Visit from Bishop Mike Royal,
and CTE News & Events

                
(Photo credit to Mike Royal and CTE https://cte.org.uk/)   

Bishop Mike Royal, General Secretary of Churches Together England (CTE), spoke at the recent Unity Lunch with the Tyneside Leaders Forum. This is a gathering of diverse evangelical churches in Newcastle who meet together to worship and pray as well as learn and share together. Mike highlighted for us the ecumenical relationships being cultivated locally, nationally and globally.

A few highlights shared by Bishop Mike that you can explore:

CTE is a Voter Registration Champion, a project committed to advocating for everyone to have a voice in the upcoming general election. This effort speaks significantly to the dignity and value of each member of our society, and their right to speak and be heard, please find out more about what it is and how your church can registser here: https://cte.org.uk/churches-champion-vote-registration/

Mike made note of the historic meeting recently between the Primates of the Anglican Communion and Pope Francis, a beautiful witness to see Anglicans and Catholics grow in friendship.

CTE are keen to engage with young ecumenists and have applications open through the Bill Snelson Young Ecumenists Fund. There is £6000 a year available and applicants need to be between 18 and 35 and from a CTE Member Church. The application will fund an ecumenical experience abroad, which can be study, pilgrimage, volunteering or any activity that promotes church unity. Find out more here: https://cte.org.uk/working-together/young-ecumenists/snelsonfund/

On a similar note, as you will see in the above photo (far right), CTE has an evening webinar coming up, "Ecumenism: The Next Generation - Young Voices on the climate crisis". This takes place on Tuesday 21 May 2024, from 6:00pm to 7:00pm. There will be diverse perspectives from young adult guests speakers from the Global North and Global South as they shed light on the climate crisis. Sign up now to join the conversation.

I will continue to share ecumenical news as well as events and opportunities for our local churches and Churches Together Groups. If you have news or updates to share, please let me know and I will highlight them here on our website and in our newsletter.