Muhammad Talha
The trustees of the Barking & Dagenham Faith Forum held a Faith Reception at Barking Elim Church to mark Inter Faith Week, celebrate the value of faith-based social action and discuss the future of interfaith activities in the borough.
Representatives from the Borough’s faith groups included delegates from churches, mosques, the River Roding Trust volunteers and the young One Third Homeless Soup Kitchen team.
Barking & Dagenham Faith Forum Chair Himanshu Jain addressed visitors, saying, “Thank you all for coming, our diversity is our strength.” He outlined exciting activities which are to be organised to bring communities together.
Deputy Leader Pastor Lloyd Cheshire spoke about how faith can be powerful in developing communities.
Councillor Saima Ashraf, Deputy Leader of Barking & Dagenham Council, added, “Our Borough is a united borough and I’m proud of the hard work we put in to keep people united. Faith is important to people and greatly helpful in bringing people together.”
Abdullah Rahman, a team leader at One Third Homeless Soup Kitchen, was pleased he attended, “We are a really young team and most of our volunteers prefer to hit the town on a Friday night,” he said. “We loved the presentations and are really glad we came and met so many inspiring people. Events like this are really important.”
The last 18 months have proved to be a challenging time, yet faith has played a significant contribution in the borough, supporting the local community as they have dealt with the virus and its enormous effects on our way of life.
As people start to emerge from the crisis, this Faith Reception was the perfect opportunity to connect with old friends, make new ones and re-commit to making a difference in the local communities represented.
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