Johnny Baker prints in full this very moving speech from Marie Fatayi-Williams, the mother of Anthony Fatayi-Williams, 26 and missing since Thursday’s bombs.

She articulates genuinely and passionately what many are feeling.

Your campaigning put global poverty at the top of the agenda at this year’s G8 summit.

Whether you wore a white band, sent an email or if you were one of the 225,00 people who came to Edinburgh to make their voices heard, the fact that global poverty was at the top of this year’s G8 agenda is thanks to you and thousands like you.

In the event, the G8 leaders failed to respond fully to the challenge that this historic movement of people placed before them.

You can read it fully here.

I joined the team of Epping Forest YFC for their prayer meeting today. It was great to see established people, and meet Louise who is a new member of staff. There is clearly;y a good atmosphere among these people and, although tired, very united in their mission to the young people of the area.

This morning they were kind enough to ask me to lead their prayer meeting. I did so by getting us to look at Matthew 14 where Peter jumps out of the boat. The prayer time this morning was based on a Rob Bell thought. We looked at why he would so such a mad thing. We then looked at what it meant to follow your rabbi; the fact that it meant you actually wanted to be just like your rabbi and do the things he did.

We then looked at the fact that rabbis chose their disciples. They chose the best of the best. When selecting they would ask the question, ‘can this person do what I do?’. In other words – the rabbi believed in his disciple. He chose them because he believed they could do what he did.

WE st and we contemplated that fact, the fact that Jesus chose us because he believes we can do what he did. Peter got it – that’s why he jumped out of the boat! Jesus was walking on water and so he knew he could.

I thought and wondered this morning. I bet the rest of the disciples were gutted that they did not think of that. They must have been peeved that they did not really believe in themselves as much as Peter did. The I wondered would I have taken the leap or would I have sit in the boat and played safe with everyone else?

At the end of the meeting we made paper airplanes. (thanks Sarah for the idea) Inside where they could not be seen (the luggage compartment) we wrote and drew what we WERE like. In the part of the plane you can see only when you let go (where the pilot and passengers would sit) we wrote and drew what we are like now. On the wings, in view of everyone, we wrote and drew what we were going to be.

It was strange sitting in part of London and having such a powerful silence as we contemplated where we had come from, where we were going and focusing on the idea that God believe in us.

I came across virtual theology via a comment from Simons blog.

Paul and Simon have come up with a great idea, the Bluffers Guide to Theology:

An introduction to Christian Doctrine for everyone!

This is a chance to grapple with the central questions of Christian theology. Done with the minimum of jargon and the maximum of approachability, we hope to engage you in serious theology in a relaxed way. We’ll try and answer your questions, and maybe add some new ones of our own. So here it is, a once in a lifetime’s opportunity: The Bluffer’s Guide to Christian Doctrine is running for one season only. It’s free, it’s fun, and who knows – you might learn something new!

A series of eight talks:

* Thursday July 7th God – why he doesn’t exist!
* Thursday July 14th Jesus – who is he?
* Thursday July 21st Jesus – what did he do?
* Thursday July 28th Holy Spirit – the eternal gooseberry?
* Thursday August 4th Why bother with the church?
* Thursday August 11th The end of the world and other stories …
* Thursday August 18th Reading scripture with the creed
* Thursday August 25th Keeping faith with doctrine

The summer school is free:

* Free of charge
* Free of textbooks
* Free of homework
* Free of assessment

The teachers will be Paul Roberts & Simon Taylor.

Paul and Simon both have doctorates in theology. They thought it was about time they put them to some use! In their spare time they are vicar and curate of two parishes in Bristol.

Thursday evenings in July and August.
8pm – 9.30pm.
Venue: III (Bar Three), aka The Mauritania, 9 Park Street, Bristol. UK.

If, like me, you are too far away from Bristol to enjoy or partake they are being kind enough to blog about it and post the talks up as mp3s. If you have iTunes you can podcast

Common sense at last.

What great news.

Today I managed to catch up with people from church for lunch, one of whom was Sarah!

We had lunch as team leaders of ‘Love Gillingham‘. This project was envisioned by a group of people with Sarah after Soul in the City last year. The reaction of those coming back was ‘why can’t we do this in Gillingham?’ Answer: no reason at all!

Currently we have nearly 60 people from the church who have signed up to give a week of their time from 25 – 30th July and show the local community that they are loved through practical and relevant action.

