Category: Faith (Page 2 of 6)

The FaithTech Playbook: A Redemptive Approach to Tech

June 25, 2024 / Benjamin Welby / 1 Comment

Technological progress has always shaped society and today is no different. It infuses everything, everywhere (even in the depths of the Amazon rainforest).

It affects the things we see and recognise and use. And it affects the unseen influences that shape our day to day lives without our realising it. As a Christian, thinking about the relationship between technology, digital practice and my faith has added an extra layer to my work helping the public sector do good things with digital.

Genesis 1:27 tells us everyone is made “in the image of God” and I see that spark of the divine reflected in how everybody explores their love for the world and those around them. When I had the opportunity to join GDS I had no idea that I would find Kingdom values and Gospel practice cropping up in user-centred design and the government design principles but I believe they do. I’ve contributed some of my thoughts on “Faith in Technology” in an interview with my one-time colleague Richard Sargeant for his podcast Faith in Action. For a time I was part of an advisory group to the Church of England on their digital work. And I got involved with Kingdom Code at its outset in order to meet other Christians in the world of tech (the 2024 hackathon is coming in October).

And yet somehow I had missed the existence of FaithTech and the work they’re doing to create a global network of Christians in tech.

Welcoming Well: thinking Christianly about asylum policy

June 19, 2024 / Benjamin Welby and Andy Brims / 6 Comments

This is a piece I co-wrote with Andy Brims. Andy is part of the team at Croydon Vineyard Church and has directed Vineyard English School since 2019. VES provides free conversational english classes in Croydon, and has welcomed hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees since its inception in 2015.

Under the auspices of Vineyard English School we recently hosted a roundtable on ‘Welcoming Well‘ which surfaced the idea of a Framework for Feeling At Home which you might want to look at in conjunction with this piece for practical ideas of how you and your community might respond to the needs of refugees and asylum seekers in your midst.

You may also find it helpful to engage with the materials I noted down during the Sanctuary Foundation’s conference on Migration in Christian Perspective.

The human face of asylum anxiety

In the nondescript hotel lobby that doubles as a makeshift classroom each Wednesday, Tariq¹, a new student lingered after our English class. Anxiety lined his face as he pulled us aside, his words tumbling out in heavily accented English. “Am I going to be sent to Rwanda?” he asked with fear in his voice, “I’ve got a domestic worker visa…my wife is pregnant”. His raw vulnerability highlighted to us the grim reality facing those navigating the asylum process in the UK.

A couple of weeks previously Farhan² and Ayesha³ had met us in a similar state of panic. For months these educated professionals and their eldest children had been regularly attending our sessions while their two youngest settled into local schools. Yet now the Home Office had told them they were to be relocated, immediately, to somewhere in the country they didn’t know, as though they were a problem to be solved, not people to respect.

What makes you feel at home?

June 7, 2024 / Benjamin Welby / 8 Comments

A vibrant outdoor gathering at a community center, featuring a large brick building with a sign reading "WELCOMING WELL." People of various ages and backgrounds are mingling, eating at tables, and enjoying the sunny atmosphere, with city buildings and trees in the background. A cross is visible on the building, adding to the community aspect of the event.

After leaving the OECD one of the things I’ve been doing is volunteering with our church’s English School. And specifically I’ve been supporting the weekly classes run by Andy inside one of the hotels providing accommodation for asylum seekers.

This experience has been both humbling and incredibly impactful. It’s been such a privilege to spend Wednesday mornings with a diverse collection of people looking to the UK as the place where they want to build a new, safe, life. Our classes have ranged from 4 people to over 30 and in total I’ve met with over 100 people from more than 25 countries; all of them eager to improve their English.

You won’t be surprised that I didn’t support the anti-immigration rhetoric of the political right even before I joined my first class. But I really don’t think it would take more than a couple of mornings spent with these men, women and children for those that do to conclude that much of the way these needs are portrayed is warped and distorted. As you get to know people trapped in the limbo of asylum and learn about the obstacles people face, even after being recognised as refugees, I’m confident they’d actually become passionate advocates for wholesale renewal of our discourse and our practice.

Unfortunately, it’s going to take time to rethink our response to the needs of refugees and asylum seekers. So my prayer and hope is that a future government builds its policy from a place of compassion and grace. And that they recognise the worth of the individuals at the heart of the asylum process.

‘Honour the emperor’

November 10, 2016 / Benjamin Welby / 2 Comments

It is easy for me to write this as a middle class, white Brit for whom oppression is not something I’ve ever directly had to put up with. My response is therefore more theoretical than what faces people who are already reporting the sorts of post-Brexit hate we had here. I hope I would always seek solidarity, not safety.

