The Scottish Episcopal Church, along with other ecumenical partners, is working with Church Action on Poverty to bring the concerns for tackling UK poverty centre stage in our churches’ lives.
The Just Church programme will be built around a series of ‘modules’ which will enable local churches to develop their own programme of reflection, planning and action, based around their own local situations, preferences, and level of interest.
The programme will draw on existing resources for promoting social justice - and linking it with wider understandings of mission and ecclesiology across the denominational and theological spectrum from Catholic Social Teaching, through the United Reformed Church ‘Five marks of mission’, the Anglican ‘mission shaped church’, to the new evangelical emphasis on ‘integral mission.’
There are also rich reflective and worship resources, not least in the work of the Iona Community, although we will seek to draw on resources from across the theological/liturgical spectrum.
Module Structure
The contents for each module will be structured around the four key elements laid out below, although the balance between them will vary depending on the subject matter/resources available (see the ‘Draft Outline’ document below for a diagram illustrating the module structure in more detail):
Story/Experience
Stories, quotes and other basic facts and information which illustrate the connection between poverty and social justice and the theme of the module. Opportunity for participants to explore their own stories/experience.
Going deeper/Analysis
Resources, practical exercises, discussion starters etc which help explore some of the underlying questions of ‘why’, to equip participants with some tools for better understanding the links between poverty, social justice and the theme of the module.
Faith Reflection
Faith, Biblical and theological resources (nothing too academic), and practical exercises for using them to engage with a range of theological and denominational traditions, to give participants tools for connecting issues of faith, poverty and social justice.
Planning for action
Practical ideas, case studies and exercises to enable participants to identify and agree a practical and achievable plan for on-going action (including ideas of how long it will take), which they can take themselves and/or invite others/the wider church to agree to.
For more information and resources please visit the Just Church website.
