Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at your Church

The first few of 19,000 churchyards have been surveyed as part of a Church of England project to create a free digital map of every grave and feature in every churchyard in the country. The ancient church of St Bega on the shores of Lake Bassenthwaite in the Diocese of Carlisle was the first churchyard...

I was no more than three or four when we visited a church on holiday. It was a different sort of church, and I didn’t know anyone, and I didn’t know what was going on. And I remember scowling, hanging on to my mum’s leg, as she chatted with people after the service. I probably...

The Bible Society is appealing for support to train Chinese pastors, and also equip lay preachers to serve the growing Church in China. As a spokesman explains, “It’s so encouraging to hear of a million people in China becoming Christians each year. But explosive growth has meant leaders are stretched to the limit. A single...

The Eritrean authorities have recently arrested 15 Christians in raids on their houses in the capital Asmara. All have previously been imprisoned for their faith. The East African dictatorship shut down most of its churches in 2002, often detaining Christians indefinitely in harsh conditions. Some have been packed into shipping containers in the heat of...

Christians who remain in Afghanistan are at risk of being hunted down and killed by the Taliban, now that the Islamist group has regained control of the country. The Taliban has reiterated that “in the future, all matters of governance and life in Afghanistan will be regulated by the laws of the Holy Sharia”. This...

More of us are leaving gifts to charities in our Wills.  A million legacies have been left in the past decade alone, according to recent research from Remember A Charity and Smee & Ford. Gifts in Wills are a critical source of funding for charitable services across the country, raising more than £3 billion for...

Parishes across the UK have turned their church or hall car park into a simple money-making enterprise. In all, more than £20,000 a month is being raised through a scheme with YourParkingSpace, which provides an average of £200 a month for the 100 churches on its books. Most of the churches in the scheme are...

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...