Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Despite a challenging year for investment markets, the Church Commissioners have reported a positive return of 1.8% in 2018. The value of the Commissioners’ investment fund now stands at £8.2bn. Holdings in strategic land, private equity, timber, infrastructure and indirect real estate combined to help to keep the fund’s performance in positive territory. Over the...

Have you ever suffered from gossip? Ever discovered that people are saying some really wild things about you?  If so, Joseph of Arimathea would understand – and sympathise with you.  This decent, godly man of the gospels seems to have fired the imaginations of all sorts of odd people down the centuries. Joseph was a...

We are drinking less alcohol. In fact, one in four adults in the UK does not drink at all. That is the finding of a recent study by the Lancet.  The trend is noticeable among millennials, with baby-boomers far more likely to drink alcohol – and consume it at higher levels.

The charity Sailors’ Society has launched a crisis response network to help victims of trauma at sea in Asia, as kidnappings at sea reach their highest levels in 10 years.  In 2018 alone, pirates kidnapped 62 people for ransom in 15 separate incidents. And so the charity, which supports seafarers around the world, has trained...

In the church I belong to we recently suffered two deaths in quick succession. Two of our older members (both in their eighties) passed away within a short time of each other, and we will miss them dearly. Doreen was with us from when we first started the church some 27 years ago. The matriarch...

A recent report by Christians Against Poverty (CAP), called Changing Perceptions has revealed that the financial problems of parents can have a profound effect on their children’s future relationship with money.  More than one in four of CAP’s current clients grew up in a household badly affected by debt. It seems that money worries are...

Summer is here and for thousands of young people that means heading off to music festivals. At several music festival events teams of Festival Angel volunteers will be on hand to offer welfare and support to ensure that those attending have a safe and fun festival experience. Festival Angels started life as a Prayer Cafe,...

75 years ago, as a choirboy, I remember thinking that lots of our hymns were about war. Not the one we were fighting in Europe, but a cosmic battle between good and evil. Christians were to put on their armour, pick up the sword of the spirit and fight with the ‘God of battles’ until...

Four people were killed in a recent attack on a church in Burkina Faso. It was the fourth deadly assault by Islamist militants on Christians in the region in four weeks. A heavily armed gang attacked in the town of Toulfe, 240 km north-west of the capital Ouagadougou, while the congregation worshipped. Local sources said...

It can be easier to notice things away from home, when we are relaxed and surrounded by unfamiliar sights in an exotic location. But sometimes the same wonders are there in our own back yard. GK Chesterton was a great advocate of intensive observation, and he invited his readers to take a fresh look at...

Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy, O Lord. Thou art worthy to receive glory, Glory and honour and power. For Thou hast created, hast all things created, For Thou hast created all things. And for Thy pleasure they are created; Thou art worthy, O Lord. By Pauline Mills, 1883 All sons occasionally...

The choir of St Bride’s Church Fleet Street gave the first ever performance on Rogation Sunday of A song for the Season of Creation, written for churches to include in their creationtide services later this year. A recording produced with the support of the CofE’s Mission and Public Affairs is available at http://www.stbrides.com/webcast/2019/05/a-song-for-the-season-of-creation.php The song...