Birmingham is a super diverse region, with all the world's faiths represented here. Many Christians are asking questions about how they live out their faith in a complex, multi-religious area. We are committed to helping churches discover how God wants them to live out the Gospel in their own context and to love all neighbours whoever they may be.
We work closely with Presence and Engagement (P&E), the Church of England’s national programme equipping Christians for mission and ministry in parishes where more than 10% of the population identify as being an adherent of a different faith. This equates to about 80 of the parishes in the Birmingham city region. Some of the key interfaith activities and resources can be found on the website of FNC: Faith, Neighbours, Changemakers, a partner organisation of the Church of England Birmingham.
Bishop Michael takes a lead on building good relationships across faiths through her involvement on the Birmingham Faith Leader’s Group. The Interfaith work is headed up by Canon Dr Andrew Smith, Director of Interfaith Relations, and supported by Canon Fr Julian Sampson, Catholic Lead on Interfaith Engagement.
Andrew and Julian are always happy to come to meet with churches or groups to offer consultation, speak with congregations or preach on matters relating to interfaith issues. Contact them via e-mail if you wish to find out more.
To email Andrew, please click here
To email Julian, please click here.
As well as training and development for churches, we work on many initiatives with external partner organisations.