A group of churches and mosques have announced a new phase of dialogue aimed at encouraging Christians and Muslims to meet and share conversations in their local settings.

The scheme brings together a church, from a variety of denominations, and a mosque in a shared neighbourhood and offers them guidance about how they might go about setting up a local conversation. Now that faith centres are open once again after the covid lockdowns, this could be held at a place of worship or over a shared meal for instance.

The December/January edition of Reform is a 48-page bumper issue.

It's full to bursting – reports from COP26, childhood Christmas reminiscing, Assembly Executive, Philip Yancey's extraordinary memoir, Sanctuary Cafe, Christmas giving guide, therapy in Palestine, slavery in your local church community, and fond memories of Reform's 1980s editor, Norman Hart. And, of course, more.

Reform will keep you going through Christmas, and be back in the new year for more news, comment, inspiration and debate.

The autumn meeting of the United Reformed Church (URC) Assembly Executive opened on 22 November at at High Leigh Conference Centre, Hoddesdon, with a welcome by the Revd Clare Downing, Moderator of the URC General Assembly. 

Opening worship was led by the Revd Helen Everard, Moderator’s Chaplain. She introduced a hymn by Graham Adams, ‘We come to praise our God’. Its assertion that “we who commit to Christ… love diversity” was the focus of the reading from the book of Acts – the story of Cornelius, a centurion who accepts the gospel preached by the apostle Peter and is remembered as the first named gentile to convert to Christianity.

In response to the deaths of 27 people who died while attempting to cross the English Channel last week, Roo Stewart, United Reformed Programme (URC) Support Officer for Church and Society, offers ‘27’ a reflective poem and suggestions for action.

27

27 people – and more – have lost their lives
in search of a better one:
27 children and adults at sea.
Others were content to take their money:
an empty promise, a false hope,
set adrift on a flimsy inflatable boat.