Celebrating three decades of Christians Aware

Bishop Angaelos, Barbara Butler

Christians Aware was described as a source of "accumulated wisdom and purpose" at its 30th anniversary conference in Derbyshire last weekend. It's chair, Coptic Archbishop Angaelos, also told around 60 members that its work on such issues as religious freedom, social justice and climate change is "important and effective". He applauded Christian Aware's "grassroots work" and its "straightforward message of witness and advocacy". Barbara Butler, the Executive Secretary was described as "a powerhouse - having a vision and bringing people on board to share that vision".

Christians Aware is a Leicester-based ecumenical educational and religious charity which stimulates work between Christians, other faiths and the secular world specifically on the promotion of Justice and Peace. It does this with a programme of special interest groups, conferences, work-camps, books, a magazine and international exchanges. There is a summer school in North Yorkshire in July, and forthcoming educational trips include a visit to Zambia at the end of May. Participants at the conference included many with significant experience of working in the global south, and concerned about development issues.

The theme of the gathering at The Hayes Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire was 'Future Earth? Sustainability for the Environment, for Farming and for Healthy Food.' A key resource book was 'Just Food. Food and Farming for a Sustainable Future,' edited by Barbara Butler. "We have chosen this focus because we know that there is an urgency for farming and the environment to move together towards a sustainable future" she said.

Speaker Professor John Wibberley from the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester spoke about the resilience of Britain's small farmers and moves towards sustainable agriculture. Claudine McCready and Barbara Woods - the daughter and biographer of E.F. Schumacher, author of 'Small is Beautiful' - gave ideas on living more simply and expressing gratitude to God through prayer for the blessings of the natural world. Artist Adam Boulter showed through his environmental paintings that all places are sacred and should be respected as part of God's creation, rather than commodified. David Buckland, who is also an artist, showed his artistic projection onto a melting iceberg in the Arctic that "Another world is possible". A Christian Aid seminar on Climate Change called for urgent action to keep warming beneath the 1.5 degrees threshold, including reducing fossil fuel use.

Ellen Teague of the Columban JPIC team gave the final input, pulling together conference themes and underling initiatives and campaigns for follow up. These included: Eating less meat, supporting fairtrade, advocacy work on climate change and biodiversity, and bringing environmental care into church liturgy.

Christians Aware is a membership organisation.

For more information see: www.christiansaware.co.uk