News
Round Up Church
seeks partnerships to unlock the potential of church
buildings The
Church of England is calling for partnership with
national, regional and local bodies, as well as
government at all levels, to unlock the potential of
church buildings as catalysts for regeneration and
safeguard their role as centres for a wide and often
unacknowledged range of community activities. The
call comes in 'Building faith in our future', a 'green
paper' from the Church of England's Church Heritage
Forum, that aims to celebrate church buildings and the
achievements of the volunteers who maintain them. Read
the report at www.cofe.anglican.org/about/frame_heritage.html Archbishop
-'End use of child soldiers' The
Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has called
for urgent and concerted international action to end the
abuse of children as military combatants. Speaking of the
estimated 300,000 child soldiers round the world, he set
their plight in the context of the recent terrorist
atrocities in "The
slaughter and violent abuse of children in local
conflicts across the world means that the moral
equivalent of Beslan is being enacted repeatedly - that
is, the conscious, long term exploitation of children in
acts of murderous violence, the calculated use of
horrific intimidation towards them, the prolongation of
their sufferings and the killing of large numbers without
compunction." Dr
Williams also drew attention to some wider challenges to
the well-being of children and childhood: "Reflecting
on the horrors of child soldiering, we may see more
clearly the governing features of diverse sorts of abuse
- treating children as instruments for adult ends,
imprinting guilt and self-hatred through blaming the
victim, pushing children into pseudo-adult roles and
experiences prematurely," he said. The Archbishop
went on to set his reflections in the context of the
teachings of Christ: "The
world contains poison as well as nourishment; what is
offered to the child may be death as well as life.
Because we should know this, because we should take
seriously Jesus' recognition of the child's receptive
capacity, we are the more guilty if we ourselves distort
or poison the life of a child or if we tolerate a
situation in which this is permitted to happen." 'Women
Bishops in the Church of England?' The
Report of the House of Bishops' working party on women in
the episcopate was published in early November. The
working party was set up in 2001 following a private
members' motion in General Synod. That
motion called on the House of Bishops "to initiate
further theological study on the episcopate, focusing on
the issues that need to be addressed in preparation for
the debate on women in the episcopate in the Church of
England". For more information on this report, visit
www.cofe.anglican.org/ Lambeth
Commission reports The
Lambeth Commission, established by the Archbishop of
Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams in October 2003, has
published its report. The Commission's mandate was to
make recommendations to the Primates of the Anglican
Communion on how to maintain the highest degree of
communion possible following developments in A
Church of England spokesman said: "The Report
requires close and prayerful consideration across the
Anglican Communion. In addition to discussions that will
no doubt take place in parishes and dioceses across the
country, members of the Church of England's General Synod
will be able to discuss the Report at their meeting in New
guide promotes good mental health Churches
can make a real difference to the mental wellbeing of
their parishioners, according to a guide published by the
Church of England and the charity, mentality. The guide,
'Promoting Mental Health: a resource for spiritual and
pastoral care', gives practical advice to church groups
on how to offer support to people with mental health
problems and to tackle some of the causes of mental
distress. Speaking
at the launch of the guide at We
know that up to one person in four experiences some kind
of mental distress in their life. We need to ensure that
churches are welcoming and accepting places for those
people to go, however severe the mental health problems
they have been through. Elizabeth
Gale, chief executive of mentality, said: "Being
part of a close community can help to promote mental
wellbeing. It can also assist recovery among those with
mental health problems. For many people, faith groups
give a sense of belonging and self-esteem. "Our
new guide helps church groups to provide the support that
their members need to play a full part within their
communities. I am delighted we have had the opportunity
to work with the Church of England to produce it and am
confident it will make a real difference for the people
who use it." Promoting
Mental Health: a resource for spiritual and pastoral care,
was commissioned by the Church of Second
Baptist church for Religious
beliefs in the 15
per cent of the population of the Christianity
remains the main religion in the Miss
America A
Baptist has won this year’s Miss America competition.
Deirdre Downs (24) is a member of Baptist Church of the
Covenant in Birmingham, Alabama. She belongs to the
church’s college and career Sunday School class.
Miss Downs plans to study medicine. Call
for support for the hunting fraternity The
Government is endangering the future of rural life in
Britain with its failure to understand the countryside,
according to the Church’s bishop on rural affairs. The
Bishop of Exeter, the Rt Rev Michael Langrish, said that
Labour’s determination to drive the bill to ban
hunting through Parliament had caused such uproar because
it had “brought to a head a whole range of issues
relating to the countryside and rural life.” Bishop
Langrish, head of the Church of England’s Rural
Affairs Committee, now says the churches need to prepare
to provide pastoral care and support to areas hit by the
effects of a ban on hunting in the same way that they
offered help during the Foot-and-Mouth crisis. Christians
must change the way they ‘do’ church Christians
need to step outside the church bubble, according to Dr
Pete Ward, a lecturer in youth work at Kings College,
London. Referring
to the parable of the lost sheep, he pointed out: “We’ve
reversed the numbers – there’s one sheep in the
fold, and the rest are out there doing their thing. We
believe that if we look after the one sheep nicely
enough, some will come back.” “But,”
he said, “We need to ask, where is Christ working?
