Just Love Lent - Church Urban Fund lent resources

Just Love Lent - Church Urban Fund lent resources Everyone longs for love. Who could possibly be against it? It seems uncontroversial. Jesus was the only human to love perfectly. The response of his fellow humans was to execute him brutally. Love is more controversial – more disruptive – than we realise. This Lent we have a range of resources based around a new book written by Angus Ritchie of the Contextual Theology Centre and our Chair Paul Hackwood. Just Love uses the Gospel readings for Lent to explore how Jesus loved, and why this love led him to the cross. It draws out the implications of his transforming love – both for our individual lives and for our social and economic order. An e-Valentine card will promote the book on Feb 14th and resources will be available for individuals, small groups, children /young people and a sermon outline. The book will be available to order on line during w/c 3 February and the kindle version is available now on Amazon.

Money speaks louder than works - latest CUF research report plus a reminder about our ABCD training event The Church of England is well-placed to make a powerful and effective contribution to the growth of the credit union sector. If a substantial proportion of the 1.7 million regular church attendees were to join a credit union – investing some of their savings or taking out small loans - the sector could well achieve its goal of growing from one to two million members. The aim of this research is to deepen our understanding of churchgoers' experience of, and attitudes towards, credit unions and so shed light on how best to encourage future engagement. The report makes recommendations about the steps that need to be taken to significantly increase membership of credit unions amongst churchgoers. These recommendations will help to encourage churchgoers to become more active supporters of credit unions, by deepening their knowledge and understanding of the sector and its value. You can download copies of the full report and the executive summary from the CUF website. The full research findings will be presented at a Synod fringe event: 1.15pm on Wednesday 12 February. If you would like to attend this event please email Bethany Eckley. Our training day on Asset-based Community Development takes place at Carr's Lane Baptist Church, Birmingham from 10am to 4pm on Thursday 10 April, 2014. Tickets cost £15 to include lunch and refreshments. Tickets and further information are available here.