Initiatives of Change - Editorial Team of For A Change

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EDITORIAL BOARD

Mike Lowe

After studying Microbiology, Mike joined the staff of For A Change magazine in 1987. An interest in the peoples behind Europe's 'Iron curtain' took him to several of these countries before, during and after the 1989 collapse of communist regimes. With his wife, Karen, he taught English in Poland 1992-3 before returning to the UK where he joined the Foundations for Freedom program www.f-4-f.org helping run training programmes for young leaders in former communist countries. In 2002 he moved with his family to Melbourne, Australia, where he helped create a 'Discover the Other' programme of workshops (www.discovertheother.org) and to develop a communications strategy for Initiatives of Change.

Mike's interests include Music, philosophy, theology and psychology. His skills include writing, teaching, facilitation and dissorganisation.

He is currently the editor of the global website of Initiatives of Change.

Will Jenkins

Will Jenkins, from the United States, works in political communications in Washington, DC. He has served as the Director of Communications for Initiatives of Change-USA. He was also part of the leadership team for the ACTION (for a change) initiative. He has worked for several international organizations and founded and directed his own local nonprofit, which engaged the performing arts to address contemporary social issues. He has professional experience on both the performance and production sides of theater, radio and television. He is a trained mediator and has an M.A. in Intercultural Communications.

Hennie de Pous-de Jonge

After training to be a teacher Hennie de Pous-de Jonge worked for five years with MRA in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. On her return to the Netherlands she became editor of Nieuw Wereld Nieuws, later called Ander Nieuws, the Dutch MRA/IofC publication. She has with her husband organised programmes and conferences for families and youth both in the Netherlands and in Caux. From 1980 till 1990 she held different positions in the Christian Democratic Party (CDA) both national and local. From 1990 till 2000 she taught in a primary school in a multicultural area in the centre of The Hague. Since 2000 she has been involved in intercultrual and interreligious dialogue in The Netherlands resulting in several conferences in Caux on the Spiritual Factor in Secular Society and A Heart and A Soul for Europe. She is also involved in the programme for Peace and Trust Building Initiatives with IofC.
She is author of the book ' Reiken naar een nieuwe wereld' (Reaching out for a new world), which deals with the history of Oxford Group, Moral Rearmament and Initiatives of Change in the Netherland since 1924. The book, published by the renowned Dutch publisher Kok in Kampen, takes an honest look at the development of the movement and its ideas against the historical background.

She is married to Johannes de Pous. They have three grown up children.

Andrew Stallybrass

For many years, I have been one of the team carrying and planning the international conference for Initiatives of Change (Moral Re-Armament) in Caux, Switzerland. I have lived in Geneva since 1984 with my Swiss wife, Eliane, and now have dual nationality, British-Swiss. I am Managing Director of Caux Books, the small international publishing house linked with Initiatives of Change. I am also an independent writer and journalist. I am a lay preacher in the Geneva Reformed Church, and am one of the church's representatives on the Geneva Inter-Faith Platform, of which I am currently one of the Vice-Presidents. I hold a post-graduate certificate of specialisation in theology from the University of Geneva. Among my passions: reading, kite-flying, singing, and mountaineering.

Mary Lean

Mary Lean is a writer, editor and spiritual director, living in south-east England. She co-edited Initiative of Change's international magazine, For A Change, from 1987 to 2006. She is author of 'Bread, Bricks and Belief: communities in charge of their future', which examines the role of spiritual change as a catalyst for community development. She writes on refugee, environment and development issues, on spiritual growth and on people who are making a difference, and is Secretary of the Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group, which befriends asylum seekers and immigration detainees held at Tinsley House Removal Centre in the UK. She is married to John Bond.

Erik Parsons

Erik is a communications consultant and graphic designer for Initiatives of Change - International. He designed www.discovertheother.org and was a founding editor of Global Express magazine (1994-96).
A songwriter and music producer, Erik recorded his first independent CD, Atonic, in 1996. Two CDs with Canopy followed in 1998 and 2001. His 'day job' at this time was in corporate graphic design and marketing.
Erik's interests include science fiction, experimental asian-inspired cooking for guests, the art and activism of Brian Eno and U2, the thinking of C.G. Jung, human rights in Burma, and sculpting musical atmospheres. He has a B.A. in Philosophy, Media Studies and Music.
A native of Melbourne, Australia, Erik now lives in the former USSR Republic of Moldova with his wife Cristina.

Mike Smith

Mike has worked with MRA/IofC since he was 19. He trained in publishing with MRA in the late 1960s, and qualified in typography and print design at the London College of Printing in 1970. He served for three years in India, 1971-74, on the production of the newsweekly magazine Himmat, and has since visited India nine times, reporting stories of industrial development. He and Jan were married in 1981 and they spent a year with MRA in the USA, 1984-85. In 1987 Mike became one of the founding editors of For A Change magazine where he was Managing Editor and then Associate Editor. He is a member of the Oxford Group's productions committee, in charge of overseeing publications and films. He is the author of a booklet, 'The Sound of Silence--how to find inspiration in the age of information', written for the websurfing generation. He and Jan have two children, Chloe (b. 1982) and Nicholas (b. 1987) and they live in Wimbledon.

Mike Brown

Mike Brown and his wife, Jean, both writers, have worked since their student days with Initiatives of Change - including 10 years in India and 9 in America. Mike began writing in the 1960s as editor of a youth tabloid in Los Angeles. He spent 8 years on the staff of ‘Himmat’ magazine, a conscience-based news weekly in India. In 2003 his first book was published, 'No Longer Down Under - Australians creating change'. For 20 years both Mike has been active in the Australian reconciliation movement between Aboriginal people and the wider population. In 2000 he received the 'Non-Indigenous Person of the Year' award in his State. Since 2001 he has been one of the coordinators of Action for Life, an inter-generational community of 40 people from 21 countries moving through Asia.