Contextualising the gospels
Short courses and one-off events
Celebration of the Work of John Vincent
On Saturday 7th Feb 2026 we celebrated the Publication of Radical Disciple, a book of essays about the impact John Vincent’s ministry and teaching has had on a wide range of urban activitists.
To order your copy of Radical Disciple (Wipf and Stock) click here: UTU Price – £16.50, £14.30 without postage. (RRP – £22.00)
Symposium on Equipping Clergy for Complex Contexts
An invitation only on-line Symposium, co-hosted with Unlock, in late October 2025 for theological college staff and denominational officers with responsibility for overseeing this, was convened as a result of the level of concern about this issue at the July 2025 event marking the 40th Anniversary of Faith in the City @ 40 (North) that we cohosted with the William Temple Foundation.
A second invitation-only event for those who missed the first developing the theme of the theology for dialogue with people across deep ideological divides is being held in March 2026.
If you would like to be part of this wider on-going conversation, register your interest here.
Faith in the City @ 40 seminars
Following our successful day on Faith in the City @ 40 in 2025, run jointly with several other agencies in the urban field, we have two streams of work continuing to work collaboratively with others. One strand is an invitation-only theological education strand (with Unlock), and these open seminars organised with the William Temple Foundation and the National Estate Churches Network:
- March … Ministry on the Edge ; Coastlands and Left Behind Areas (Convened by William Temple Foundation)
- Early July . Learning From Past Mistakes : New Towns and building communities for the Future (Convened by the National Estate Churches Network)
- October: Urban Theology – Reflections on practice around exclusion and intersectionality (convened by UTU)
Seminar 1 .. convener Greg Smith and others from William Temple
Since the 1980s the concentration of deprivation and poverty has moved from the inner cities to the periphery. Coastal towns and post industrial areas, especially former coalfields have become left behind communities.
Such places tend to be less ethnically diverse than metropolitan cities and former Mill towns in the North of England, though some have seen recent immigration from Eastern Europe, and asylum seeker dispersal.
This has had political consequences with many of these areas voting disproportionately for Brexit, and now for Reform.
What is the role of the church(es) faith groups in such places? What does ministry and mission look like? What are the burning issues in the local communities?
AGM
Saturday 7th November 2026, 2.00pm– 4.45pm, 35 Chapel Walk, S1 2PD and on interactive Zoom
Watch this space for news
Business meeting: Members only. Speaker session from 3.30pm: Open to all.
Liberation Theology Day
More information coming soon
Watch this space for news