Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

A new set of findings from a 10-year study into the well-being and flourishing of ordained ministers in the Church of England has been recently published. The Living Ministry programme tracks the progress of groups of clergy ordained in 2006, 2011 and 2015 and women and men who entered training for ordination in 2016, seeking to...

Persecution of Christians in various countries is making the headlines these days.  Believers facing such opposition might well find inspiration from the courage of the Japanese Christians of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The Jesuit Francis Xavier had first brought Christianity to Japan in 1549, when he persuaded Shimazu Takahisa, the daimyo of...

“Hello, I am a millionaire and part-time army officer, and spend my time at my numerous houses and yachts throughout the world. Even though we have never met, I am in love with you. I would like to meet you, and share my paradise with you, but first I need you to send me £500...

St Kew has nothing to do with gardens or the ‘Q’ of James Bond fame.  This Kew was a girl who lived in Cornwall in the 5th century, and should be the patron saint of girls with difficult older brothers. Kew’s older brother was a hermit who felt his younger sister was not worthy to...

Jo Chamberlain has been appointed as the National Environment Officer for the Church of England, taking forward the strategy developed by the Environment Working Group. This is a new post reflecting the Archbishops’ Council’s focus on the environment as a theological and mission priority. Jo joins the Mission and Public Affairs team from Christian Aid...

By David Adam, Kevin Mayhew, £9.99 The six weeks of Lent are a time of preparing: a time when we seek to understand the fullness of Christ’s offering on the cross and rejoice in the resurrection. Lent is a time to improve our prayer life and to make sure we spend some time each day...

Scholastica (d.c. 543) should be the patron saint of any woman who can bend her brother to do her will – no matter how ‘powerful’ that brother might seem to other people. For Scholastica’s brother was no less than the great monk Benedict, who founded the famous Benedictine order and lived at Monte Cassino.   In...

Here is some good news:  the divorce rate has fallen to the lowest level for nearly 50 years. It seems that the many children of divorce have in their turn decided to stick at their marriage, and thus avoid the trauma of splitting up. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows that divorce has...

Caedmon (d 680) should be the patron saint of all farmers who enjoy humming to themselves as they do the lambing this Spring.  For Caedmon of Whitby was a bit like David in the Bible – he grew up as a simple herdsman out on the hills who enjoyed composing songs and poetry for himself...

Men’s stress levels increase when their partner starts earning more than 40 per cent of the household income.  Their stress levels are also high when the man is the sole earner. “Neither of the extreme scenarios is good for male mental health,” according to Dr Joana Syrda, a researcher at Bath University. It recently published...

The writer Gary Chapman describes the 5 ‘love languages’ as words of encouragement, quality time, gifts, acts of service and touch. Do you have a preferred ‘language of love’? With the approach of St Valentines’ Day, let’s ask: what is God’s love language? ‘Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with...

There are two confusing things about this day of romance and anonymous love-cards strewn with lace, cupids and ribbon: firstly, there seems to have been two different Valentines in the 4th century – one a priest martyred on the Flaminian Way, under the emperor Claudius, the other a bishop of Terni martyred at Rome.  And...