Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at your Church

National Tree Week (Saturday 27th November to Sunday 5th December) is the UK’s largest annual celebration of trees. It marks the start of the winter tree planting season, and so aims to encourage anyone with space to consider planting a tree. That includes churches with churchyards. The Conservation Foundation would be happy to advise anyone...

Time to reclaim the sabbath, says new report Good reasons to have a church magazine Meeting the needs of older people Are you young?  Would you like to become an evangelist? FUSION – helping students grow their faith Christian Aid’s emergency appeal for Haiti ** Editor:  By the Revd Peter Crumpler, a Church of England...

Home working, zero hours contracts, the switch to home deliveries and online retailing, and an ‘always on’ culture – the world of work is changing fast and massively, and the Covid pandemic has accelerated the upheaval. Now faith-based think tank Theos has come up with key proposals aimed at helping modern-day workers survive and thrive...

After a year of lockdown, should we still bother with church magazines now that church life is picking up again?  Yes! It is read by lots of people. If each issue is read on average by two people, then more people see it than ever go to church.  So, it is a very good way...

These days there seems to be a day for everything, including the United Nations’ ‘International day for Older Persons’, which is observed on 1st October. So perhaps October is a good month to think about meeting the needs of older people in church.  Many churches employ children’s workers or youth leaders – but how many...

Youth outreach can be daunting, but now a new organisation promises to help local churches begin to do it, ‘stress free’. Amplify is the nation’s national Young Evangelists’ Academy for 11-17s. HOPE Together’s Youth Director Dan Randall says, “We would love to serve churches by equipping their young people to reach their generation for Jesus....

Our teenage years are those in which we grow, discovering who we are through our new-found independence. Imagine then, pushing through these years with your independence stolen by a global pandemic. In a survey by Young Minds (2020) it was found that 80% of young people (those aged 13-25) agreed that their mental health had...

Following the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in August, Christian Aid has launched an emergency appeal to help people that have been affected. The nation – which is still recovering from the 2010 earthquake that killed 300,000 people and Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and more recently dealing with Covid and the aftermath of the assassination...

How to make the most of a church meeting Learning lessons from a graveyard Female clergy Two thirds of churches in UK plan to keep streaming online, says survey Five things we’ve learnt about Truth in the pandemic ** Editor:  David Pickup, a solicitor, offers some tips for holding a successful church meeting. How to...

Open and close every meeting with a prayer. It can be a very simple request for a blessing and guidance. You could select a Bible verse from the daily reading to go with it. Apologies for absence. These are just an acknowledgement that someone knew the meeting was on, but was not able to attend....

If you’re looking for a quiet oasis away from the bustle and busyness of everyday life, there’s a place where nature, heritage and the life histories of hundreds of local people are on peaceful display. Take a walk in your local cemetery. The chances are it’s a place where nature abounds, where socially-distant peace can...

In 1992 the Church of England voted to allow the ordination of women.  Since 2014 they have also been able to become Bishops. The percentage of female clergy across all denominations in the UK in 1992, the first year it was counted, was 7% (of which 5% was Church of England). By the year 2000 it...