Viewing all items in Resource Category: Looking at your Church

Many churches are holding Sunday, weekday and pastoral (Baptism, Wedding and Funeral) services again in their buildings. However, for most of us no singing is allowed; and this often means no music is being played. Whilst the churches were closed, one of the key things about worshipping together that people missed was the communal singing...

Calling all aspiring Christian writers! The Bible Reading Fellowship (BRF) is offering aspiring writers the opportunity to see their work in print in The Upper Room. Published in 35 languages, The Upper Room is unique in that its readers are its writers. After the success of the 2017 competition, this is another chance to write...

The charity Barnabas Fund has thanked its supporters for their generous response to an emergency appeal that followed the disastrous explosion at the port in Lebanon on 4th August. It meant that Barnabas Fund was able to send more than £85,000 to help Christians in Beirut with food and the repair of their homes. As...

The charity Tearfund has moved fast to help people hit by the huge explosion in Lebanon on 4th August.  The country was already suffering beneath the weight of an economic crisis, growing food insecurity, and widespread poverty. Tearfund’s local partners have been distributing thousands of hot meals, as well as vouchers to enable those most...

You may have missed it at the time. The movie ‘Contagion’ didn’t make much of an impact when it was released for public viewing in 2011. Perhaps it was thought to be unrealistic. It was about a highly contagious, unknown virus, transmitted by an infected bat to a pig in a Chinese marketplace. From there it spread like...

Crime hurts many people – including the families of prisoners who have ended up in the UK prison system. They are often the forgotten victims, but not by the Mothers’ Union (MU). Instead, the MU’s prison work across Britain is extensive, with the aim of keeping hurting families together. It is not simple work, for...

The Methodist Church has launched a Year of Prayer online to help bring more people to faith. The short weekly online service takes place each Tuesday lunchtime, at 12.45pm via Zoom, and is also live- streamed via Facebook. It will be led by people from across the Church. Trey Hall, Director of Evangelism and Growth...

This year’s Green Health Awards were just one of many activities to be cancelled because of the current situation. Whilst churches have been closed their gardens have continued to grow and many of these will have been used for therapeutic gardening. But have these been growing wild or have enthusiasts found ways round the rules...

Churches warned to prepare for ‘tidal wave of poverty’ Abbey’s ‘black Jesus’ stirs up a storm Saudi Arabia’s call on UN to embrace Islamophobia as racism raises alarm Helping Christians of Central Asia during COVID-19 Pandemic amid millions of locusts As the pandemic progresses, here is the latest from MAF pilots… Tearfund in Yemen The...

Church leaders are being urged to be ready to respond to the lasting impact of the pandemic on the country’s poorest people. The effect on urban, suburban and rural communities is likely to be severe with many thousands of jobs being lost and livelihoods threatened. The poorest in society may find themselves hardest hit. Churches...

A large-scale painting of the Last Supper depicting Jesus as a black man has sparked controversy and heated debate in the UK and around the world. I reckon that’s no bad thing. In fact, it could be really positive. St Albans Cathedral, 20 miles north of central London in leafy Hertfordshire, has installed the painting...

Saudi Arabia’s recent call to the UN to focus on “eliminating Islamophobia” as an outcome of tackling online racism and xenophobia sets a potentially dangerous precedent – at a level of global policy – by attempting to define as a fait accompli that “Islamophobia” is a type of racial discrimination. That is the recent warning of the...