Blog

In recent months we've had some exciting developments in the world of SPEAK groups! Chris takes some time to explore the importance of praying and campaigning as a community and highlights some of the new ways people can get involved!
A tea-picker in Kerugoya, Kenya
The new SPEAK pray & post card is out today! It calls for justice in our food supply chains by asking Parliament that the upcoming Groceries Code Adjudicator has the power to fine from day one. What this would basically do is force our powerful UK supermarkets to treat their suppliers fairly - applying to both farmers here and abroad.
Yesterday, Chris Duncan did a one man march into Westminster to deliver a SPEAK pray & post petition to Number 10 Downing Street. The trip had an extra little surprise in store for him!
Persist in prayer and campaigning! [Luke 19:1-8]. The January 2011 Pray and Post card 'The EU's Raw Material Grab' called on the EU to "let poorer countries negotiate investment agreements in line with their social, economic and environmental needs".
Last weekend members of SPEAK Nottingham, along with some of the Network Support Team, met outside RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire to peacefully protest against plans for the base to become a control station for drones later this year.  Jesca, who has come from the Netherlands to volunteer with the NST for the summer, gives her account of this leg of the Bardic Bike Tour.
This year, we have been on a mission to Connect and Reconnect with as many people as possible, giving you an opportunity to contribute financially to the work of SPEAK. Over the years, we have seen a generation of young people and students find their voice, and we are more passionate than ever about empowering young Christians to speak out on issues of global justice. In order to carry out the work we are doing, we rely on regular giving. Please help SPEAK by committing to make a regular donation. Visit CharityGiving, or drop us an email to speak@speak.org.uk for more info. Do you already give financially, but think you could help us by sharing the vision of SPEAK, and encouraging others to support us? Then maybe you’d like to be a SPEAK Advocate. We’ll send you a whole host of resources to help you Connect and Reconnect with people you know and encourage them in prayer for SPEAK. Below, Matthew writes about the need for continued financial support behind our campaigns.
SPEAK are popping up all over place at festivals this year. You may already have spotted us at Soul Survivor, and we’re looking forward to Momentum, Greenbelt and Forum. We’ve met some fantastic people with a real passion for justice, and it’s been wonderful sharing the vision of SPEAK. If you see us, come and say hello – we love to meet friends of SPEAK.
Vocal Training is fast approaching, and plans are afoot for an exciting weekend of network-building, skill-swapping and preparing ourselves to campaign for justice in the campuses, churches and communities where we live.
Last summer I was marching up the steps of the Tate Britain with my friends from Climate Rush. We were leading a funeral procession into the BP sponsored art gallery to mark the one year anniversary of the Deep Water Horizon Disaster, a disaster that saw 4.9m barrels of crude poured into the Gulf of Mexico destroying an entire eco-system. It was enough oil to provide the world with energy for just one hour and twenty minutes.
PRICE WARS pray & post card 2009
Remember our 'PRICE WARS' pray & post card calling for a supermarket ombudsman back in January 2009? Well yesterday afternoon two of us went to hear the Government's plan to establish one, at the House of Lords, at the Third Reading of the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill.
Time to Turn's latest campaign focuses on making sustainable food more widely available. They recently held a grand opening of a cherry tree in their city and Mattias has translated this video for us.
A blog from FALE, our sister network in Brazil.
In the next year, the SPEAK network is embarking on an ambitious quest to cycle, campaign, fundraise and share the Biblical call to justice around the country. Spearheaded by Fish, our regional support worker, we are hoping to notch up 1,103 miles (that's the number of passages in the Bible referring to creation), and we're hoping to do it ALL using pedal power. To make this happen, we're going to need YOU...
Vocal Training 2012
Plans are afoot for Vocal Training, and we're looking forward to getting together and getting tooled up for the year ahead. Whether you're new to SPEAK or you've got a wealth of experiences and skills, we'd love to see you there.
The Rio+20 summit in June saw, arguably, the most significant meetings on sustainable development since the 1992 Earth Summit in the same city. SPEAK focuses on whether the outcomes of the summit are truly progressive enough in order to affect positive sustainable development. We also take a look at the biblical mandate for campaigning to protect the environment.
SPEAK are looking for volunteers to represent at Soul Survivor B and C! If you're passionate about the vision of SPEAK and would like to share it with young people, we'd love to hear from you...
On Thursday 14th June, Indonesian police gunned down Mako Tabuni, secretary-general of the KNPB (West Papua National Committee); triggering violent riots in Jayapura. Hannah Kitchen, a member of Edinburgh SPEAK group (long supporters of the Free West Papua Campaign) has written a short prayer for us to reflect on the chaos:
To coincide with the Rio +20, we are beginning SPEAK's first ever Bardic Bike tour this June - a crazy prophetic action on wheels, that will hopefully visit historic sites of protest around the UK and connect up to campaign and fundraise with local SPEAK groups along the way.
Last month, 25 people from across the Network gathered in Bethnal Green to discuss ideas, imagine new ones and pray, eat and hang out together...
As ever, SPEAK are representing at a whole bunch of festivals over the summer. As well as representing at Forum and Momentum, we're pulling out all the stops to make a big splash at Greenbelt.