Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at your Church

A mission partner of Church Mission Society has warmly welcomed Sudan’s recent decision to criminalise female genital mutilation (FGM). Dr Ann-Marie Wilson, who leads the anti-FGM campaigning organisation 28 Too Many, has been pushing for years for the legislation. Since April, the law now says that perpetrators of FGM will face three years in prison....

Prison Fellowship has reminded its supporters of the hardships facing prisoners during coronavirus. Many prisoners have had to spend nearly 23 hours a day in their cells. Though such lockdown has been essential for the protection of both staff and prisoners against the coronavirus, it has had the effect, says Peter Holloway, CEO of Prison...

Churches across the UK have been finding different ways to worship God, care for their communities, and express their faith during this unprecedented pandemic – and many of them have turned to the Christian agency CPO to provide specific resources to help. The company’s website offers a wide variety of posters and digital downloads reminding...

I recall when I was 14 years old going to stay on my own with my French cousins in the South of France, for three weeks during the summer holidays.  It was a brilliant time which I thoroughly enjoyed.  There was a sense of ‘freedom’ being away from close family and the ability to ride...

A vicar who has nearly 170,000 followers on Instagram and who regularly broadcasts on YouTube, says that God welcomes us all, however ‘messy’ we may believe our lives to be. The Revd Chris Lee, vicar of St Saviour’s in Wendell Park, warned against any of us being ‘embarrassed’ about the state of our lives when...

Churches soon to lose a friend in the media? Lockdown in Bethlehem Under-fives key to significant church growth C of E has been ‘astonishingly present’ Coronavirus and local churches Reflected Faith Series:  a ‘Holding Cross’ Lebanese Christians suffering from lockdown The reasons for going to church ** Editor: by Peter Crumpler, a Church of England...

Are British Christians in danger of losing their best friends in the media? One of the many casualties of the coronavirus shutdown has been the country’s local and regional newspapers. As businesses have closed or cut back, they have withdrawn advertising in local titles. Sales have dropped as people in lockdown can’t venture out to...

The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll of death and illness around the world. However, the statistics don’t always tell the full story. On the face of it, Palestine has escaped lightly, with only two deaths and under 400 cases at the time of writing; but the economic impact on the people has been...

New research has shown that young families with children under five could be a vital element for church growth. The Talking Toddlers report, using recent research by Savanta ComRes, found that 74% of all parents with children under the age of five have attended a church-based activity in the past year. Dr Rachel Jordan-Wolf, assistant...

During the coronavirus crisis, the Church of England has been accused of “vacating the public square or of being absent.” So wrote Bishop Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York Designate, in a recent article for one of the national newspapers*.  But he goes on: “I simply do not recognise (this).  The Church of England has been...

‘Going to church’ is not what it used to be. With our church buildings closed, many of us  now ‘go’ to services transmitted via YouTube or other social media. They last only about 45 minutes, half the length of a normal Sunday church service. Some churches also transmit a daily prayer slot, or provide a...

Many churches today are using social media to hold public services – either together at the same time or uploaded so you can listen and watch at any time and worship in your home when it is convenient for you. I find that having a ‘prayer space’ when I join, as well as when I...