It's a warm welcome to two new team members to the Welcome Directory!

Things have been busy for The Welcome Directory lately! As well as recently recruiting a new project manager, Emily Green, we are pleased to announce there are two new team members to help in the work and mission of The Welcome Directory. The new staff are Rev James Seager and Serena Bailey. Here’s a little bit of background about them and what their roles entail.

James is The Welcome Directory's new Regional Lead. James joins the team with over 18 years of Church leadership experience and also currently works part time as a Free Church Chaplain at HMP Hull. He is currently studying for a Masters in Applied Theology and has held a number of different roles in the charity sector. His focus as Regional Lead will be to increase engagement with The Welcome Directory at local prison establishments regionally as well as raising awareness and encouraging registration amongst faith communities, especially those faiths not yet fully represented in the directory!

Serena is due to join The Welcome Directory as the new Communications & Fundraising Officer. Serena also currently works part time with ShelterBox, a humanitarian relief organisation, in the Partnerships Team and holds a BA in International Development with Spanish. She has spent a number of years working and volunteering in the development and charity sectors, and also has experience in developing donor reports and monitoring and evaluation. Serena's focus will be to increase awareness of the work of The Welcome Directory and seeking out funding opportunities!

On behalf of the Free Churches Group, we extend a warm welcome to you both and wish you all the best in your new roles!

They along with the other team members with the patrons and trustees (who pictured below) will be working to fulfill the mission and vision of The Welcome Directory : a simple yet powerful vision: to help faith communities become places where people who leave prison find acceptance. A place to belong that not only nurtures faith but also offers appropriate practical support… a story as well as hopes and dreams for their lives beyond the prison gate.

Patrons of The Welcome Directory

Trustees of The Welcome Directory

Student Mental Health | FREE webinar | 14th Dec

We will be hosting a free webinar on Monday 14th December on the vital and timely topic of student mental health and the pandemic.

This is a free event aimed at supporting university chaplains and anyone else who is interested in this topic. It will take place from 10.30 a.m. – 12 p.m.

“The conditions created by the pandemic have taken their toll on the mental health of students. Chaplains are increasingly having to deal with issues connected with mental health, but may lack confidence to do so. This webinar aims to give chaplains access to the latest thinking from both institutional and student perspectives, and to signpost further sources of information and support.”

— Event organisers

Our speakers will be Dr Ruth Caleb, MBE who is Chair of the Mental Wellbeing in Higher Education (MWBHE) Working Group and Pete Gaffney who is Student Engagement Officer from Student Minds.

The event will be chaired by Revd Dr Stephen Heap, Chair of the Free Church HE Working Group.

Please register for the webinar using the link below

(cover photo courtesy of Sonaal Bangera at Unsplash)

RE teaching resources: The Reformation

If you are involved in teaching RE or leading children’s and youth groups at churches, you may find these resources interesting, as you plan for the new term: Reforming Christianity. 

There is a resource for Key Stages 2-4. These resources were commissioned by the Free Churches Group and The Methodist Church, sponsored by the Westhill Endowment and produced in association with RE Today Services.

These can be downloaded:

(photo courtesy of Carolyn V at Unsplash)

Social Cohesion is for life, not just for crises… and churches are the way to build it!

Social cohesion and ‘loving our neighbour’ matters, and it matters at all times and in all circumstances. A recently published report by the Free Churches Group, prepared by Theos Think Tank, says that all too often policy makers have only taken steps towards social cohesion in times of challenge and when faced with crises. This ground-breaking and thought-provoking report goes on to say, “policy interventions in pursuit of greater social cohesion have usually been driven forward by crisis, and therefore predominantly focus on what happens when things have already gone wrong.”

Well, of course, it is important to address things which have been identified as affecting community relations, when we see things have gone awry, yet perhaps it is even more important to consider how neighbourliness and matters of social cohesion might be addressed and enhanced in everyday life. After all, this will help to build stronger foundations for times of adversity and challenge; if policies are in place which equip and empower neighbourhoods and faith groups, then this can pave the way for fostering better social cohesion in the good and the tough times.

“We find that churches are often working quietly and concertedly to enhance their communities.”

It’s encouraging to know that churches are there for us, in all times and in all weathers, so to speak! The report affirms that, “we find that churches are often working quietly and concertedly to enhance their communities” not just in emergencies, but in everyday life too.

