As part of an ongoing process of expansion and change, Ekklesia, the Christian political think-tank, is delighted to welcome Virginia Moffatt as our new chief operating officer, starting on 8th July 2014.
As part of an ongoing process of expansion and change, Ekklesia, the Christian political think-tank, is delighted to welcome Virginia Moffatt as our new chief operating officer, starting on 8th July 2014.
She joins co-directors Simon Barrow and Jonathan Bartley as part of the core staff team, and will be based at our new office at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church in London.
Ekklesia also has a base in Edinburgh, and seeks to operate in an engaged and inclusive way across these islands, promoting thought-provoking Christian contributions to a wide range of social, economic, cultural and religious issues.
Virginia Moffatt began her working life living with adults with learning disabilities in Lambeth L’Arche during a gap year. She left to study Biology at York but discovered that her natural bent lay in volunteering and campaigning. As a result, she gave up science in preference for a career in social care, combined with advocacy in her spare time. Over the last thirty years, she has worked for a number of voluntary and statutory organisations as a support worker, information worker, contract manager and commissioning manager. Most recently, she worked at Oxfordshire County Council as quality and contracts manager for adult and children’s services.
Her peace work includes being on the support group for 1999 Jubilee Ploughshares action; supporting the work of Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and Pax Christi; campaigning against wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and regularly contributing to Peace News magazine. In recent years she has also worked for alternatives to an austerity-based economy and society, particularly in the area of welfare reform, collaborating with the Spartacus Network, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), Black Triangle, WoW Petition, Campaign for a Fair Society, Centre for Welfare Reform, and End Hunger Fast. In 2012 she co-wrote a play, “Atos Stories”, which was performed by the inclusive theatre company, Act Up! Newham,
She has a Masters Degree in Voluntary Sector Organisation from the LSE and a Diploma in Creative Writing from the Department of Continuing Education at Oxford. Virginia writes, and her debut collection of flash fiction has just been published by Gumbo Press.
Virginia lives in Oxford, with her husband, Chris Cole, director of Drone Wars UK. They have three children who are attend their local secondary school. As a family they are committed to working for peace and justice, and are active members of their local parish, Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church, Cowley.