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Ministries Council

 Church of Scotland emblem

PRIORITY AREAS
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Wider Church and Society

Whilst there is a great deal of talk about 'the problem of poverty' the real problem is one of wealth. In this area of work, the Priority Areas Committee supports a range of initiatives which help people struggling against poverty to be heard. It also encourages the sharing of knowledge and resources between wealthy and poor parishes.

You can find out about these initiatives below:
Just Church
Twinning
Together for a change
Priority Areas Forum
Poverty Truth Commission

Just Church

We recognize that concern for social justice and equality lies at the heart of the Gospel. Just Church is a programme of action/reflection to enable local churches to integrate concerns for poverty and social justice into their on-going lives and faith journeys as congregations and individual Christians. The programme is available as a free download from www.justchurch.info/ and if you need any help to launch it in your congregation, please contact our offices.

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Twinning

Twinning brings together churches in a relationship marked by a genuine friendship and solidarity in working for the most deprived in society. In doing so, there is a conscious commitment to understanding and developing a 'church' for the present and future times. Currently, 32 such twinnings exist between churches in Scotland.

Information on the process and principles of twinning can be downloaded below in Word [.doc], rich text [.rtf] and text only [.txt] formats.

Twinning: what is it?

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[.doc]
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[.rtf]
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[.txt]
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Principles of Twinning

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Twinning: how to begin?

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[.rtf]
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[.txt]
3(KB)
Sample covenant template

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Together for a Change

Meeting friends from the Gambia
 Together for a Change is about people with a direct experience of poverty in Scotland and in other parts of the world learning together and challenging people in power to work differently.

Over the last three years it has supported a range of pioneering exchanges between Royston (Glasgow) & Bakau (The Gambia) and between Ruchazie (Glasgow) and Baula (Malawi).
Through these astonishing relationships a range of new developments have taken place in all four communities. Four new communities - to take part in Together for a Change - are currently being identified.

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Priority Areas Forum

The Priority Areas Forum is a by-annual 'coming together' of representatives from the different councils of the church - all with a shared agenda that keeps in mind that at the centre of all the work done within and by the church, lies our deep and proven concern for the poorest in the society. The latest outcomes from the last Forum meeting are available below.

Download the latest outcomes

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[.rtf]
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[.txt]
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Poverty Truth Commission

The Poverty Truth Commission (21st March, 2009 in Glasgow) is an event that will help to focus an ongoing organising campaign to prepare people who have experienced poverty to participate in decisions that affect their lives. Using the South African slogan 'NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US IS FOR US' we believe it is essential that local people have the primary voice in anti-poverty decisions. To learn more about the Poverty Truth Commission, contact Paul Chapman.

 

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In this section

Introduction
Welcome to the Priority Areas pages

Wider church and society
Twinning, priority areas forum, Just Church and Together for a Change

New models of church
Transforming lives, Soul Marks, and developing creative ways to bring the Church to priority parishes

New models of community
Faith in Community, Transformation Team, and other projects and work in the community

News and events
Priority area e-news and forthcoming events

Resources
Information and resources to download

Priority Area videos
Big Hearted Communities features the work in some of the priority areas.

Contact us
How to get in touch with the priority areas team

Related areas
Ministries Council
The remit and work of the Ministries Council

 

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