| NEWS Premier
focuses on the Church of England A
new programme focusing on different aspects of the Church
of England has been launched on Premier Christian Radio.
At around The
ten-minute features, called 'Work in Progress' - also
available at any time on Premier's website www.premier.org.uk
- form part of the station's afternoon programming,
hosted by presenter Cindy Kent. Westminster-based
Premier have been broadcasting a mix of music and speech-based
Christian programming for nine years. As well as
transmitting on three MW frequencies (1305, 1332, 1413 AM)
in the capital, the station is also available nationally
on Freeview (channel 96) Sky digital and NTL, and
worldwide via its website www.premier.org.uk. More
information at www.cofe.anglican.org/news or www.premier.org.uk Church
investors maintain alcohol exclusion An
in-depth review of the Church of England's current policy
not to invest in brewers, distillers and operators of pub
companies has concluded that this is still a relevant
investment exclusion for the Church. The
Church's main investing bodies - the Church
Commissioners; the Central Board of Finance; and the The
Rt Revd Dr Peter Selby, Bishop of Worcester and EIAG
Deputy Chairman, said: “There is a clear and
necessary distinction between decisions taken by society
as a whole, by congregations, and by individual
Christians. There is no inconsistency between individual
Church members enjoying alcohol as one of God's gifts,
and the Church as an institution declining to take
dividends from manufacturing or marketing it." Marriage
MOT to check you are the perfect match Brides
and grooms can make sure they are perfectly matched by
looking at 'Growing Together,' a new book from the Church
of England. 'Growing
Together' identifies key areas which couples need to
consider to make sure their marriage stands the test of
time. They include children, money, commitment, sex,
conflict, faith and families. The
book's author the Rev Andrew Body said: "This book
is aimed at everyone preparing for their wedding day. It
recognises that many couples live together before taking
their vows. Relationships need check-ups just like cars
do. What better time to have a 'Marriage MOT' and to ask
each other these big questions than before the Big Day
itself?" 'Growing
together - a guide for couples getting married' is
published by Church House Publishing, priced £6.99 and
is available from Christian Book shops, or from Church
House Bookshop, tel 020 7898 1300, e-mail bookshop@c-of-e.org.uk,
or on the web at: www.chbookshop.co.uk (mail order). Churches
encouraged to join general election debate Interest
in politics may be waning, but churches have a good track
record in holding hustings. So as the general election
campaign gathers steam, churches across the country are
being encouraged to host 'Question Time' meetings for
election candidates. Resources and guidance to plan the
meetings are downloadable from a new web site: www.churcheselection.org.uk
The
Churches' Constituency Meetings Resources are being
prepared by Churches Together in Changing
rural life Thirteen
Anglican bishops have set out their views on the changing
face of the countryside in a new book. In 'Changing Rural
Life: a Christian response to key rural issues,' (Canterbury
Press, £19.99), the bishops and other senior churchmen
look at the underlying issues facing British rural
communities in the 21st century. In
an 'afterword', the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan
Williams, writes of the countryside: “The current
economic and social challenges are enormous, as these
essays show; but happily they also show that the response
of the churches is increasingly serious and creative,
conscious of the diversity of rural lives. We can
reasonably hope that ahead of us lies a new level of
engagement with mission in this environment.” More
information: www.canterburypress.co.uk Where
are the children? A
challenge to the church to look at how links with local
children can be developed is featured in a new book from
a senior Church of England adviser on children's
evangelism. In
her new book Where are the Children? (BRF, £7.99)
Margaret Withers, the Archbishop of Canterbury's Officer
for Evangelism among Children, shows how churches can
provide a focus for many of the significant times in life.
As well as welcoming families and children when a child
is born, the church should be open and available
throughout the early years in a child's life. Pram
services and church hall based toddler groups are
effective in welcoming families who may be rethinking
their own faith and seeking support and friendship in the
light of new roles as parents. More information:
www.brf.org.uk Euthanasia
is a 'clear and present danger' There
is a 'clear and present danger' of euthanasia coming to
Britain – with two Bills going through Parliament,
and courts allowing withdrawal of feeding tubes in
individual cases. Yet the public, the medical profession
and the terminally ill are all against it. Stories and
statistics show that most nations reject so-called 'mercy
killing'. Those
were the main messages from the experts addressing 'Last
Rights' - a recent conference in “We
have a clear and present danger of euthanasia,” CBPP
Policy Consultant Dr Andrew Fergusson warned delegates.
“We are sleepwalking...it's time we woke up.”
