About us

The Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) is a partnership between the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church.

The purpose of JPIT is to help the Churches to work together for peace and justice through listening, learning, praying, speaking and acting on public policy issues.

The work of the team aims to:

• Share the message in words and action that political engagement is integral to Christian discipleship
• Understand what churches need in order to speak and act prophetically and prayerfully on key issues of justice and peace
• Equip, energise, affirm, support and resource our churches, at both local and denominational level, in their engagement with politics and public issues
• Enable our Churches to speak together with a distinctively Christian voice in promoting justice and campaigning on public issues
• Build deeper coalitions and partnerships to further these outcomes locally, regionally, in the nations, and internationally

The partners in JPIT have a shared understanding of justice and its theological basis, as set out in these principles:

God made humans in the image of God, each worthy of equal value and dignity.
The search for justice entails treating others with respect, and may involve reclaiming lost worth.

God desires the flourishing of creation and human community within it.
The search for justice does not diminish or limit the flourishing of others but seeks to enable it.

God consistently shows a bias to people experiencing poverty and those who are excluded.
The search for justice must attend to those who live in poverty, and those who are marginalised in other ways, as a priority.

God entrusts those in (with) power with a special responsibility for upholding justice.
Those seeking justice will encourage and challenge those with power to fulfil their vocation.

God calls all people and nations actively to work for peace and justice, liberation and transformation.
It is never just someone else’s responsibility. We all have a part to play.

God calls us to live in hope and in ways that reflect God’s character and the pattern of God’s kingdom.
Thus, seeking justice involves honesty and truth, and may demand protest and resistance, restitution, forgiveness, reconciliation and ultimately transformation.

These principles were originally developed by the Methodist Church and adopted as part of the Justice-Seeking Church report in June 2023. They were endorsed and adopted by the Strategy and Policy Group of the Joint Public Issues Team in December 2023.

The video below introduces the work of Joint Public Issues Team: 

Our priorities and workplan

Each year the partner denominations in JPIT agree a programme of work priorities. These are currently based upon six hopes for society.

Meet the team

Associate Partner: The Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland is an associate partner of JPIT, which means it is represented on the Team and agrees to share information and ideas, and participate in the joint delivery of activity agreed on a project-by-project basis. 

How we are governed

The Joint Public Issues Team is governed by a Strategy and Policy Group made up of senior representatives from each of our denominations. This group meets regularly to oversee the work of the team and to structure our priorities and future work. For more information about each of our Churches’ internal structures and governance arrangements, visit their websites:

Resourcing Partner: The Iona Community

The Iona Community and JPIT act as resourcing partners in our work and witness for peace and justice. We are committed to walking together and to supporting each other, recognising that each partner brings particular strengths and resources to this task. While we will not always speak together, through this partnership we seek to create opportunities to collaborate, share expertise, build community and deepen relationships between those involved in this work, so that both partners can have greater reach, resolve, effectiveness and impact.

Read more about our resourcing partnership with the Iona Community.