Where are the relational connections? What can we give
people to help them to connect to God?” Billy
Graham to bid farewell in New York Preparations
are in hand for the last ever Billy Graham crusade, to be
held in New York’s Madison Square Garden, with
pastors from more than 150 churches involved. The
crusade is planned for June 2005. “Post 9-11, there
is a growing spiritual hunger here,” said the Rev
David Epstein, the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in
New York. “I believe it is a great time for the Lord
to bring Billy Graham back with his emphasis on the
Gospel and the love and mercy of God, but also social
justice and compassion.” Dr
Graham’s first visit to the city, back in 1957, saw
attendances of more than 2m people over 16 weeks,
including 120,000 at Yankee Stadium and 125,000 in Times
Square. Statistic
of the Month: 8,000 die every day from AIDS It
is a frightening figure: 8,000 people worldwide die every
DAY from AIDS, equivalent to a jumbo jet crash every HOUR!!
This figure, released at the Lausanne Forum for World
Evangelization in October, reveals the horror of this
pandemic. Even
worse, however, was the statement that 14,000 people are
newly infected very DAY, so the problem is going to get
worse, much worse, before it can begin to get better.
"I just want sex" said a German man, newly
arrived at the Thailand hotel where the Forum was
meeting, "that’s what I came here for."
Maybe he became one of the 14,000 one day of his week
there. A
major consequence of the disease is the colossal impact
it has on the families of those affected. So many parents
are dying that there are some 15 million AIDS orphans now
in the world, 12 million of whom live in Africa. Only
in Uganda has the pandemic been reversed, and that by the
lead of the President and his wife. They advocate the ABC
technique - Abstain, Be loyal to one
partner, and if you can’t to that, use a Condom.
This is where Christian values shine through. ©
Dr Peter Brierley, Executive Director, Christian Research The
menace of pornography - and the mercy of God Internet
pornography poses a huge threat – even to Christians
- over the next ten to twenty years, more than 300
delegates were warned at CARE’s recent conference
‘In Search Of Intimacy’. The
wake-up call came from addictions expert David Partington:
‘Thousands – if not tens of thousands – of
men, and some women, will exit the Church leaving all
sorts of excuses,’ he pointed out. ‘It’s
one of the biggest problems you will have to deal with,’
said David, who formerly led the Yeldall Manor rehab
centre. ‘But God has answers. And contrary to what
most people expect, they are basic biblical answers.’ David
was one of six key speakers who all delivered moving and
hard-hitting messages on the present day challenge of
internet pornography – and the need for a fresh
awakening of true intimacy. “Pornography
is sex without release,” London GP Dr Trevor
Stammers told the conference, which was held at
Westminster Chapel. “Sooner or later pornography
will imprison the person who uses it. There is simply no
comparison between the warm afterglow of true intimacy
– and the guilt-ridden aftermath of using
pornography.’ Belfast-based
child abuse specialist Dr Alice Swann exposed the way
that the pornography industry has constructed a hellish
‘world of destruction’ which mars the image of
God in people’s lives. ‘We have to see it for
what it is,’ she pointed out. ‘It’s a form
of prostitution. Essentially it’s about sex for
money – and as such destroys intimacy.’ Churches
Child Protection Advisory Service launches campaign to
help the abused A
fresh initiative which aims to tackle the cloak of
secrecy that often surrounds abuse among Christians has
been launched by the Churches Child Protection Advisory
Service [CCPAS]. The
initiative - HELP – is designed to help
churches develop effective Child Protection policies and
advise those dealing with people who may have experienced
abuse in their lives. HELP
is a set of materials for use by individuals as well
as churches and other Christian organisations. The HELP
initiative is aimed not just at the growing numbers
of Christians who have been abused themselves but also at
those who have experienced abuse either as a parent or a
friend of someone that has been abused. HELP
comprises of a series of booklets such as ‘Help…my
child’s been abused – now what?’ and
‘Help…I need someone to talk to’, that
have been produced in an effort to break down the
barriers of secrecy and guilt which often surround abuse.
Further instalments in the series yet to be published
include materials designed specifically for youth and
children in the 8 to 14 age bracket. For
more information or free samples of the new pocket guide
people should send a SAE to CCPAS at PO Box 133, Stanley,
Kent, BR8 7UQ, or telephone the office on 0845 120 4550. CCPAS
is an independent Christian charity providing
professional child protection advice and support across
church denominations and organisations throughout the UK. CCPAS
was established in 1977. It assists churches,
organisations, social services and other child care
agencies as well as individual children and families. The
CCPAS website is at: - www.ccpas.co.uk |