He explained that both the Mental Capacity Bill and the
Assisted Dying For The Terminally Ill Bill spearheaded by
Lord Joffe could boost the process of legalising assisted
suicide. Dr
Fergusson said that 'media-friendly' people were now
leading a 'sophisticated campaign' for the pro-euthanasia
lobby. “It's now time to act if we don't want to see
a change of law in this country,' he pointed out.’We've
got to get ourselves together.” One
hundred attended the event, organised with CARE,
Christian Medical Fellowship, Evangelical Alliance,
London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, Comment
on Reproductive Ethics, Christian Institute, and the
Scottish Council on Human Bioethics. Reviewing
the international scene, CARE for Europe Manager David
Fieldsend pointed out that most of continental Only
nine out of 192 countries have legalised euthanasia, CBPP
International Director Charlie Hoare explained. 'It's by
no means a huge global problem,' he said. CBPP
(The Centre for Bioethics and Public Policy) is an
initiative of CARE and is a major European think-tank on
bioethics promoting clear ethical thinking, based on
Judeo-Christian values. Competition
to preserve church heritage Ecclesiastical
Insurance is running a national competition to reward the
most imaginative ideas for linking churches with local
communities, trusts, charities, businesses, education
authorities, tourist authorities or cultural bodies. A
report published by the Church Heritage Forum recently
entitled 'Building Faith in our Future', recognised that
although activity in church buildings makes a huge
contribution to the life of their communities these
achievements are under pressure. Volunteers and regular
churchgoers need new partnerships with public bodies and
the wider community to help them sustain those
achievements for the future. Ecclesiastical
is inviting them to share their ideas so that many other
churches can benefit. First prize in the competition is
£1,500 and 12 finalists will feature on Ecclesiastical's
2006 calendar. For more information or to enter the
competition, visit http://www.ecclesiastical.co.uk/churchcomp2005.
The deadline for entries is Huge
numbers of orphans As
a consequence of the recent Asian tsunami some 100,000
children have become orphans. But what is often not
realised is that the number of children who are made
orphans every year from AIDS is much greater than this.
In There
is another major difference also. Those orphaned in
the tsunami wave know their parents were drowned
unexpectedly and suddenly. Those who are orphaned
from AIDS often see their parents suffer for many months
and die in extremely painful and heart-breaking
circumstances. The traumas of that experience could
well be substantial in the long-term. In
one Kenyan Diocese, church leaders are reckoning that the
building of orphanages may be more important than
building the parish church. The AIDS pandemic needs
that kind of strategy! Statistic
of the Month: Two-thirds trust the clergy In
a large scale survey across 19 countries by the GfK
group, two-thirds of those interviewed in the This
was not as high as teachers and doctors, who enjoyed an
85% confidence level, and below the police and Armed
Forces whom three-quarters, 75%, trusted. But it is
a much higher level than for lawyers and journalists who
were trusted by 47% and 33% respectively. It
is also four times as much as people trust politicians,
who only came in at 16%! In fact in every country
the politicians were lowest. So
if folk trust the clergy, does that mean that clergy
should speak out more on key current issues? As the
church seems irrelevant to many, it is good that people
have confidence in the clergy. How best use this to
help build the Kingdom? Record
enquiries about Jesus Christ Thousands
of people, who have little or no contact with church,
want to know about Jesus and the Christian faith because
of a British web site and postcards. Around
1000 people a day visited the evangelistic website www.rejesus.co.uk
in 2004 and it's estimated that at least 200 of these
were 'enquirers' who are seeking to explore and discover
Christian faith for themselves. "Rejesus
has a variety of creative content to suit different
people and is accessible evangelism because it invites
people to look, discover and experience in their own
time, place and speed," said the Ven Robert Freeman,
chairman of rejesus.co.uk. The
website offers follow-up help from the Christian Enquiry
Agency (CEA), which received record enquiries in 2004
exceeding 5000. Many of these came through outreach
initiatives such as the 'Why' response postcards placed
in cinemas during the showing of 'The Passion of the
Christ' film and 'Life Issues' postcards tackling stress,
forgiveness and love. The
cards have a freepost response to CEA and an invitation
to look at related content on rejesus.co.uk. CEA
director Jeff Bonser said, "We're thrilled with the
response, especially as many of those who contact us are
men aged under 40 who have little or no link with church." The
Agency also offers prayer, details of local Alpha courses
and contact with a local Christian. "Hundreds of
people took advantage of this last year and it's great to
receive stories of new found faith in Jesus and church
involvement," added Jeff. For
details of how churches can use Rejesus and CEA in their
outreach work, see www.rejesus.co.uk and www.christianity.org.uk. Notes www.rejesus.co.uk Rejesus
is a Telephone:
(01303) 850950 Website: www.maf-uk.org Archbishop
launches Fresh Expressions The
Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has
officially launched the Fresh Expressions website - a
dynamic expression of a changing, mission shaped church. Fresh
Expressions (www.freshexpressions.org.uk) which is headed
up by Archbishops' Missioner, Dr. Steve Croft, is an
initiative of the Archbishops of The