We know that in recent times, during the pandemic, that our churches and community groups have had to work differently; to plan and respond in ways that perhaps have been very different for us, but respond we have! Abundantly! And this is in part because of the passionate people who relentlessly serve in churches. Yet it is also because churches have established a network of contacts who can be called on in times of trouble. Each one of us will be able to call to mind some remarkable act of compassion or generosity which a church has carried out in recent times. It is because, as Christians, we are called to love our neighbour as ourselves. Churches just go on doing what they do purposefully and steadily in all times; when there are times of challenge, they step up and adapt in amazing ways.

It reminds me of the parable of the wise and the foolish builders. Houses built on rock do not fall, even in times of storm, whereas houses built on sand come down with a great crash (Matthew 7:24-27). So we see that the resolute and committed work our churches do, to build social cohesion, really comes to the fore in times of crisis, but it is because the foundations of the churches are well crafted and securely built, being established over time, that really makes the difference.

The report is full of case studies and quotes gathered and shared from interviews with many different church leaders and community members.

A church leader from Derby says social cohesion is “kind of the leaking out of loving your neighbour… I think you will find that individuals will visit people who are sick, will stay in touch with people who are housebound, will set up little coffee mornings, and you know. It just is the lifeblood of the church. It’s what it does. Because it’s about loving your neighbour, really.” That ‘lifeblood of the church’ and the fact that it offers support and builds relationships, in all times, means that it can work even more co-operatively and effectively in times of crisis!

Danny Kruger MP, in commending the report, says that the church is unique in how it does this because of “its national breadth, its local depth” and “the diversity of its activity.” He goes on to say, in his endorsement of the report, that the church plays a vital role “in building connected, more unified communities.”

We might liken churches to trees with strong roots, which grow and deepen over time, and that have branches that reach out to shelter us and to sustain us… the report asserts from its findings and conversations that, “The emotional and symbolic reach of church buildings points to the fact that churches are not only embedded physically, but socially, in their communities…. one church leader strikingly described churches as the “capillary” level of the community. Capillaries form the circulatory network which delivers nourishment at a scale unreachable by other means, making life possible.” What a great analogy! Churches reaching parts of our communities that are unreachable by many others and churches making life possible… so however we work towards social cohesion, we know it is for life, not just for crises…. And churches are the way to build it. What are we waiting for!?

To go deeper, download our ‘How To’ guides and the full report:

Blog by Rev Sara Iles, FCG Media Support Officer & Minister with the Congregational Federation

Good news from Pray for Schools!

I was delighted to take part and support Pray Day for Schools this year. It was a powerful prayerful day together and so I am pleased to be able to share the recent update from Pray for Schools all about this Day - if you weren’t able to make it or want to find out more, there are all sorts of updates and resources in their newsletter below. (Sara Iles FCG education assistant).

”Dear praying friends,
Thank you so much for joining us for our Pray Day Zooms on 17 November. We were thrilled to see you and be a part of the wonderful ongoing prayer and support for our schools across the UK. We look forward to hearing how God answers our prayers. At the 5.30 session someone shared a picture of a mature oak tree with us. She felt it related to the flourishing of God’s people in school communities and being a planting for His splendour. I’m sure many of us have seen how Christians can make such a difference in our schools. We hope that the genuine, authentic experience of God helping us to come through the Covid challenges will be a beacon to others searching for meaning and hope…. (Isaiah 61:3). We pray that this will happen in your local area. We promised to send you the links from the day. The full resources can be found on the Pray For Schools website.
The Ten Ways to Pray pdf can be found below and other prayers are here including a meditative prayer for your school community.
To sign up for our termly newsletter and to let us and others know which schools you are praying for, please click here or email Jane.
We are planning similar prayer events during Love Our Schools fortnight (31st January – 14th February) - working with Lichfield and Worcester Diocese as well as our PFS partners on some national zoom days. We will keep you posted!
Do send us feedback from the day along with any answered prayers and encouragement you may have received.

With best wishes Jane Newey PFS England Coordinator Claire Wall PFS Wales Coordinator “

(photo courtesy of Dev Benjamin at Unsplash)

“to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.”

— Isaiah 61:3 NRSV