The Brixton disturbances of April 1981 among other things, prompted Archbishop Robert Runcie to set up the Archbishop's Commission on Urban Priority Areas. This led to the publication of the Faith in the City Report in December 1985 with its recommendations for church and nation, which proved a great stimulus for urban ministry across the whole of the UK church. In 2021 the issues of social inequality, racial justice, and the failure of the Church to flourish and grow in urban settings have not gone away, although the enthusiasm for urban ministry of the late 1980s seems to have waned.

Urban Mission 40 Years On (2021) written by Greg Smith, Associate Research Fellow of the William Temple Foundation, offers an overview of urban ministry since the early 1980s and draws out some important lessons from the last 40 years. Are there distinctive characteristics and key principles that are transferable to new places, new times, and a new generation of practitioners? As we head, post-pandemic, towards a ‘new normal’ for urban society and the church there are exciting opportunities to be grasped, says Greg Smith.

In this webinar we want to reflect on the work that has been done, the learning that has been necessary, the changing social context, the joys and disappointments, and our discerning of the way God has been at work and the challenge that remains.

Speakers:

Greg Smith - will summarise the key themes of the Tract

followed by responses from

Dr Anna Ruddick , a community theologian and researcher who facilitates reflection and learning for leaders, congregations and Christian organisations seeking to deepen and strengthen their relationships with their communities. She is the author of "Reimagining Mission from Urban Places; Missional Pastoral Care, published by SCM.

Rev Dr Israel Oluwole Olofinjana, the Evangelical Alliance's One People Commission director and an ordained and accredited Baptist minister who has led two multi-ethnic Baptist churches and an independent charismatic church. He is the founding director of Centre for Missionaries from the Majority World, a mission network initiative that provides cross-cultural training to reverse missionaries in Britain. Israel is an honorary research fellow at The Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education in Birmingham and is on the advisory group on Race and Theology at the Society for the Study of Theology. He is the author of Reverse in Ministry and Missions: Africans in the Dark Continent of Europe (2010), 20 Pentecostal Pioneers in Nigeria (2011) and Partnership in Mission: A Black Majority Church Perspective on Mission and Church Unity (Instant Apostle, 2015).

Bishop Laurie Green, formerly Bishop of Bradwell, co-ordinator of the National Estates Churches Network and author of numerous books on urban theology which are listed at https://lauriegreen.org/books/books%20by%20laurie.html

The event will conclude with a time of questions:

Download your copy Urban Mission 40 Years On and try to read it before the seminar