The plan was to clear up some of the less nice places around the town. Rubbish clearing, land clearing, garden tidying and so on. The local council have come up with other projects for us as well, such as helping in OAP homes, and working with children on the street. In fact we thought we would have to suggest ideas to the council, but they knew exactly what they would like us to do when Sarah and Jim met with them.

So far, everyone involved has been amazed at the local council and local business response. Councilors and officers have been amazed at the desire for people to do something for the community for nothing.

I’m going to be heading up the practical team with the help of Chris and it looks like there is going to be a mass of stuff for us to do. Our first big project will be to clear a large triangle of land which no one or everyone (!) owns. The nettles are at my waist height and there is some concern over what we might find. I am, though, looking forward to attacking those nettles with a petrol driven strimmer!

I am really excited by this project. A year ago if we tried to get 30 people together to do something like this it would have been hard work. Now we have 60! I am excited because we are going to be showing by actions that we do care. I’m excited at the new people we will meet. I’m excited at the opportunities there will be to understand people better who live around our church.

Strangely I hate laborious boring practical work – maybe god is at work there too!

The Incitement to Religious Hatred Bill has another hearing today.

I received this email from Andrea of the Lawyers Christian Fellowship on Friday:

In the last couple of weeks a series of meetings have been held in parliament with Christian leaders regarding the Incitement to Racial and Religious Hatred Bill. The Labour Party is pushing this bill through Parliament as fast as possible, with a 3rd vote of the House of Commons scheduled for Monday 11th July. The Government are then introducing the religious hatred bill into the Lords as soon as possible in the autumn session. The Bill has been provisionally scheduled for its first Lords debate on Tuesday 11th October. (the second day after the summer recess)

Urgent action is required by all Christians in the UK.

If the Bill becomes Law, any Christian can be prosecuted for sharing his or her beliefs, be gagged from sharing their faith and even imprisoned for up to 7 years if others claim they feel insulted and the words are deemed likely to stir up religious hatred. This is outrageous and we need to be outraged by it. (Please see attached short paper I prepared to address Christian leaders in parliament and also visit our web site http://www.lawcf.org)

We have prayed and continue to pray. Now our faith and prayers must be coupled together with action.

We need Christians to lobby their local MP and encourage them to vote against the Bill. This needs to be done today and at the latest by Monday. You can contact your MP, before Monday’s vote, by emailing your MP (surnameinitial@parliament.uk) or fax via the internet at http://www.faxyourmp.com to express your views. An appointment or telephone conversation can be made by calling 0207 219 3000 and asking for the office of your MP. Today, Friday, your local MP may well be holding a constituency surgery which you could try and visit Your local MP must understand the voting power of Christians.

Further action can be gathered by you contacting your local radio station and getting them to petition your MP on the views you have expressed about the bill and how they propose to vote.

To support these efforts a rally is being organised by a broad coalition of Christian groups outside the Houses of Parliament on Monday 11th July at 1.30pm so that Christians can express their concerns about the Bill. It would be good if you could take a day’s annual leave/ half day/an extended lunchtime break and join the rally to let the Government and the House of Commons know that there is real opposition to the Bill, and the strength of the Christian movement.

and this update this morning:

Further to recent emails regarding the Incitement to Racial and Religious Hatred Bill, thousands of Christians throughout the UK are responding to the encouragement of their Church Leaders, to lobby parliament with their concerns by taking action on Monday 11th July.

In order to make a demonstrative impact, Christians are being asked to join the queue outside St Stephen’s Gate, House of Parliament, at 1.30pm and form a line around the House and onto Westminster Bridge, if necessary. A petition (attached) representing hundreds of thousands of Christians will be delivered to Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street at 9am

It is your constitutional right to enter the ‘Central Lobby’ and ask to see your MP. Although your MP may not honour your request. Also, you can enter the ‘Public Gallery’ during the reading and debating of the Bill.

It is important to stress that the media and world will be watching, therefore, we must demonstrate the heart of Christ by acting with good behaviour; showing the grace, peace and love that comes with our Christian faith.

Let us be continually prayerful as we queue and wait, with thanksgiving, making melody in our hearts and with our voices.

We have just heard that we will have representation on the Today programme tomorrow and that the BBC, ITN AND Sky are interested in filming our activities. Let us continue to pray for maximum impact for the glory of Christ.

Andrea Minichiello Williams
Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship Public Policy Officer
http://www.lawcf.org

I can’t be in London today, but I will be wayching with interest.

I like Sundays when they are bright, sunny and cool people come to lunch.

