World Development Newsletter January 2012

FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT AND THE BIG BREW

Fairtrade Fortnight runs from 27 February – 11March 2012. The new Church Action Guide is now available free from the Fairtrade Foundation www.fairtrade.org.uk as well as lots of other materials and resources.

Take a Step for Fairtrade by organising a Big Brew event in your church. The theme this year is “Help Families to Flourish”. All you need for holding an event is available from Traidcraft www.traidcraft.co.uk/bigbrew, including a free resource pack, church worship resources, school resources, etc. If you phone 0845 330 8900 to order this (item code 59400) you should be able to get it without a postage charge.

Please do let me know if you are planning a Big Brew event. Or better still send me a report with photos after the event!

LENT

If you are looking for a Lent course, there are many to choose from, but choosing one with a global perspective will give a new dimension to your study. One such has been produced by USPG on the theme of 40 Days of Peace. The aim of this course is to inspire congregations to consider what it takes to find peace in their own lives – and to become peace-makers in the world. The study course can be downloaded from www.uspg.org.uk/peace.

Or if you want some ideas for personal action during Lent join the Tearfund carbon fast for daily actions and prayers (www.tearfund.org/carbonfast).

WORLD MISSION GROUP LEALFETS

The World Mission Group has been busy producing a series of new / updated information leaflets. The topics are: world development; Kagera link; fairtrade & trade justice; the Millennium Development Goals; & Five Marks of Mission. All of them can be downloaded from the Diocesan web site www.stedmundsbury.anglican.org Or free copies are available from me. The complete set comes in an attractive A5 folder. If there are any opportunities when you can use copies of these do please let me know – we want them to be used!

INFORMED PRAYER FOR THE WORLD

Being better informed in our prayers for the world is something we should all strive towards. There is an absolutely brilliant resource designed to help with this which is produced weekly by Christian Concern for One World (www.ccow.org.uk). You can have it emailed directly to you each week by contacting maranda@ccow.org.uk. It provides all the links you need to understand key global issues. I highly recommend it.

COMING UP IN 2012

Finally, watch this space for events in Suffolk this year.
A special focus on the issue of Water is planned for early summer. A growing global issue – with floods and droughts – lack of running water & sanitation for many – potential for conflict over scarce resources.

In July & August Suffolk is host to Olympic Teams from Rwanda, Azerbaijan and Brazil (gymnastics). The Bishop of Kigali will be here to support the Rwandan team and events are being planned.