Lutherans in the UK – Living Grace: Climate Crisis and Sustainability

CLC is happy to publish the second episode of our new podcast “Lutherans in the UK – Living Grace”. In this “Christmas” episode we highlight our responsibility as people of faith in the midst of a climate crisis – what we can do both as individuals and as active members of our communities. The episode also takes us to the Finnish Church Christmas market in London and describes the renovated St Mary’s German Lutheran Church in Sandwich Street.


Lutheran Pocast: Lutherans in the UK – Living Grace

The Council of Lutheran Churches in Great Britain is proud to present the first episode of our podcast “Lutherans in the UK – Living Grace”. The main topic of the first show is about our Lutheran identity, including an interview with the new LWF General Secretary Anne Burghardt. The second part of the podcast talks about the 60th Anniversary of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain. The programme includes a devotional by Rt Revd Jāna Jēruma-Grīnberga and many interesting stories. The podcast team included Anna Krauss, Meelis Süld, Wendy Sherer, Salla Korteniemi, Anna Viikari, Tyler Inberg, and Emily Weller.


CLC: General Meeting

General Meeting of Members – 17th June at 16:30

The General Meeting in June is fast approaching and preparations are well under way. This meeting will still be held online as the pandemic has not subsided enough for people to travel easily across borders or to meet in larger numbers indoors in mid-June.

We will hold elections for the Board of Trustees and the Nominations Committee and will present the Annual report and Accounts to the members. After the meeting, the General Secretary will give an update on the work of the Council as much has happened since the AGM in September 2020. We look forward to welcoming our members and guests as the Council is finding a new path into a challenging but nevertheless exciting future.

If you would like to attend the informal part of the meeting, please contact emily@lutheran.org.uk as soon as possible.

 


Sanctuary at Mansfield: Announcing the Lutheran Council Scholarship

The Council of Lutheran Churches (CLC) is honoured to be supporting Mansfield College, Oxford University, through the funding of a new scholarship. From October 2021, Mansfield will offer a fully funded graduate scholarship for an outstanding scholar who has been forced to migrate from their home and has sought sanctuary in the UK.

According to the UNHCR, while half of refugees worldwide are under the age of 18, only about 3% enter higher education and funding is a major barrier. This Scholarship will cover living costs and, in partnership with the University of Oxford, all fees.

Mansfield College was founded to welcome students to Oxford University who were traditionally excluded from higher education. The College is home to the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and continues to work towards creating a learning environment which holds the principles of human dignity and equality at its core.

The CLC is a communion of churches coming together to support the Lutheran presence in the United Kingdom, and in ecumenical and interfaith initiatives. Its membership includes congregations from nine European churches and the homegrown, Lutheran Church in Great Britain (of which Mansfield’s current Chaplain is a member). The CLC was founded by communities of refugees and immigrants coming together after both World Wars, to build places of sanctuary and stability as strangers in a new country.

We are delighted that through our shared commitment to supporting refugees, we have re-established our historic partnership with Mansfield. From the mid-1950 to the 1990s, Lutheran pastors were trained at Mansfield through a tutorship established by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in co-operation with the CLC. And even earlier, there were strong links between Mansfield College and members of the German Confessing Church, supporting German refugees in Oxford in the 1930s.

This new Scholarship is part of an initiative by Mansfield, working with Somerville College, to engage more closely with people seeking asylum in the United Kingdom. Both Colleges are applying for University Colleges of Sanctuary status. This scheme, which grew from the City of Sanctuary movement, aims at providing the most welcoming and accessible environment possible for refugees and asylum seekers.

Through a varied programme of activities both student-led and College-supported, Mansfield College seeks to ensure members of its community learn what it means to be seeking sanctuary, while also celebrating sanctuary seekers’ contributions to society.

“This scholarship is a wonderful opportunity for the Council of Lutheran Churches to reconnect with Mansfield College, but even more wonderful is this opportunity to support a cause very close to our own hearts and history – supporting those seeking sanctuary.”

The Rt Revd B Jørgensen, Chair, Council of Lutheran Churches

 

“Mansfield College takes welcoming, supporting and engaging with refugees and other forced migrants seriously. The Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, housed on our site, is conducting research on issues of modern slavery, and the College regularly hosts and supports workshops, events and activities designed to welcome and support refugees.

I am delighted that our community was universally so supportive of offering a refugee scholar the opportunity to study at Mansfield, and that Mansfield and Somerville Colleges are working together to apply for College of Sanctuary status.” 

Helen Mountfield QC, Principal, Mansfield College

Image courtesy of Mansfield College: Greg Smolonski © Photovibe