Living your faith in public
Living your faith in public
If you’ve been thinking of booking your place on the Faith in Public course then don’t want any longer. Spaces are filling up.
The agenda has been announced and more speakers with it. Including Jane Perry from Church Action on Poverty and The Very Rev Rogers Govender of Manchester Cathedral.
The course will take place over three online sessions and one weekend residential in Manchester.
The residential will include a visit to Manchester Cathedral and a Justice walk around Manchester’s civic centre, in which you will explore sites of significance in Manchester’s radical history and their connection to faith. It will include a panel of Christians in public service, with a chance to ask them your questions. And of course, given the political climate today, there will be a focus being a witness in today’s fragmented political environment. As well as being deeply theological the course will also be highly practical.
Here’s the full agenda:
| Online Session 1 Tuesday 21 April 2026, 7.30pm – 8.45pm | Listening: the foundations of mission and politics Dr James Butler from Church Mission Society (CMS) |
| Online Session 2 Tuesday 28 April 2026, 7.30pm – 8.45pm | Power, Participation and Politics Jane Perry from Church Action on Poverty (CAP) |
| Residential – Manchester 7 to 9 May 2026 | |
| Thursday 7 May Morning (11am) | Welcome, introduction and theological framing of the residential |
| Afternoon | Visit – Manchester Cathedral as a place of Public Witness The Very Rev Rogers Govender and Rev Canon Grace Thomas (Manchester Cathedral) |
| Evening | Free time |
| Friday 8 May Morning | What makes Christian witness Public? An exploration of the biblical and theological foundations for understanding the aims and forms of Christian public witness in the post-secular age. Dr Dominic Budhi-Thornton |
| Afternoon | Justice walk around Manchester’s civic centre Exploring sites of significance in Manchester’s radical history and their connection to faith. Rev Ian Rutherford (Methodist Church) |
| Evening | Christians in Public Service: Panel Discussion Hosted by Rev Ian Rutherford – panellists tbc |
| Saturday 9 May Morning | Bearing witness to Jesus in public as churches and Christian groups Dr James Butler Being witnesses in today’s fragmented political environment Panel – tbc |
| Afternoon | Being witnesses Closing worship and evaluation |
| Online Session 3 Tuesday 19 May 2026, 7.30pm – 8.45pm | Practical tools for living faith in public Dr James Butler |
You can read more about the course and book your place here.
