Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Do you have teenagers?  What are they doing at the moment?  Chances are, they are glued to their phone.  The World Health Organisation has warned that some 80 per cent of teenagers in Britain do not take enough exercise, and that a couch-potato lifestyle has become their norm. Girls are even less active than boys,...

Lent is a time to take stock of ourselves spiritually.  This includes setting aside extra time for prayer.  Here are some helpful things to remember as you settle down to it: People have been praying since Adam had a grandson named Enosh.  The Bible tells us (Genesis 4:26) that it was during his days when...

Polycarp (c. 69 – c. 155) was one of the most important Christians in Roman Asia in the mid-2nd century, because of his link between the time of the Apostles and the earliest Christian Fathers.  This disciple of John the Apostle became bishop of Smyrna and defended orthodox Christian belief against the heresies of Marcion...

Have you ever been in the position where someone is desperately needed – and you fit the bill perfectly?   It is almost as if all your miscellaneous qualifications that never made much sense before now make PERFECT sense.  And you sense that you have been chosen by God for the task…. If so, then Matthias...

They may be asleep at the moment, but tortoises are not the stay-at-homes couch potatoes that you may think they are.  In fact, so many have been leaving their homes to go on walk-about, that now the RSPCA is advising that they be microchipped. The charity rescued almost 1,000 tortoises last year. Experts advise that...

G  –  God R  –  ran A  –  alongside C  –  carrying E  –  everything

Have you ever been in the position where someone is desperately needed – and you fit the bill perfectly?   It is almost as if all your miscellaneous qualifications that never made much sense before now make PERFECT sense.  And you sense that you have been chosen by God for the task…. If so, then Matthias...

Editor:  by David Winter Why do we have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, as we call it today? And what is Shrove Tuesday? And why do thousands of people feel it rewarding to race along a street somewhere tossing pancakes from their frying pans as they go? Well, the answer to the first...

If you have a stressful confrontation coming up, such as a row with your partner, or at work, try and have it in the middle of the day.  That is the time when your body is functioning most efficiently, and when you can best cope with stress. Both early morning and late evening are never...

Ever wonder why we eat pancakes just before Lent?  The tradition dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, when Christians spent Lent in repentance and severe fasting. So on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the church bell would summon them to confession, where they would be ‘shriven’, or absolved from their sins, which gives us Shrove Tuesday.  ...

Editor:  by David Winter At the end of this month Ash Wednesday introduces the Christian preparation for Easter, which normally coincides with Passover, the major Jewish celebration of the year. It’s near Easter because Jesus was crucified at Passover, having just shared this very meal with his disciples. Passover celebrates and recalls the Israelites’ escape...

Mary Slessor was an indomitable Scottish Presbyterian missionary to Calabar, Nigeria in late Victorian times.  She not only evangelised three tribes there, but also stopped the widespread practise of killing twins at birth.  Her life made a tremendous difference for good to thousands of people. Concerned about the purposeless lives of some women back in...