. We can lack self-awareness of the privilege we hold and take for granted. The work of Prisoners Abroad works with those who have had most of their privilege, even on occasion, their basic human rights removed. It is a non-judgemental support service that sees human need and responds with care, practical support and resettlement.

Please pray for the work of Prisoners Abroad. Remember them in your charitable giving. They can be contacted on www.prisonersabroad.org.uk or info@prisonersabroad.org.uk Perhaps next year you could send a Christmas greeting to a prisoner abroad, shining a light of hope for them that they are remembered, and not forgotten?

Every blessing,

Helen