Communication
We can only reach our ambitious goal with a step change in how the Christian voice is presented in our culture today. To achieve this, one of our key areas of investment is communication, asking ourselves and others, how can we give voice to the wisdom of Christian faith in public life?
Our newly launched opinion website, Seen & Unseen, presents well-written, intelligent, accessible material explaining how Christian faith works, showing how it sees the world differently, and telling stories of the impact on faith on individuals and communities. We’re delighted to be working with some of the world’s leading theologians and communicators, creating weekly articles, videos and podcasts.
Leadership
We aim to develop the public voice of existing and emerging leaders, offering two leadership programmes:
Stream 1: Emerging Leaders in Cultural Witness
Some of the most influential Christian communicators in the past century have emerged from the UK, including the likes of G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, C.S. Lewis, Rowan Williams and N.T. Wright. We’re delighted to offer the Emerging Leaders Cultural Witness Programme aimed at developing the public voices of young emerging contributors and theologians, helping them become gifted communicators who can speak and write articulately and imaginatively to our contemporary culture.
Stream 2: Public Influencers in Cultural Witness
There is a broad range of Christians who have a public voice because of their role in society, however, often feel inhibited about speaking about and out of their faith because they do not have theological training or time to do the reading to give their contributions depth. Similarly, Christian figures often feel anxious about being called out, or caught out for speaking about faith when it is often disdained in secular contexts. We are partnering with others to offer training resources for Christian public influencers who seek to deepen and amplify their voice in public.
Research
To communicate the transformative message of Christian faith in the fast-changing culture of today, it is vital to understand the dynamics at play within a post-Christian and even ‘post-truth’ world. We are already partnering with major university theology faculties in the UK, Europe and the USA, to research and share findings on key questions that will help sharpen the Church’s public witness. Some of these research areas will include:
Re-shaping apologetics: books and resource materials, exploring how apologetics can be re-imagined and re-invigorated in the modern world.
Telling a better story: the role of the arts in contemporary public Christian witness.
The Impact of the Church: exploring how the church can most effectively make its contribution to public debate today.