Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Have you seen the film How to Train your Dragon? It’s set in a Viking village under attack from dragons, who steal livestock and burn down houses. Hiccup, the village Chief’s son, invents a machine to capture dragons. However, when he catches one of the most dangerous dragons, he cannot kill it, when he sees...

“We are not divided but we disagree, and that is very painful. And I will use again the words close to those I used to the Bishops gathered at the Lambeth Conference on a very similar debate. “For some, to question the inherited teaching damages witness and is sinful: you point out that in many provinces across...

It was 90 years ago, on 3rd April 1933, that the first flight over Mount Everest took place. British pilots the Marquis of Clydesdale and Donald McIntyre flew two biplanes over the summit. The two Scots were financed by the striking and rather eccentric Lady Houston, who started life as a chorus girl but through...

If you are exposed to air pollution over a period of many years, you may suffer from depression in later life. Such are the findings of a recent study carried out by a team at Harvard University. It found a correlation between the risk of developing a mental health problem and the amount of time...

Church leaders in Ukraine are being singled out for persecution by Russian forces in occupied areas. Some pastors have been arrested, interrogated, tortured, and even expelled from their towns by the Russian military and their supporters. Occupying forces have confiscated church buildings and Christians have received harsher treatment at Russian military checkpoints, say partners of...

– disciple, apostle, writer of the second gospel  Mark, whose home in Jerusalem became a place of rest for Jesus and His 12 apostles, is considered the traditional author of the second gospel. He is also usually identified as the young man, described in Mark 14:51, who followed Christ after his arrest and then escaped...

“I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me though he were dead yet shall he live” John 11:25 It would have been hard on Good Friday for anyone to imagine the glory that was coming on Sunday morning. On Friday the situation seemed hopeless: Peter denied Christ three times; Judas committed suicide; the...

Seventy years ago, on 16th April 1953, Queen Elizabeth II launched the Royal Yacht Britannia. It was decommissioned in 1997. The Royal Family no longer owns a royal yacht. Britannia was the 83rd such vessel since King Charles II acceded to the throne in 1660, but the first Royal Yacht to be built with complete...

What happens locally really matters… and local news matters massively. I believe, as a Christian minister, that churches and congregations have a calling to encourage community-based journalism and professional coverage of our localities. In the UK, a recent report by MPs highlighted the major challenges facing local media. Much advertising revenue has been driven online,...

It was 40 years ago, on 15th April 1983, that Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch writer, watchmaker, and Holocaust survivor, died. She wrote about her experiences in Christian books that became best-sellers. Corrie’s family were Calvinist Christians in the Dutch Reformed Church, and served their neighbourhood by offering shelter, food and money to the needy....

– fierce firebrand of the Early Church Tertullian was born in Carthage, North Africa, about 155 AD. He had pagan parents and his father may have been a centurion. Carthage was a prestigious Roman colony and Tertullian was given a good education in Greek, Latin, literature, history and philosophy. On arrival in Rome, Tertullian probably...

With Holy Week and Easter in mind… The death of Christ was the most dreadful blow ever given to the empire of darkness.  – William Plumer The world cannot bury Christ. The earth is not deep enough for His tomb, the clouds are not wide enough for His winding-sheet. – E Thomson The best news...