One of the key questions that Rev Canon Dr Angus Ritchie will be exploring as part of the Micah lecture on Monday 10th June will be how do we create bigger opportunities to develop a justice agenda for our city and see some of the large scale change we long for?
Rev Canon Dr Ellen Loudon, Director of Social Justice said, “Community Organising is an approach to social action that could be useful for your social justice work”.
Rev Jude Padfield from St James in the City thinks that this might be the moment for organisations across the Diocese to adopt the Citizens UK methodology, like Birmingham, Tyne and Wear, Leeds and Manchester have already.
He told us
“Prior to moving to Liverpool in 2012, I had the privilege of working with Citizens UK in London to partner with other organisations on issues of social change. Supporting asylum seekers, homelessness, housing, street safety, the living wage; all great campaigns where the loud voice of multiple institutions in partnership made the difference. There are multiple ways of getting at this kind of organic, positive change, but I was very impressed with the Community Organising methodology of Citizens UK as they prioritised the voice of the marginalised and concentrated on developing people at every level in an organisation to exercise influence and leadership.
“Over the past seven years, I’ve watched the Citizens UK methodology spread to other cities. There are now eleven Community Organising regional hubs around the country and several new areas exploring this as a tool to essentially do local politics and effect social change.
“In many ways, Liverpool is already a front runner in Community Organising. There are lots of local networks of people and institutions partnering to make a difference. That’s a wonderful thing and a testament to the general goodness and latent faith of which there is so much in our city.
“We will look at in detail in a Community Organising on Wednesday 10th July 11 am - 2 pm at St James in the City Church If you are interested, we’d love to have you and the organisation(s) you are part of involved.”