Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at your Church

Young people today are often very concerned about social and political justice.  The ‘Gen Z’  generation (those born in the 21st century) are especially worried about climate justice, as they would term it. They are conscious that over the next 50 to 80 years of their lives, the problems arising from not taking action now...

The persecution of Christians is set to intensify in Iran, following the election of hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi as the Islamic Republic’s new president. That is the warning from Release International, which is also urging Iran’s new president to allow full religious freedom and release all prisoners of faith. “This victory for the hardliners will mean...

I’m involved in a project rooted in the Church of England’s St Albans diocese, north of London. We bring together people from a range of backgrounds and faiths to address the question ‘Where is Truth now?’ A vital issue for us from recent months has been ‘How has truth fared during the pandemic? Here are...

Renters are struggling. 1.7 million renting households are worried about paying their rent over the next three months, and nearly one million are worried about being evicted during the same period. Such are the findings of recent research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). The JRF says that black, Asian and minority-ethnic renters, renters with...

Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Bishop challenges the BBC on its religious broadcasting The ‘must have’ magazine for anyone who loves Christian books. Opening and closing churches in the UK Can comedy point the way to faith? The value of making our church ‘common ground’ When someone you love is dying ** Editor:  You may wish to...

A four-day Bank Holiday from 2-5 June 2022 will mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next year. This is an amazing opportunity to bring our communities together for the celebrations, which end on Pentecost Sunday. HOPE Together, the Church of England, the Methodist Church, Biblica and other key partners are currently planning for the Queen’s Platinum...

A Church of England bishop has recently called on the BBC to be more imaginative in its religious broadcasting. The Bishop of Ripon, Helen-Ann Hartley, urged the BBC to go beyond ‘preaching to the converted’ to producing documentaries and dramas that challenge and inform people’s world views. Writing in a recent edition of Radio Times,...

If you care about the publication, promotion and selling of Christian books, you will thoroughly enjoy Together magazine.  It is full of the latest news from Christian publishing houses, authors and booksellers, and full of encouragement to anyone wanting to promote Christian literature in their community. The first issue of Together was published way back...

There were an estimated 45,500 congregations or churches in the UK in 2020:  79%, in England, 8% (3,700 churches) in Wales, 8% (3,500 churches) in Scotland and 5% (2,100 churches) in Northern Ireland. New congregations are being started or having to close all the time, and in the fifteen years since 2005 it is estimated...

Truth can come from a range of places. In Shakespeare, it’s the fool who often has the insight that the main characters lack. In the Old Testament, it’s the prophets that proclaim the truth from God’s perspective. Maybe today, we should be listening more to the comedians – to the people who stand back from...

As we seek to reconnect with our community this summer, how many local people would find it easy to even venture into our church? Dr Anne Richards, National Adviser, Mission and Publish Affairs, Church of England, recently had this to say: “I think that churches, especially rural churches, can be sites of common ground for...

I have found hope and peace in knowing that as Christians we hold fast to the promise that God will bring forth good out of this season, and that God is with our patients all the more, especially if we cannot be. As a society and as a church, we are often poorly equipped to...