Newsletter 122 November 2020
|
Dear Friends
I hope this finds you well, especially amidst this second
lockdown and all the accompanying challenges. At JPIT, we’ve been encouraged by
how churches have continued to Stay Alert to Justice, by seeking to ensure that, once again,
everyone has the support they need.
This month, we’ve got information about how your church can
extend welcome to EU citizens by supporting applications to the EU Settlement
Scheme. We’ve also got actions you can take to Invest in Change, and blogs,
tweets and podcasts on the US Election, UK Internal Market Bill and COP26.
|
As always, we are holding in prayer all those seeking
justice and peace in these challenging times.
Every Blessing
Hannah & the JPIT team
|
Can you help to ensure EU citizens can call the UK home
after 30th June 2021?
There are over 3.5 million EU nationals who call the UK
their home. As churches we want to create a society which welcomes everyone,
valuing the contribution and presence of everyone in our congregations and
communities. But in order for EU citizens to stay legally in the UK after we leave the
EU, they have to apply for a new immigration status, referred to as EU Settled
Status, by the 30th June 2021.
We’ve produced resources, aimed at helping church leaders
and those who work in the community, which signposts some of the available
support and outlines the process of application.
We’ve also got additional information for churches in Scotland, and
resources tailored towards supporting an application by someone who is
homeless.
|
Join us for a Coffee Break
|
We’ve teamed up with charity Settled to offer a short
session to equip you to support someone through an application to the EU
settlement scheme.
The session will include an outline of the application
process, information about who might need support and how you can provide it,
and there will be time for any questions you might have.
Grab a coffee and join us on Friday 27 November at 11–11:30am.
|
Homeless Outreach in the Age of Covid: a
JPIT/Housing Justice Webinar
|
4-4:45pm
Tuesday 24th November
Join JPIT
and Housing Justice for a webinar exploring church responses to homelessness in
the winter of coronavirus. We’ll explore the effects of Covid-19 on
homelessness outreach this our usual church responses would be more challenging or impossible this year. This webinar is
aimed at faith groups and community organisers needing to change hoe they care for homelessness people this winter.
Chair:
Rachel Lampard, JPIT Team Leader and President of Housing Justice
Panelists:
Jacob
Quagliozzi, Housing Justice Director of England
Tony
Miller, Director of Whitechapel Mission
Jon Khurt, Specialist
Rough Sleeping Adviser fir the UK Government’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and former CEO of West London Mission
|
This
week would have been the second week of COP26, the UN’s committee on climate
change. Find out more about what will happen when it meets in Glasgow next
year, and why it’s so important for churches to get involved.
|
 |
 |
Want
to get your church mobilised to take action ahead of COP26? Sign up for Climate
Sunday, the biggest UK ecumenical movement for COP26.
|
Last week, debt
charity Stepchange released a report that suggested 2.5 million people are
at risk of financial crisis due to Coronavirus. Today, the
Joseph Rowntree Foundation has estimated that 2.5 million households are
worried about how they will pay their rent over the winter months, and 700,000
households are already in rental arrears.
It’s still vitally important that we call on the UK government to take action to address the growing household debt crisis in the UK
brought on by Covid-19. That’s why we’re calling on the government to Reset The
Debt.
Why not run a small group session online to
explore Reset The Debt, and some of the theology behind debt forgiveness? You
can find our 45-minute online session plan here.
|
Pray with us about Reset The Debt, using our video and
written prayers.
These are available to download, to share in a church online
service or on social media.
|
We’ve
updated the seminal report and study guide Hope in God’s Future, to help
individuals, churches and small groups explore Christian discipleship in the
context of climate change.
|
 |
|
“The expansion of emergency food provision through foodbanks
and vouchers cannot however be a long-term solution. We need a welfare system
that is strong enough to hold back hunger. Today it does not provide this, and
yet current plans are to remove the £20 a week uplift to Universal Credit next
April. That vital lifeline must be kept.”
|
Should the Government
break the law? Scottish Churches say it would be disastrous.
In early November, Scottish Church Leaders wrote a joint
letter to Scottish MPs and Peers on the UK Internal Market Bill, expressing
four major concerns about the proposed legislations. David Bradwell of the
Church of Scotland offers an insight into why Scottish church leaders are so
concerned.
|
|
 |
Decades in the
making: nuclear weapons banned by comprehensive UN treaty
At the end of October, UN Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) reached fifty ratifications and will enter into legal
force after a period of ninety days. Lucy explores why this is such a win for
campaigners who seek to see an end to Nuclear Weapons, and how you can be part of Investing in Change.
You can also now follow our project Investing in Change on twitter! Check them out at @UKNWFRG.
|
|
 |
In the first episode of Season 4, join new hosts Meg and
Rodney as they interview Shane Claiborne, co-founder of the Simple Way and
author of Red Letter Christians. Shane reflects on the US election, and
proposes a model of ‘politically engaged but non-partisan’ Christians in the
politics sphere. Meg and Rodney muse on this idea, and what it really means to
be ‘non-partisan’.
|
|
>
