"Building Bristol as a City of Hope” gathering, June 2021
The Presidents of Together4Bristol (T4B) opened up their twice yearly gathering. Over 60 church and prayer leaders, and leaders in the spheres of life, gathered using Zoom, on the morning of 10th June 2021.
Eric Aidoo (Chair of T4B) welcomed everyone and Rob Scott-Cook (one of the Presidents of T4B) prayed for the gathering and invited us to a:
1. Celebration of some of what the Christian community has done over the last 5 or 10 years for the good of Bristol
These are the main presentations:
Marvin Rees, (Mayor of Bristol) celebrated examples of what the Christian community has done for the good of Bristol over the last few years and issued several important challenges
Stewart North (The Noise) updated us about the City of Hope initiative, the Noise and Noise 365, and the response of the Christian community to the COVID-19 pandemic
Stewart's video from Zoom
2. Conversation to look ahead to the next 3 to 5 years and beyond to 2050:
a) To start to have a bigger vision for the Christian community's contribution to help transform the city (alongside the City Office's One City Plan to 2050, to make Bristol a fair, healthy, sustainable city, a “City of Hope”)
b) To connect with the need for Recovery and Renewal (as part of a Movement of Recovery) post COVID-19
Roger Sutton (Gather / Movement for Recovery) spoke from Nehemiah, partly to celebrate the past years, and to challenge the Christian community to engage with the city to help bring recovery and renewal as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of a longer term vision to help build a City of Hope to 2050.
Roger Sutton's video from Zoom
www.youtube.com/watch?v=77v63afDdzY
Andy Street (Christian Action Bristol, the Politics and Social Action sphere of T4B)
challenged the Christian community to continue engaging with the Mayor, City Office, Council and to help bring recovery post COVID-19
Andy's video from Zoom
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iErYE1HqXkU
c) To “set my people free”: to develop a growing movement for the good of Bristol
Roger Allen (Enabler of T4B) explained how the Christian community collaborates together and brought the challenge not only to engage with the city post COVID -19 pandemic but also to “set my people free”, to develop a growing movement (from 100s to 1000s), as part of T4B's vision: to help the WHOLE Christian community bring transformation to the WHOLE of life, to every sphere of society, across the Bristol region, in a more co-ordinated, strategic way
Roger Allen's video from Zoom
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d40M-aYspCs
3. Conversation towards Building Bristol as a City of Hope: 2050 Vision
Chris Dobson (Vice-chair, T4B / CTGB) facilitated a Conversation using Break out rooms to discuss:
1. What are the things that you love about Bristol and the area that you live in and what would you like to see transformed in the next 10 to 30 years
2. How effective is our Christian witness in that area and across Bristol. Where do things need to change or improve so that we can be part of a process of social, cultural and spiritual transformation?
After Feedback, Chris facilitated a Conversation using Break out rooms to discuss:
3. As you reflect prayerfully on how churches and Christians across our city have been engaging with the wider community, what are you discerning about what the priorities and challenges are that God is calling us to address in the coming years and what steps should we be taking now?
After further feedback and silent refection, the gathering ended with concluding remarks from Eric Aidoo and a final prayer from one of the Trustees of T4B, Fatima Sibanda.
Posted: June 2021
Update November 2021: All the videos have been uploaded to YouTube to allow for easy viewing.