The July edition of the leads with details of a fantastic range of workshops on offer at the forthcoming NJPN Conference. There are a few places still available, including a discount rate for 18-35 year olds. Please contact NJPN Administrator Sharon at admin@justice-and-peace.org.uk if you’re interested, but do hurry!

The Just Peace Coalition, which brings together churches and Christian organisations across the UK, is inviting individuals, churches, and communities to join their Time to Act campaign and commit to working and praying for a just peace for all who call the Holy Land home. Heather Kiernan provides an update on the current situation in Gaza and a poem. Despite the pain and the loss, the poet says, “….if I were given another life another country, another fate—my soul would still walk barefoot toward Gaza.”

At a time when there are stories of racial tension and unrest, it’s heartening to hear of the Liverpool Interfaith Walk which brings communities together. Now in its fourth year, the July walk attracted more than 230 participants, with some travelling from well beyond the Liverpool region.

In a sermon given on Sunday, 5 July, Rev. Lisa Degrenia reflects on the World Cup currently hosted in her native USA in the light of the 250 ^th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the current  “downward spiral of ugliness, inequality, and harm.”  But she gives a glimmer of hope, saying, “many of us are committed to embodying the vision of the founders in the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

There are articles on Northern Ireland from regular contributors Ian Linden and James Gordon Reid Havelock-Jones.  James comments on a recent racist incident which “exposed a deeper wound in the Irish body politic” and suggests “a four‑stage horizon for Christian engagement with racial injustice” inspired by the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.  Ian, looking back to Belfast in the mid-1980s and returning recently, was sad to see how little had changed.  Deborah, a Tamil Christian who moved to the UK 25 years ago fleeing civil war, shares her story in a guest blog for Church Action on Poverty.  She now works to advance justice for disabled and migrant communities.

In other news, the UK Government has announced that it is pursuing plans for Religious Education to form part of the new national curriculum, after a consensus was achieved with faith groups about programmes of study.  More than fifty humanitarian, climate and peacebuilding organisations are urging Keir Starmer to rethink Britain’s growing military spending, ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara and we have details of events planned in Chester and Liverpool in August to commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The next bulletin will be in September.

Best wishes

Anne O’Connor

NW NJPN Justice and Peace E Bulletin JULY 2026