Today Den and Sharron visited with their lovely children and we had our first BBQ of the year in our new garden. It was great.

We then had a walk afterwards along the Darland Banks and on our return I got some free advice on my bonsai from Den. My little tree will not die now!

Thanks Den, Sharron, Jake and Jess – it was great being with you today.

Oh yeh – Beth passed her jazz exam too – so well done Beth!

I only buy a paper on a Saturday and like to sit and read the Guardian. Much of what I read sickened me and brought back feelings of outrage, somehow more intense as I have read the words of others whom this has had a far more direct effect that on me.

I can’t imagine what can possibly make a person think that if he or she plants a bomb and murders people that it will do any good to their cause. How can it? What are these people thinking? Why should killing innocent defenceless people be acceptable to them and make them think things will change for them?

If anything, surely, acts like this further alienate them and harden any support there may have been towards their cause.

In the Guardian on Saturday David Clark makes an obvious point; ‘the war on terror is not working’. He suggests we need a new way forward, a way forward that ‘attacks’ the conditions that breed recruiting grounds:

An effective strategy can be developed, but it means turning our attention away from the terrorists and on to the conditions that allow them to recruit and operate. No sustained insurgency can exist in a vacuum.

I wonder if this is the correct way forward. We have allowed Bush and his advisors to push the world down one path to beat terrorism. The path that says seek and destroy. The path that says shoot and ask later. The path that says lock up people illegally on an island. These strategies all come from a bygone era, to counteract a bygone enemy that could be easily seen, identified and was connected quite strongly to an organisation or government.

It seems al-Qaida and others are far more diverse than that. They are not an organization as such, they are not easily indentifiable. They are underground,

Ironically, G8 which the bombs disrupted were looking at how the poverty and anger that causes such breeding grounds could be eliminated. People, like Bush, have expressed exasperation that while they were looking to save lives and bring poverty to an end, that this group were trying to destroy life.

On reflection I am not surprised. Could it be that the big fear of groups like al-Qaida is the end of poverty. End poverty, give Palestine a state, breed equality and understanding – if they all happened where would al-Qaida recruit? Surely if we seriously worked towards those goals the recruitment ground would dry up. Could it be that al-Qaida has realised this and so deliberately wants to prolong the conditions of poverty to be used in their own misguided interest?

I don’t know. It’s something to consider. The truth is, however, that Madrid, Bali and now London show ‘war on terror’ doe not work. Lets try ‘war on poverty’ instead.

Rightly our thoughts and prayers continue to go to the injured and bereaved. I note that Thursday at midday is to be a 2 minute silence of remembrance. The Red Cross have started to collect donations for the families of the victims – you can donate here.

The 2005 G8 Summit took place against a background of tragedy. The attacks in London yesterday focused all of our attentions on the terrible waste that each and every life lost always represents. Our thoughts are with the friends and family of those killed and those who were injured.

At a time when terrorists have shown such disregard for our shared humanity, Make Poverty History is a living embodiment of it.

Never before have so many people stood in solidarity with the poor. While there is a great deal more G8 leaders should have done in Gleneagles, today they responded to our campaign for justice by making significant commitments to increase aid, cancelling some of the debts of some of the world’s poorest countries, and saying they will apply fewer conditions to them. They also agreed to strive for access to AIDS treatment for all by 2010. These commitments will give hope and life to millions of the world’s poorest people, and they’re down to you.

Are you wearing a white band? Remembering all the emails you’ve sent? Did you rally along with quarter of a million people in Edinburgh last weekend? Then you helped deliver the pressure that made 2005 the year the world accelerated on the road towards justice.

Today’s announcement marks a turning point in the human story, but it falls far short of the plan that would truly make poverty history. To do that, and secure a place in history, world leaders must go a lot further at 2 crucial talks later in the year – the UN Millennium Development Goals summit and World Trade Organisation talks – and we need your continued help to make sure they act.

Millions of people are trapped in the prison of poverty. Today the G8 chose not to do all that we have asked them that could set those people free. The people of the world are already on the road to justice. They expect their leaders to be with them. Today’s announcement has shown that the G8 need to run much faster to catch up.

The Make Poverty History Team

P.S. This year the UK government have responded to campaigners by placing Africa on the agenda as a priority for the G8. They have worked hard with European Union and G8 colleagues to deliver significant steps toward debt cancellation and more and better aid. Throughout this summit the government have demonstrated leadership on these vital issues. We must keep up the pressure on them to ensure they show the same commitment for the rest of this crucial year and beyond.