website shows the extent to which 'church' is no longer
limited to a traditional building, a congregation and
historic structures but is dynamic and changing. Join
house-to-house charity collection to help runaway
children Model
Nell McAndrew has called on people to help with
collections for The Children's Society's House to House
fundraising campaign from Time
and money given will support the charity's Safe and Sound
campaign to keep the 100,000 young runaways out of danger
on the streets. The
Children's Society's new research reveals that runaways
are often forced to resort to prostitution, drugs and
crime to survive on the streets. That's why The
Children's Society wants to give them somewhere safe to
stay out of harm's way. The
Charity's ongoing campaign is calling for a national
network of safe emergency accommodation, for children who
runaway from home. Nell
says: "The Children's Society needs volunteers
to help with its House to House collection. Kids as young
as eight run away from problems at home and are at risk
on the streets. They urgently need your help now. "Go
on, ring them on 0845 300 1128 and help them to help
homeless kids on your doorstep. Last year you raised £200,000
and with your help we'd love to do the same or even
better this year." During
the fortnight, special collecting envelopes will be
dropped through people's letterboxes. The charity's
volunteers then call on homes to collect the donations
placed in the envelopes. To
find out more about being a collector or organiser and to
receive a House to House pack, call The Children's
Society on 0845 300 1128. The
latest Seven Deadly Sins Sins
against others, rather than sins against God, have
replaced the 'Seven Deadly Sins', according to the BBC's
spirituality programme, 'The Heaven and Earth Show'. A
Mori poll, commissioned by the Sunday morning BBC1
programme, found that the public regarded the sings of
anger, pride, envy, gluttony, lust, sloth and greed as
relatively unimportant, given that many of them were
committing them as a matter of course. Instead,
the public chose seven modern sins which included: cruelty,
adultery, bigotry, and dishonesty. Only greed from
the original sins made it onto the modern list. According
to the poll, younger and richer people are more likely to
admit to 'sinning' than those older and poorer. Southerners
confessed to higher levels of 'sinning' than those in the
How
Baptist prayer has lowered the crime rate Baptist
prayers in Hertfordshire have dramatically reduced crime
in the area. 'Watchmen
on the Wall' was started two years ago in Berkhamstead by
a local Baptist, Alexandra Thompson. She felt that
God was calling her to start a 24/7 prayer wall in her
area. And so she wrote to the police asking them
for issues to pray about. DC
Andy Reynolds from the Hertfordshire Constabulary
Community Safety Unit replied, highlighting areas of
concern to him, including domestic violence and police
morale, which he said was “probably at an all-time
low.” From
then on, Watchmen on the Wall prayed specifically for the
police force and the lowering of the crime rate, and
prayed that Berkhamstead would be a safe place to live. So
what were the results? Last year Berkhamstead
Police's crime figures showed a marked drop in crime.
No dangerous driving offences, no racially-aggravated
violent crime or criminal damage throughout 2004. There
were also no reported drug crimes. Mrs
Thompson credits the change not only to “the police
force who have worked hard to install crime prevention
initiatives” but also “to God who answers
prayer, and that when Christians come together, praying
agreement, according to God's will, He hears and will
answer.” Watchmen
on the Wall and the local police now meet each month to
discuss specific areas to pray for. Fight
AIDS now – or never The
Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) has warned that unless
Christians in the West increase their efforts to fight
HIV/AIDS, the spread of the disease could become
uncontrollable. Estimates
suggest that Christian-run projects account for more than
two thirds of all HIV/AIDS care in sub-Saharan Baptists
help Albanians Baptist
Missionary Society (BMS) World Mission has awarded a
development grant of £11,700 to Way of Hope Baptist
Church in Baptists
and Methodists draw together Baptists
and Independent Methodists (IM) have marked their new
covenant partnership with a major celebration in
Merseyside. The
covenant partnership commits both denominations to
developing relationships at local, regional and national
levels. Resources will be shared, and task groups
have been set up with a view towards integrating the two
denominations by 2009. Women
drinkers at risk, warn Methodists The
Nearly
one in three adults currently exceeds the daily limit of
four units for men and three for women at least once a
week. The Church is concerned that longer licensing
hours are likely to exacerbate the problem. “The
longer people can drink, the more they are likely to
drink,” a spokesman said. “Unfortunately,
the current British culture of drinking is to binge, not
the gentle concept of café style bars that you might see
elsewhere in Baptists
worldwide to come to The
Baptist World Alliance is a fellowship of 211 Baptist
unions and conventions comprising a membership of more
than 47 million baptized believers, with a total
community of approximately 110 million people. More
than 15,000 people from all over the world are expected
to attend the BWA Centenary Congress at the National
Indoor Arena, Day
by day summary of February 2005 Synod New
members were introduced, including new Archbishops'
Council member Mr Mark Russell and three new members
representing the Church of England Youth Council. Synod
debated a motion to amend Canon B 44, which lays down
certain requirements for the celebration of Anglican
worship in single parish local ecumenical partnerships.
