Is Loving Your Enemy an Optional Extra?
Is loving your enemy an optional extra?
This is the question that helped launch our apologetics event, introduced by myself wearing a Manchester United t-shirt (as a Liverpool fan!) in aid of our ‘Love your Enemy for Step’ fundraising campaign running this year.
We welcomed our friends Cristo and Victoria from the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA) to Townsend, for an event with around 50 sixth formers from 3 different schools. The event helped students bring their big questions of faith to the table, with experts in theology answering their questions.
We had questions about the differences between the Catholic and the Anglican churches, the trustworthiness of the Bible, the God of the Old Testament, Sin, Sanctity of Life and much more.
As the event finished, we heard one boy say ‘Well, that was much better than a free period’ and Chris was able to have a conversation with a group of students about what they would be willing to give up their life for.
As I mentioned at the start of this latest news, I was wearing a Manchester United t-shirt, as we introduced the event with thinking about loving your enemy. I shared that although I felt uncomfortable wearing the shirt, for me when I first put the shirt on my thought wasn’t how much I ‘hated’ Manchester United, it was how much love I have for my friends and family who support the team. Because although we are different and don’t always agree or have everything in common, they are deserving of my love and respect. This led to a further thought later in the session about how we can disagree well with people of different viewpoints, by honouring them as individuals first.
Phillip Ioannou, as a Manchester United fan also joined in the campaign this weekend by wearing a Liverpool shirt on Sunday to church and while watching the Liverpool v Manchester United game.
If you would like to sponsor either Myself or Phil (or one of the other team members completing the fundraiser later in the year) please follow this link: https://www.justgiving.com/team/loveyourenemyforstep
Mary
This is the question that helped launch our apologetics event, introduced by myself wearing a Manchester United t-shirt (as a Liverpool fan!) in aid of our ‘Love your Enemy for Step’ fundraising campaign running this year.
We welcomed our friends Cristo and Victoria from the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA) to Townsend, for an event with around 50 sixth formers from 3 different schools. The event helped students bring their big questions of faith to the table, with experts in theology answering their questions.
We had questions about the differences between the Catholic and the Anglican churches, the trustworthiness of the Bible, the God of the Old Testament, Sin, Sanctity of Life and much more.
As the event finished, we heard one boy say ‘Well, that was much better than a free period’ and Chris was able to have a conversation with a group of students about what they would be willing to give up their life for.
As I mentioned at the start of this latest news, I was wearing a Manchester United t-shirt, as we introduced the event with thinking about loving your enemy. I shared that although I felt uncomfortable wearing the shirt, for me when I first put the shirt on my thought wasn’t how much I ‘hated’ Manchester United, it was how much love I have for my friends and family who support the team. Because although we are different and don’t always agree or have everything in common, they are deserving of my love and respect. This led to a further thought later in the session about how we can disagree well with people of different viewpoints, by honouring them as individuals first.
Phillip Ioannou, as a Manchester United fan also joined in the campaign this weekend by wearing a Liverpool shirt on Sunday to church and while watching the Liverpool v Manchester United game.
If you would like to sponsor either Myself or Phil (or one of the other team members completing the fundraiser later in the year) please follow this link: https://www.justgiving.com/team/loveyourenemyforstep
Mary
Recent
Archive
2025
January
March
July
September
2024
March
June
September
November
2023
January
February
March
May
June
July
Categories
no categories
No Comments