Ecumenical Resource on Diversity and Inclusion
The Irish Council of Churches’ Free Resource Called: From Every Nation? A Handbook for a congregation’s journey from welcome to belonging
This year’s Annual Meeting of the Irish Council of Churches (ICC) included the launch of an excellent resource that may be of interest for churches and local Churches Together groups across Norfolk and Waveney. The resource is called: From Every Nation? A Handbook for a congregation’s journey from welcome to belonging. It aims to help equip churches with an understanding of diversity and inclusion, and to support actions at the local church level to improve inclusion and work towards racial justice through faith.
Speaking after the launch of the handbook, Bishop Andrew Forster (Immediate Past President of the ICC) said, “We’re thrilled to be able to introduce this handbook as a comprehensive guide exploring the intersection of faith, diversity, and anti–racism. We hope those involved in church leadership will find it useful in fostering deeper belonging for all in their church.”
CTBI’s (Churches Together in Britain and Ireland’s) Director of Justice and Inclusion, Richard Reddie, gave the keynote address. Reflecting on the resource, he said “Racial justice ‘is everyone’s business’ and ‘is unfinished business’. Often many Christians don’t engage in these matters because they do not feel equipped to do so – they don’t want to say the ‘wrong thing’ and offend people. But if Christianity is for everyone, it behoves us all to engage and it’s great to see this handbook exploring these matters…”
Each of the traditions we belong to across England have developed their own excellent resources to support the Christian commitment for promoting justice and equality for all. The ICC resource complements these and, in my view, is a very readable and accessible document that, of course, is free! I hope you find it as useful as I did in developing a better understanding of diversity and inclusion as we work together in building a Church where everyone belongs.
The free handbook is available here.
By Dr Ian Watson, County Ecumenical Officer for NWCT
Photo and Material taken from Churches in Ireland: ConnectingTogether in Christ: https://www.irishchurches.org