CTBI Autumn 2025 Magazine

CTBI Magazine Autumn 2025: Shepherd Abu Okab tends to his sheep in the Jordan Valley on the West Bank. Ecumenical Accompaniers from the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme accompany shepherds, a presence known to have a mitigating effect on confrontations between Israeli settlers and Palestinians. EAs’ presence also helps Palestinians access lands they otherwise might not have dared to continue to cultivate. In the West Bank’s Area C, any land that isn’t cultivated for a period of three years becomes property of the state, the shepherds explain, so accessing their lands regularly is vital for the communities and their herds. © Albin Hillert/WCC

Explore the upcoming and recent work of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) in our Autumn 2025 magazine.

You can read the magazine online or download as a PDF.

Welcome

As this autumn edition of the CTBI Magazine goes to press, the promise of peace feels very remote for many of our brothers and sisters around the world.

Images of starving and wounded children from Gaza and from Sudan are a harrowing reminder of our collective failure to create a safe and peaceful world. In Europe, our Ukrainian neighbours face continued loss and uncertainty for the future.

As we reflect together in this anniversary year on the first Ecumenical Council at Nicaea 1700 years ago, we find both comfort and challenge in the reminder of the endurance of our faith and its significance in the world. In our reflections on the anniversary, we have experienced an invitation to recommitment and reconnection, as we look back to the proclamation of faith at Nicaea, asking what that means for the challenges facing the Church in the fractured world of today. Similarly, in celebrating the 80th anniversary of Christian Aid, we have been inspired by how Christian churches together have responded to the devastation of war. The needs of the victims of violence today are no less urgent and, in this magazine, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) has been responding through our various networks, working groups and projects.

There are good news stories that help illustrate how churches are working to bring light into the darkness and provide places of safety and welcome to those most in need. Our member, the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, is celebrating the centenary of its founding, alongside the sixtieth anniversary of its presence in the UK. We give thanks for the leadership and contribution of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church and to all those who give so generously of their time to support our work. In this edition, you will have the opportunity to get to know our trustees from Cytûn, Churches Together in Wales, Revd Dr Jennie Hurd and the new Chair of the Churches’ Refugee Network, The Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover.

The context in which this work takes place is challenging. This autumn, we discuss a new guide from the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which seeks to raise awareness about anti-Christian hate crimes, as well as our continued concern about the raid of the Quaker Westminster Meeting House by the Metropolitan police last March and the implications for freedom of assembly and the freedom to protest, as well as respect for places of worship as places of welcome and sanctuary for all. At the same time, we were encouraged to learn from our Body in Association, the Bible Society, about the findings of their ‘Quiet Revival’ research. People are coming to faith and committing to Christ in their search for meaning in today’s world. Across the different areas of work highlighted in this magazine, including youth and children, mission, inter faith, care of refugees, racial justice and climate justice, we see faith in action and are spurred on by the positive responses that affirm the importance and value of the churches’ engagement in these areas of social life, especially when done ecumenically, because of the power of that witness to unity.

We have a long way still to go, as the learning from recent events supported by the Pauline Webb fund, and the work of the Children’s Ministry Network, remind us. If we are to make the most of our diversity in drawing on the range of experiences and gifts across the breadth of our membership in helping people to encounter the healing love of Christ, then we need to take steps to ensure, proactively, that our leadership reflects that diversity.

As we approach the midpoint of our current strategic plan, we at CTBI, are taking time to reflect on how we are responding to the priorities set by our members and look forward to engaging with them to focus our efforts and maximise our impact.