The Work of our Hands? Reconciliation in Turbulent Times
Saturday 2nd July 2022 [postponed from 5th March]
Bull Street Quaker Meeting House, Birmingham, UK
Join this day conference to explore the challenging task of reconciliation in church and society. Get inspiration from and discuss with our speakers on caring for others and ourselves while working for reconciliation.
The past few years have seen an increase in popularism, heated political debate and violence and increasing military spending. As faith-based peace groups in the UK, we continue to deal with conflict and fractions in church and society. So our conference is a chance to reflect on the world as we find, to think about actions we can take and how to care for ourselves and others while following the long path to reconciliation.
Keynote speakers:
We will be joined for the day by Rev. Barbara Glasson who will share on “Everyday Peacemaking in Troubling Times”. She is President of the Methodist Peace Fellowship and a tutor at Queens Theological Foundation. She will explore some of the ideas and practices she highlights in her recent book, Peace is a Doing Word: Prayer Patterns for Peacemakers.
A second keynote will be presented by Dr. Justine Huxley on “Self-care for reconcilers when things are turbulent”. Justine was, until recently, CEO of St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. Her work centers on building inner and outer resilience for times of social and ecological breakdown.
In workshops, we will learn from and be challenged by practical experiences from reconcilers and peace workers from the UK and Croatia:
• “Reconciliation in South East Europe” with Dr. Ana Raffai. Ana is Catholic Theologian from Croatia, co-founder of the Academy for Politics of Nonviolence and Believers for Peace.
• “Reconciling Congregations? Building Peace if your church is in conflict” with Carolyn Merry. Carolyn is Director of Place for Hope, a charity enabling local church congregations to overcome conflict
• “Building Peace when an Arms Fair visits” with Deacon Angie Alport. Angie is a member of the Methodist Diaconal Order and has been involved in working with religious and secular groups to build opposition to an arms fair held at the 3 Counties Fairground.
A £15.00 day ticket to the conference include soup and sandwich lunch.