Founder:
Dr Michael Schluter

The Jubilee Centre was founded by Dr Michael Schluter CBE, a serial social entrepreneur who has gone on to found numerous institutions and who is an original Christian thinker and an author.

After his Ph.D from Cornell University (USA), Michael worked as an applied economist with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and on assignments for the World Bank.

It was while he was working in East Africa in the 1970s that he began to explore, with a group of Christians, whether the Bible could provide a framework for national development instead of the secular alternatives. They asked which of the different approaches to national and economic development around them was the closest to the Bible? Was it the African socialist model in Tanzania, the Capitalist system pursued in Kenya or the radical Marxist approach in Ethiopia? At the time, Christian reflection in Britain centred on identifying biblical principles to critique public policy. The Left stressed justice; the Right stressed stewardship. However, such general principles were inadequate to evaluate newly independent nations in post-colonial Africa. Together, their group came to the conclusion that the Bible does indeed offer a coherent vision for society. In the Old Testament we find a rich store of insights regarding social, political and economic life. In the New Testament, we see Jesus’ summary of the law in terms of love (Matthew 22:34-40), which places the focus on right relationships.

In 1983, on his return from East Africa, Michael founded the Jubilee Centre in Cambridge in order to develop and set out policy responses to economic, social and political issues from a biblical perspective. With a focus on getting relationships right in public life, this way of understanding and applying the biblical social vision came to be called relationism, or Relational Thinking.

Michael led the Jubilee Centre for two decades. His work at the Jubilee Centre led to the creation of numerous related organisations and initiatives including:

• The Keep Sunday Special Campaign was founded in 1985

• The New Park Initiative in 1986 to help promote peace in South Africa and later in Rwanda and Sudan; it eventually gave birth to Concordis International and also eventually Relational Peacebuilding Initiatives which has worked in Ukraine and Korea.

• Credit Action was established in 1988 to educate on the dangers of easy credit; today it is known as The Money Charity, after a merger.

• Since 1992, the Cambridge Papers Writing Group have produced theological papers every quarter on a wide range of topical subjects

• In 1994, Michael helped to found the Relationships Foundation, a way of applying Relational Thinking in the secular marketplace

• Citylife was established in 1999 to raise investment for social impact. It was later renamed Allia and is now Allia C&C

Since 2000, Michael has focused on three main areas. Firstly, continuing peacebuilding initiatives, first in Sudan (1999-2004), then Ukraine (2015-2017), and most recently Korea (2017 to present). Secondly, collaborative research into application of biblical teaching to political and economic systems, reform of corporate Capitalism, measurement of relationships and how to counter the current rights culture. Thirdly, co-authoring a number of books, some of which are listed below.

Michael was appointed CBE by the Queen in the New Year Honours List 2009 in recognition of his public service.  He is currently President and CEO of Relational Peacebuilding Initiatives and Chairs Relational Research and has established The Relationist.