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Women who represent the Church of England in Parliament have spoken out about what it means to be a female leader, as part of an initiative to inspire the next generation to follow in their footsteps. In the 100th anniversary year of women’s votes, the three sitting women bishops in the House of Lords, together...

Traidcraft plc is in trouble.  With very poor recent trading figures and despite enormous efforts by the staff and management and Fair Traders, it warns that the present model for the company may be no longer viable. Traidcraft’s charity branch, Traidcraft Exchange, will continue to support farmers and lobby government through its charitable arm, and...

The Church of England is continuing to voice its concern over climate change. Following news that the summer of 2018 was the hottest on record in England, and the UK’s joint warmest overall, The Bishop of Salisbury, Nicholas Holtam, the Church of England’s lead bishop for Environmental Affairs, said: ‘It is becoming difficult for even...

The Archbishop of Canterbury recently called for the rollout of Universal Credit to be halted, saying it has left people worse off. The Most Rev Justin Welby received a standing ovation at the recent TUC Congress in Manchester when he attacked the benefits system, said the living wage should be higher and criticised firms like...

Eight churches in a Coptic diocese in Upper Egypt have had to close after persistent hostility from Muslim villagers. According to Christian lawyer Gamil Ayed, villagers have been protesting bids to secure legal recognition for church buildings. Two years ago, the Egyptian government introduced a law giving churches the same legal rights as mosques, but the...

At least that is a finding from the latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey, which has found that patients admitted to hospital are more likely to have religious faith than people in the general public. It seems that more than half of us are happy to say that we have ‘no religion’, according to the...

A new vision for RE is ‘vital’ for properly equipping our children.  So says the Church of England’s Chief Education Officer, Nigel Genders. He was responding to the recent publication of the Final Report by the Commission on Religious Education.  He said: ‘this report calls for a new vision for Religious Education (RE) which is...

Two English cathedrals have defended their commitment to staff welfare after it emerged they have been advertising vacancies which include zero-hour contracts. The practise of hiring workers on the basis they receive no guaranteed working hours was in the news recently when the Archbishop of Canterbury called the practise ‘evil’. Norwich Cathedral had advertised for...

Growing numbers of young people train as priests Free Bible Sunday resources Give some ‘mustard seeds’ this Harvest Safe houses for persecuted Bangladeshi Christians Christian Aid appeal for Kerala flood victims Crime in the Countryside First graduation for ground-breaking college in Ethiopia Spiritual seekers find warm welcome from Christians at festival Churches renew their energy….!...

Growing numbers of young people are seeking ordination to the priesthood, as the Church of England makes progress towards achieving a key target of recruiting more candidates for ordained ministry. The number of people aged under 32 years old recommended for training for ordination this year rose by nearly a third, or 32%, to 169,...

The end of this month, 28th October, is Bible Sunday.  If you are looking for resources for either yourself and other adults, or youth, or children, you will find them free at the Bible Society’s website:  https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/get-involved/bible-sunday. The notes are adaptable, so you can easily pick and mix the resources that best suit your context.

Did you know that half the population of this country is financially vulnerable? In fact, England has one of the lowest levels of financial capability in the developed world, according to the Just Finance Foundation. A good reason why the Mustard Seed Appeal has returned for another year. The Mustard Seed Appeal was born out...