Jim Punton   -   his life and influence

Involvements

Jim worked for FYT when it was part of Scripture Union (England & Wales) and therefore contributed to the thinking and development of SU as well as that of FYT.

As well as his education and training role in FYT Jim was involved with a number of other groups. These included:

Greenbelt - he was on the Executive Committee of Greenbelt and was a regular Greenbelt speaker.

Shaftesbury Project - he was a speaker at Shaftesbury Project events.

Traidcraft - he was on the executive of Traidcraft from its start.

SU Scotland camps - each summer he led a camp at Kingscross, Arran.

The London Mennonite Centre - he worked regularly with the Mennonite Centre in London, both contributing to their thinking and in turn becoming greatly influenced by Mennonite theology.

Postgreen Community - he was a regular speaker at the community's events, and felt very much at home in the environment of the community.

Evangelical Coalition for Urban Mission - he was involved in ECUM planning groups.

YMCA - he ran training for the YMCA, and provided non-managerial support for YMCA workers.

Dundee Street Level - he was a regular speaker at this festival which in the late '70s was like a mini-Greenbelt for Scotland.


Jim's involvements were not restricted to the UK - there was an international dimension also to his work.

He was regularly in touch with those world-wide who shared similar concerns - for example Jim Wallis of the Sojourners Community in USA.

He made two working visits to Australia at the invitation of Scripture Union there.

He was a participant in The the Lausanne Congress in July 1974. He was on the group which produced the 'radical alternative response'. (This document can be found online at www.lausanne.org/docs/lau1docs/1294.pdf) It was this event in 1974 that put Jim in touch with like-minded people elsewhere, and made others aware of Jim.

He was also a participant at Lausanne Congress held in Thailand in June 1980, chairing the "MiniConsultation on Reaching the Urban Poor", and serving as International Co-ordinator of the pre-COWE study groups on Reaching the Urban Poor. (The document produced from this consultation is available online - Lausanne Occasional Paper No.22 'Christian Witness to the Urban Poor')