Between: surveys

Showing posts with label surveys. Show all posts

Wednesday, 4 January 2023

Artlyst: Surveying New Exhibitions With A Spiritual Twist January 2023 Art Diary

My January diary for Artlyst surveys current & upcoming exhibitions at the turn of the year to find evidence of the breadth and depth of the past and present engagement between art and spirituality. Includes: Nick Cave; M.K Čiurlionis; Samson Kambalu; Kamala Ibrahim Ishag; Sin; Marya Kazoun; Korakrit Arunanondchai; The Blind Jesus; Zayn Qahtani; Peter Callesen; Maja Lisa Engelhardt; Mike Nelson; Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers; The Rossettis; Hilma Af Klint and Piet Mondrian; Saint Francis of Assisi; Peter Howson; Paula Rego; and Pesellino: A Renaissance Master Revealed:

'Surveying current and upcoming exhibitions at the turn of the year provides evidence of the breadth and depth of the past and present engagement between art and spirituality ...

From renaissance altarpieces to sci-fi installations via an international collection of artists drawn from across the ages and works influenced by Christianity, humanism, shamanism, spiritualism, theosophy, and Zār, means that a breadth of exploration characterises the engagement between art and spirituality to be experienced in 2023.'

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -

Monthly diary articles -

Articles/Reviews -

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Nick Cave - Fireflies.

Saturday, 1 August 2015

Paul-Gordon Chandler and The Bridge

Paul-Gordon Chandler will be preaching at St Martin-in-the-Fields tomorrow during the 10.00am Parish Eucharist as The Bridge exhibition comes to a close.

Paul is an author, interfaith advocate, social entrepreneur and U.S. Episcopal priest who has worked extensively in the Middle East. He is Founder and President of CARAVAN, the international peace-building arts non-profit (NGO) that builds bridges through the arts between the Middle East and West, and has brought The Bridge exhibition to life. Paul has much to share about its inspiration and journey.

The Bridge is a groundbreaking interfaith gathering of premier and emerging artists, focusing on what they hold in common through their Arab, Persian and Jewish cultures, and their Christian, Muslim and Jewish creeds.

Have you come to view the exhibition while it has been at St Martin's? If so, we would love to know what you thought. We have created a short survey which poses questions we hope will help you think about it a little deeper. Take part in the survey here.

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Malek Jandali - Caravan.

Monday, 9 February 2015

Church in Action: National Survey

Last October I provided information to the Church in Action survey about the social issues in the parish of St John's Seven Kings and the ways in which the church is supporting people in the community.

Today, the final report of this survey is being launched with findings which are impressive in showing the scale of Anglican churches' involvement in their local communities, from food banks and parent toddler groups to night shelters and lunch clubs.

'Social action is not an optional side project for the Church; it is core to its heart and mission. The commitment to this calling can be clearly seen in the scale and diversity of activities offered by local churches, ranging from food banks and debt advice, to lunch clubs and fitness classes. Not only do churches offer services that meet specific needs, they also create spaces for people to connect with and get to know others, helping to build stronger and more resilient communities. Over the last few years, there has been renewed recognition of the vital contribution churches make to our society and to the common good. Their presence within communities enables churches to offer holistic and relational support to people who are struggling with different aspects of poverty: a lack of resources, an absence of strong and supportive relationships and/or a poor sense of self-worth. This report reveals the scale and nature of Anglican social action in England. It does not capture the extensive and vital work being done by churches of other denominations. In sharing the results of our recent survey, we are able to highlight and celebrate the contribution that churches are already making to their local communities.

The key findings are:

95% of church leaders believe that tackling poverty in their local area is a vital activity for a healthy church – 59% agree strongly, up from 44% in 2011. Furthermore, the proportion of leaders saying this is a fundamental part of the mission of their church has increased from 44% to 53% in the last three years.
Loneliness is seen as the most significant social problem in local communities – cited by 64% of church leaders – followed by family breakdown, debt, lack of self-esteem and low income.
87% of churches support people who are experiencing loneliness, either by providing organised activities (46%) or informal help (41%). On average, churches are addressing seven social issues, and a third are tackling nine or more.
The scale of church-based social action is impressive: 76% of churches run activities in local schools, 66% help to run food banks, 60% offer parent and toddler groups and 53% organise lunch clubs or drop-ins.
The number of churches involved in running food banks has doubled in the last three years. A fifth of churches are also involved in helping credit unions in some way, a strong show of support for the Archbishop of Canterbury’s initiative.'

