For more information please contact: Tony Miles
Deputy Superintendent Minister, Media Chaplain & Broadcaster
Methodist Central Hall, Westminster – 020 7654 3809 or 020 7222 8010

Methodist Central Hall in London has launched Westminster Women’s Outreach with a series of conferences scheduled to cover issues which affect people in their daily lives.
The first Women’s Outreach in November last year was titled: Forgiveness & Reconciliation in Today’s Society: The Role of Women – featuring a string of high profile speakers.
Heading the distinguished list of speakers were Richard Taylor, father of young Damilola Taylor who was killed by youths on a south London estate in 2000, just days short of his 11^th birthday, and Baroness Kathleen Richardson OBE, a cross-bench member of the House of Lords and first woman President of the Methodist Conference.
Of Richard Taylor’s first experience of moving to London, he told the gathering: “We come to England because we believe the streets here are paved with gold. But the UK I used to know in the 70s has changed.”
Other speakers at the conference included campaigning journalist Ejos Ubiribo and Tracey Ford who have also lost relatives through violence as well as reformed south London gangland member, Sheldon Thomas, 46.
The next Women’s Outreach conference is set for June 2011 – for more information please contact 020 7654 3809.

COLOSSIANS 3:14 – Above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in love.

To join, or find out more about the Fashion Network and Prayer Breakfast meetings please contact HTB at (0)207 052 0200.

As British Prime Minister Gordon Brown addressed Congress in Washington DC in the ‘speech of his life’, he mentioned the church and places of worship several times – a nod to the way we have to relate to eachother in business as well as in our personal lives.

Business is no longer about survival of the fittest – it has to be ‘value-based.’

Hours later as Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, spoke at Mansion House in London, he pointed out that once we have emerged from the crisis, the UK will be a very different place.

Add to that, a third major player in the New Labour movement, Alastair Campbell has mellowed: as former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, Campbell insisted ‘we don’t do God’ – today he liked the Biblical touches in Gordon Brown’s speech.

Outlook for the next decade: the Church is likely to have a much greater role to play in The City…

Ref: Alastair Campbell’s blog: click here

In his best selling book Blaming God, Kok tackles issues such as relationships, guilt, powerlessness, stress and the illusion of the perfect human being.

Based on a Danish hit TV series ‘Confession’, the book is currently being translated from Danish into English and is looking for a publisher in the UK and USA.

For more information please mail: contact@churchandthecity.com.

Sample quotes from Blaming God:

‘When people say they don’t believe
in miracles, or that they don’t happen
in their lives, then it’s because
they themselves try to define
what constitutes a miracle.
But a miracle is something
you can’t define.
I believe in miracles. I’ve experienced
them in important situations.
And each time the miracle has been
something other than what I had hoped for
or expected.’

‘The church is the only place left
in modern society where
death and defeat are still acceptable.
If someone calls me to say there has
been a death in their family, I don’t say:
‘How unfortunate, death is not a great
brand to be associated with.’

Today many young mothers,
who have lost their baby
during pregnancy, feel guilty
because we in our modern world
will not accept the fact that
powerlessness is a significan part of reality.’

‘Those of us who are religious
can talk to God about our powerlessness,
while those who are not religious
have a serious challenge on their hands.’
When I meet people who are weighed down
I try to encourage them to start
a conversation with God.
That is often possible when
their sorrow is great.’

‘I think rather than a ‘leap of faith’
it is a case of ‘fall of faith.’
The reality is the road one has followed
throughout life which leads one to the edge.
There is no way back – and the road leads
to the botom of the sea. I don’t think anyone
jumps if they don’t have to.
But life can push so that one falls -
and receives the gift of faith: the knowledge
that the water holds.’

Faith, health and science: When can they mix?
Plus; A roundtable debate on faith and healing – three experts discuss the role that belief should play in science;
News briefs;
A portfolio of healing rituals around the world.

A Daily Mail article shows how one Christian fashionista is finding God playing an increasingly important part in her everyday decisions, such as picking a dress for an important event.

‘I just knew: Jesus is my stylist,’ srites Angela Buttolph in the Mail (Feb 9, 2009). ‘I really don’t pray about my clothes that often. But I don’t see fashion as something I can’t pray about. I think God cares about what I care about.’

‘A lot of women are startting to realise that a cupboard full of Louboutins won’t protect you from life’s ups and downs either. We all hide behind material things a little; it can give a feeling of safety and security, and provide a glossy facade of contentment and success, when everything isn’t always OK.’

‘There are probably villages and groups of friends and rugby clubs doing similar things (setting up small groups who look after eachother), but I’ve only ever found that kind of tight-knit community at church. And I can’t help thinking that is something that won’t ever go out of fashion.’

To read more of this article in the Daily Mail please click here

Some find fulfilment in their jobs, others in romance and there are those who live in the city to make new friends, for its cultural opportunities, financial institutions, its fashion, restaurants and all the other reasons.

We take a fresh look at how the Christian faith can help us in our everyday lives, dealing with high-flying careers or unemployment, a hectic social life or loneliness and everything else the city has to offer.

Please let us know your views, advice, comments, stories or experiences which you think might help others finding their way in the city.