Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Wilson Carlile was born in Brixton in 1847, and did not set out to become an evangelist. Instead, he was brilliant at both languages and music, and excelled as a businessman. That is, until an economic recession and serious illness brought him crashing down and finished his career, aged only 31. Not surprisingly, a serious...

Sixty years ago, on 4th September 1964, the Forth Road Bridge opened in Scotland. It links Edinburgh to Fife across the Firth of Forth. (A second bridge, the Queensferry Crossing, opened in 2017 and largely replaced it.) The crossing of the Firth of Forth has a long history. In the 11th century Margaret, queen consort...

Don’t believe everything you see on TV. Especially those programmes which show you how easy it is to do DIY jobs around your house. A recent survey has found that many people who watch these programmes and decide to ‘have a go’ at a home maintenance project, only end up causing damage. In fact, a...

Some 75 years ago, on 1st September 1949, the Christmas song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was released. It was sung by the American movie-star and singer Gene Autry, nicknamed the “Singing Cowboy”. The song was adapted from a poem/story written by Robert L May for a children’s colouring book:  it was an assignment given him...

The brutal civil war in Sudan has pushed the country to the brink of famine. And even food given by humanitarian agencies is now being used as a weapon in the conflict. So says the South Sudanese RC Bishop of Yei, the Rt Revd Alex Lodiong Sakor Eyobo, who says that both sides of the...

In a letter that was sent a few weeks ago to Faith Leaders from the now Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, it is clear that he sees and wants to understand more about the impact people of faith have on communities today. Let’s be clear, we know that politicians of all parties admire and covet...

In the church today we sometimes assume that discipleship is more about the sacred part of our life, rather than the secular as well. Are we aware of what God is doing in our school, workplace, with friends and family, on our street or in our leisure time? Whole life disciples spend every day with...

Very few people stand out as being incredibly good, but Vincent de Paul was one of them.  His life touched thousands of people, who were helped and inspired by his love and kindness. Vincent de Paul was born in 1581 to a Gascon peasant family at Ranquine. Educated by the Franciscans and then at Toulouse...

Four hundred years ago, on 10th September 1624, Thomas Sydenham, the English physician who became known as the “father of English medicine”, was born in Dorset. His textbook on medicine, Observationes Medicae, became the standard medical textbook in England for the next 200 years. Sydenham came from a Puritan family, and his medical studies were...

A national mission charity is to receive more than £700,000 to help Church of England parishes attract more children and young people and increase the size of worshipping communities. Leading your Church into Growth (popularly known as LyCiG), has been awarded £755,100 by the Strategic Mission and Mission Investment Board (SMMIB) to increase its provision...

 The Church of England has recently launched a new network of 40 worshipping communities, furthering its vision of becoming younger and more diverse. The new FLOURISH network will establish partnerships between schools or Further Education colleges and their local churches, aiming to engage a large number of children, young people, and their families. An initial...

‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race that is marked out for us.’ (Hebrews 12:1) With the Paris Olympics still so recent, this imagery can really speak to...