On Sunday 25th February, Oasis Coffee House, 189 Leigh Road, Leigh-on-Sea hosted a Fairtrade event at the start of Fairtrade Fortnight, which attended by a full house. Sarah Brazier from the Fairtrade Foundation came to give a talk about Fairtrade and the difference it makes for farming communities who produce our food in the global south. Without Fairtrade, farmers from the global south, who produce the food that we buy from supermarkets, are often those that do not earn enough to feed their own families. Sarah gave the example of the Coobana Cooperative in Panama, who for many years struggled producing bananas and getting a fair price for their crop. Now they are Fairtrade certified it has made a huge difference to their economic security in the global market, and to their community with improved housing for farmers, children able to afford to attend school and college, and improved working …
Safeguarding training at Level 2 and Level 3 proves to be one of the Associations largest attended. 2017 saw 888 individuals trained at Level 2 and 427 trained at Level 3, this shows that as churches we are taking seriously the need to train and equip our ministers and volunteers. Confirmed dates for 2018. 22 September, Wymondham Baptist Church, Norfolk 27 September, Sudbury Baptist Church. (Level 2 only) 7pm-10pm 13 October, Garland Street Baptist Church, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. 10 November, Fore Street Baptist Church, Harlow Places are limited for each course so early booking is suggested. Fees are £10 per person per level. Please book with Hayley at secretary@easternbaptist.org.uk
Beth Powney is the new Regional Minister Team Leader for the Eastern Baptist Association. She was inducted into her role in front of special guests and friends on Saturday 2nd September at Godmanchester Baptist Church, Cambridgeshire. In this video, kindly produced for the Eastern Baptist Association by Mark Reid at Webministries TV, Beth introduces herself and vision for the future.
Shared Space in Southend-on-Sea played its part in organising the first ‘Business of Mission Conference’. On Tuesday 25 April 2017, forty five church leaders came from across the East of England region to this day of training run by Church from Scratch in partnership with Shared Space and the Eastern Baptist Association. The day that took place at Sudbury Baptist Church, was a day of training in social enterprise to help churches explore how this approach complement their existing work. The morning seminars on theory were balanced by practical workshops in the afternoon, case studies and stories of people already engaged in social enterprise. Shared Space has already been providing some social enterprise training for church leaders over the previous four years through the residential ‘Immersive Experience’ programme run by Church from Scratch.
