Sunday, November 18th the Celebrating Faith 2018 event organised by Brighton & Hove Faith in Action took place at Hove Town Hall. This annual event is an opportunity for the faith community within the City of Brighton & Hove to come together and celebrate the various social welfare and community development projects they are engaged in and present themselves to the wider community. Various stalls ranging from the Jewish Representative Council to the Mother’s Union were present displaying information about their activities and staffed by willing volunteers eager to share their enthusiasm!
At 3pm the Faith Covenant between Brighton & Hove City Council and the city’s faith community represented through the Faith Council administered by Brighton & Hove Faith in Action was signed. Proceedings began with an address by the Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group Faith and Society that devised and promotes the concept of a Faith Covenant between local Councils and faith communities. The Faith Covenant is a joint commitment to a set of principles that guide engagement, aiming to remove some of the mistrust that exists and to promote open, practical working on all levels.
The initial signatories were the Rt Revd Richard Jackson, (Anglican) Bishop of Lewes representing the faith community, Councillor Dan Yates, Leader of the City Council signing on the Council’s behalf and Metropolitan Jerome of Selsey, Vice Chair of Brighton & Hove Faith in Action, the body that brokered the Faith Covenant with the Council. Afterward other local clergy and representatives present from the 108 members of the Faith Council also signed the document.
The Annual General Meeting of Brighton & Hove Faith in Action closed the day’s proceedings and the Officers and Trustees were unanimously re-elected for another term. The Trustees are Rik Child (Brighton Vineyard) continuing as Chair, Simon Lewis (City Coast Church) and Metropolitan Jerome of Selsey (Brighton Oratory) as Vice Chairs and Fiona Sharpe (Jewish Representative Council), Rabbi Andrea (Reformed Synagogue), Sabri Ben Amuer (Brighton & Hove Muslim Council) and Mahmut Gunyadin (The Dialogue Society).