The Church of England has published a ‘toolkit’ of resources for parishes seeking to help refugees and evacuees from Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion of the country.
The material, available online, brings together advice on how churches can welcome people arriving from Ukraine through giving, longer-term practical support such as community sponsorship, prayer and advocacy, as well as links to other sources of information including safeguarding.
The toolkit includes a brief guide to what is happening in Ukraine and the humanitarian response, together with details of organisations and appeals.
It also contains information on how parishes and individuals can take action to support those arriving both through the family visa scheme and the humanitarian sponsor scheme, advocacy and prayer and theological resources for churches.
This week the Sanctuary Foundation - which organises events to help people learn how to welcome refugees into their communities - held a special webinar about the Ukrainian refugee situation.
It included input from experienced refugee experts, Ukrainian refugees, people who have experience hosting refugees and government officials involved in designing the programme. Click above to view.
Ukraine Vigil and Support
Churches continue to collect supplies and give money towards the plight of the millions of Ukrainian refugees. Thank you to everyone who continues to help.
On Saturday the Rev Jonny Gios led a group up to the summit of Great Gable for a special mountain top vigil and a cream teas event organised by St Andrew's Mirehouse and Ignite Network Youth Church raised £1,250.
With other donations that amount was boosted to more than £1,700 and was donated towards helping with the costs of transporting aid to Poland via the West Cumbria Ukrainian Appeal.
The Archbishop of York has paid tribute to the Cumbrian community spirit during his first visit to the county since enthronement yesterday (Thursday 17 March).
Archbishop Stephen Cottrell joined the Bishop of Carlisle, the Rt Rev James Newcome, who is currently completing a Lent walk across the Diocese of Carlisle, with the two meeting a local marathon man fundraiser and spending time with members of West Cumbria Ukrainian Appeal.
The Rev Nicky Pennington hosted the pair as they also met parishioners and school children in the Crosslacon Team (Cleator Moor, Cleator, Arlecdon and Frizington) before later heading to Ennerdale.
Archbishop Stephen and Bishop James were able to bless two vans laden with goods and medical supplies just before local people waved the drivers off on their journey to a refugee camp in Poland.
Click above to watch a short film of Archbishop Stephen's visit to west Cumbria.
Cathedral Volunteers Sought
Carlisle Cathedral are looking to recruit new volunteers to assist during their historic 900th anniversary celebrations.
Do you think you could be the friendly face that welcomes a visitor? How about being ‘front of house’ at one of the 900 anniversary events? Would you like to learn more about the Cathedral so that you can guide people around one of the most beautiful buildings in Cumbria?
The Energy Footprint Tool (EFT) is now open for churches to calculate their 2021 carbon footprint.
If your church is starting to work towards the Net Zero by 2030 target, the EFT will give you a baseline carbon footprint that you can start to work from.
Click here for instructions and here to complete the EFT.
Cathedral Lent Reflections - God's Tent
Through Lent, Carlisle Cathedral is delighted to be offering a series of online talks exploring some of the journeys we are all being called to travel through our contemporary world. From the challenges of the climate emergency to long-Covid we will explore what spiritual gifts we can take to sustain us on the way.
This week the talk is given by the Rev Canon Dr Benjamin Carter, Canon Warden at Carlisle Cathedral. Drawing on his experience developing a Fresh Expression of Church called God’s Tent, Benjamin invites us to think about what we learnt and gained from the experience of online worship through the wilderness journey of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Pioneer Certificate Taster Event
The Certificate in Pioneer Mission is a course designed and awarded by Church Mission Society, run in collaboration with God for All Cumbria it provides a foundation for pioneering mission.
The course runs over a year, with six teaching weekends in Penrith and small groups in between. You can read more about the course here. The next course will be running in September 2022.
We are hosting an in-person taster event for the course at Church House Penrith on Saturday 2 April where we will be joined by Jonny Baker Director of Mission Education at Church Mission Society.
Churches are encouraged to play a part in a forthcoming National Day of Reflection on Wednesday 23 March - the two year anniversary of the UK's first Covid lockdown.
The National Day of Reflection, coordinated by the charity Marie Curie and officially supported by the Church of England, is a special day to reflect together on loss and grief.
The focus of the day will be a minute's silence at 12 noon and churches are also encouraged to consider developing services on Sunday 20 March that detail the Day of Reflection – worship and prayer resources are provided to help further.
A reminder that churches which may want to feed into the Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission on Reimagining Care, have only a few days left in which to do so.
The Commission aims to develop a radical and inspiring long-term vision for care and support underpinned by a renewed set of values and principles, drawing on Christian theology and ethics.
As part of the work of the Commission, the Diocese of Carlisle has been asked to provide examples for the ways in which church and faith communities are providing support and care, focusing on people in later life and adults with disabilities.
We are interested in examples from all denominations and faith traditions. For further information please contact Jo Philips and please note that submissions must be made by Tuesday 22 March, 2022.
Click here for more information about the Commission.
Prayer Diary Editor Needed
The Ecumenical Prayer Diary is produced on a monthly basis online and is well used by many churches.
For the last twelve years it has been edited by the Rev Canon Cameron Butland who is now looking to hand this over.
The role of the editor is to create the framework of the prayers. The actual prayer intentions are collated from a number of sources. The prayer diary itself is create by the Bishop of Penrith's PA, Sarah Marshall-Ellison, and therefore the editor has oversight but there is no need to do any word processing.
Click here to email Cameron if you are interested in the role.
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The Church of England has published a ‘toolkit’ of resources for parishes seeking to help refugees and evacuees from Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion of the country.
The Energy Footprint Tool (EFT) is now open for churches to calculate their 2021 carbon footprint.
The Certificate in Pioneer Mission is a course designed and awarded by Church Mission Society, run in collaboration with God for All Cumbria it provides a foundation for pioneering mission.