The motion was carried in an amended form, calling for
legislation to amend the Canon so as to remove the
existing requirement to ensure that a Church of England
service of Holy Communion is celebrated on certain key
feast days and leave responsibility on the bishop to
ensure that public worship is celebrated according to the
rites of the Church of England 'with reasonable
frequency'. Issues
in Higher Education The
General Synod debated higher education from a Christian
perspective, together with questions about the Church's
ministry and mission in higher education institutions.
It specifically examined the Church's provision of
university chaplains. The
context for this was last year's Higher Education Act,
and the Government's target of 50 per cent of young
people going on to higher education and decisions on
university funding. The
Synod instructed the Board of Education to engage further
with the public debate and celebrated the Church of
England's historic and current commitment to the work.
It agreed that this is best understood in terms of the
development of the whole person, and called on the
Government and Higher Education institutions to recognise
and foster this. It
encouraged chaplains as key instruments of God's mission,
and agreed the Church should try to ensure that each
Higher Education institution is served by such chaplains,
working with ecumenical and multi-faith partners. It
encouraged the development of a resource guide on good
practice for Chaplains and lay Anglicans working in
universities and colleges. A
Durham Diocesan Synod Motion was debated, which called
for legislation to require candidates seeking election to
the House of Laity of the General Synod to include in
their election addresses a brief resume of any Church
related organization to which they belong and which could
affect their voting intentions in General Synod. However,
the motion was not put to the vote as a motion calling
for 'next business' was moved and carried. Review
of Clergy Terms of Service: Report on the second phase of
the work This
Review, under the chairmanship of Professor David
McClean, was set up by the Archbishops' Council in 2002,
following its response to the Department of Trade and
Industry's discussion document on Employment Status in
relation to Statutory Employment Rights. Its terms
of reference were to review the terms under which the
clergy hold office, to ensure a proper balance of rights
and responsibilities, and to consider in this context the
future of the freehold and the position of the clergy in
relation to statutory employment rights. This
report proposed applying 'common tenure' to clergy with
the freehold, transferring the ownership of property
currently vested in incumbents to Diocesan Boards of
Finance, providing an enhanced Human Resources function
across the dioceses, and adopting a general framework for
ministerial review. Synod
welcomed the recommendations in general but expressed
'grave reservations' about the recommendations to
transfer the ownership of property to Diocesan Boards of
Finance. Women
Bishops A
large part of a day was given over to discussing this
issue. First, in a debate opened by the Bishop of
Rochester, the Synod 'took note' of the report Women
Bishops in the Church of England? which was published in
November 2004. The Synod then passed a motion moved by
the Archbishop of Canterbury welcoming a report on behalf
of the House of Bishops setting out proposals for what
should happen next and inviting the Business Committee to
make time available at the July Synod to determine
whether it wishes to set in train the process for
removing the legal obstacles to the ordination of women
to the episcopate. The
Ordinal The
major item of liturgical business for the February Synod
was the substantial Revision Stage for the Ordination
Services for deacons, priests and bishops, which received
First Consideration by the Synod in February 2004.
These will replace the ordination services in The
Alternative Service Book. The
This
Synod just preceded a meeting of the Primates of the
Anglican Communion, and this set the context for the
debate on the The
commission was set up in the light of strains in the
Communion arising from developments in the Episcopal
Church of the Synod
welcomed the This
private member's motion from Mr Anthony Archer was passed
in an amended form, asking the Archbishops' Council to
set up a working party to undertake a review, and make
recommendations, as to the law and practice regarding
appointments to the offices of suffragan bishop, deacon,
archdeacon and residentiary canon. Farewell The
Archbishop of Canterbury paid tribute to, amongst others,
the Archbishop of York, David Hope, who was attending his
last group of sessions. Environmental
issues This
debate, sponsored by the It
took place in the context of the growing interest in the
contribution that world faiths can bring to this issue
and the debate was seen as an occasion to affirm that a
distinctive and effective Christian contribution can be
offered. Synod
commended the report, and encouraged parishes, diocesan
and national Church organizations to carry out
environmental audits and adopt specific and targeted
measures to reduce consumption of non-renewable resources.
It asked the |