Prayer

We spent last night at Central London Vineyard in solid prayer, bothering God about the state of the world.

It was challenging. Challenging to reflect on our own divided country as well as the one across the Atlantic. Challenging to think that most of the world’s desperate people don’t care who’s in the White House or what the EU looks like. And very challenging to hear first hand testimony of recent events in Calais and the treatment of those unaccompanied children who had found some small refuge in the Jungle.

And in all of that it was challenging to respond to the words of Jesus:

‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.’

Code for the Kingdom challenge: community

September 2, 2015 / Benjamin Welby / 2 Comments

On the weekend of 2nd October Christians with a passion for digital technology are going to gather in 14 cities* on 5** continents for the first ever global Code for the Kingdom hackathon.

I’m part of the Kingdom Code team organising the London event, we’ve got a great venue (the Westminster Impact Hub) and we’re hoping for a good turn out of both professionals and enthusiasts. With just over 4 weeks to go the anticipation is rising (have you got your ticket yet?).

The team in the USA have already secured world-class virtual mentors and this week announced the six sponsored global challenges (#wearables, #purity, #minorityChristians, #games, #virtualreality, #generosity) for people to aim at.

We’ve also come up with some challenges of our own for London: #Christmas, #spiritualdisciplines and #community.

We’re eager to see what London makes of all nine challenges but personally I’m particularly excited about the #community challenge.

We all know that we’re living through an incredible period of technological advance. The digital revolution has completely transformed the way in which we not only stay in touch with our family and friends but also in how we forge, and maintain, connections with (former) strangers.

Frothing at the mouth, this time it’s Creation

July 19, 2012 / Benjamin Welby / 3 Comments

I’ve previously taken my fellow Christians to task for taking a story and then misrepresenting the substance (‘Christmastime, mistletoe and lies‘). Given how central Truth is to Christianity we should be renowned for our integrity without recourse to swearing to prove it (‘Swears‘).

We fall short of those standards, all the time, and it’s unreasonable to hold those on the outside to a higher bar than we set ourselves. Nevertheless, the rhetoric that says Christianity and Science are at odds and completely divergent is, bluntly, either casual ignorance or wilful misrepresentation.

This week it’s the free schools that will fill the minds of impressionable children with the not-worthy-of-the-word ‘science’ of Creationism. And when that word rears its head then most people instantly associate it with the Young Earth beliefs (that I don’t share) lampooned to good effect by Ronson, Theroux, Gorman et al.

I’m not going to rehash what The Church Mouse has written, suffice to say it’s a massive +1 from me over his concerns with the presentation of this story and the treatment of known fact (rather than future, paranoid conjecture).

What Mouse doesn’t get into but what strikes me about the ridicule levelled at Christian Creationists is how it undermines Christianity’s delight for you as who you are.

Nehemiah on Project Management

May 18, 2012 / Benjamin Welby / 3 Comments

Different bits of the Bible get different profile within church, let alone in the public consciousness, so I reckon Nehemiah could be an unknown quantity to most people but its 13 chapters are really worth exploring. It provided the backdrop for a powerful and relevant series at Conversations last year.

This morning I saw Emma Langman tweeting the talk that was being given at from a Business Breakfast in Bristol about the example modelled by Nehemiah from a project management point of view. I really liked that angle so captured it using Storify.

Reflections on #fabworld

March 11, 2012 / Benjamin Welby / 0 Comments

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Solutions for a Broken World (#fabworld)

Last Saturday I went along to an event at St Michael Le Belfrey called ‘Solutions for a broken world’ held in response to the Occupy movement. I live blogged the introduction from the Bishop of Selby as well as the three sessions asking what’s broken?; what does the Bible say? and what would Jesus have US do?. We also heard from York CVS and Besom about how we could get involved through their organisations.

These are my reflections on the format and overall theme of the day. Continue reading

‘What would Jesus want US to do?’ – Mel Griggs

March 3, 2012 / Benjamin Welby / 1 Comment

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Solutions for a Broken World (#fabworld)

Government?
‘Most governments try to make a difference to the course of history, but only a very few succeed. The fate of most is to make big claims…[but]…to leave office having tinkered piecemeal’ Anthony Seldon of Policy Exchange. Continue reading

‘What does the Bible say?’ – Al Rycroft

March 3, 2012 / Benjamin Welby / 1 Comment

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Solutions for a Broken World (#fabworld)

Consumerism is the core issue. Both that and individualism in society so here’s a few things that the bible says.

The solution to these problems lie in a total transformation of attitudes and lives. Continue reading

The human face of asylum anxiety

Prayer

Never miss a new post

Tags