The full report and the summary can be downloaded at: www.cuf.org.uk/church-in-action.

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Mavis Staples - In Christ There Is No East Or West.

Friday, 7 November 2014

Sophia Hub update

Ros Southern writes:

Firstly for those who have been involved in Sophia Hubs for a while as users or partners, PLEASE take 5 minutes to give us some feedback. Click here for the survey.

Tuesday lunchtime enterprise club - 12.45 - 2.30 at St John's Church. Come and hear from Ludmila Adamiak who has set up the Flirt Polish cafe and meeting rooms in Ilford. An opportunity to learn from Ludmila and each other and maybe engage in some negotiation about using the cafe and meeting rooms to help yours and Flirt cafe's business! More info here.

Timebank news - We are setting up a curry cooking evening and a trading floor (at Flirt cafe?). Interested? More info click here.

The Sophia course is up and running. Find out about it here. I would like to fill 2 more places to make it 10 this Monday. More info here.

The pop up enterprise club has now closed in the Ilford Exchange - but here's a little information about the closing event.

The Seven Kings Business group are running the 2nd Seven Kings Winter Fayre to help develop business and community relationships and markets. Great idea! For info click here.

Finally please follow our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter, @SophiaHubs7K. This would really help! All information is on my blog if links don't work for any reason - http://sophiahubs7k.wordpress.com/.

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Fuse ODG - Office Work (ft. Mr Hackett).

Thursday, 16 February 2012

Christendom is on the way out

Responding to the Ipsos-Mori survey of 'census Christians' commissioned by the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science UK, Simon Barrow, co-director of the Christian think-tank Ekklesia, has made what is in my view a very accurate and sensible response:

"This opinion survey makes interesting reading as part of a whole web of research on the changing shape and location of Christianity in Britain over the past thirty or more years.

"It shows that 'civic' and 'cultural' Christian self-identification is a very different thing to the deeply-rooted faith held by a much smaller number of people whose believing, belonging and behaving is strongly shaped by regular participation in active Christian communities.

"While we can argue over details, the broad outline of what this survey reveals should not come as any shock or threat to church leaders who have been paying attention to what has been happening in recent decades.

"Top-down and institutional religion is in decline. Trying to restore or maintain the cultural and political dominance of Established religious institutions in what is now a mixed-belief 'spiritual and secular' society is a backward-looking approach.

"Churches have a creative opportunity here. It is to rediscover a different, ground-up vision of Christianity based on practices like economic sharing, peacemaking, hospitality and restorative justice. These were among the distinguishing marks of the earliest followers of Jesus. They have always been part of the 'nonconformist' tradition shared in different ways by Anabaptists, Quakers, radical Catholics, Free Churches and faithful dissenters in all streams of Christian life.

"The mutually reinforcing pact between big religion and top-down authority that we call 'Christendom' is on the way out.

"The kind of conservative religious aggression that claims 'anti-Christian discrimination' every time Christians are asked to treat others fairly and equally in the public square is a threatened response to the loss of top-down religion's social power. So is overbearing 'Christian nation' rhetoric, and the 'culture wars' that some hardline believers and non-believers sometimes seek to launch and win against each other.

"A positive, post-Christendom perspective suggests that Christianity can and should flourish beyond the demise of 'big religion', and that a level-playing field in public life can and should involve both religious and non-religious participants.
"Likewise, while Richard Dawkins may not be a subtle, unbiased or persuasive analyst of religion overall, it would be entirely unhelpful for believers to dismiss this survey because they disagree with its commissioner in other respects. Its content evidently needs further and deeper analysis, alongside other data, than the initial response to it has allowed."
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Al Green - Belle.