Its pledged to “vigorously challenge any attempt to extend abortion provision beyond the current 24 week limit” comes after the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats recently proposed decriminalisation of abortion in their manifestos.

The parties’ plans would remove all sanctions in criminal law for those who perform abortions outside the limits set by the Abortion Act 1967.

The Church’s announcement to fight the increasing of the abortion week limit came after hundreds of Anglicans wrote an open letter in The Times published on 28th November also stating their opposition to the idea.
 
A response to the open letter signed by Rt Rev Christine Hardman, Lord Bishop of Newcastle and Rt Rev James Newcome, Lord Bishop of Carlisle & House of Bishops’ lead on Health and Social Care expressed the Church’s total commitment to the issue.

“As a general rule we would not comment on specifics of party manifestos in the midst of a General Election campaign, but as bishops and as Members of the House of Lords we are fully committed to engagement on this with parties, MPs and Peers when Parliament returns,” they said.

“The issue has in the past been a matter of individual conscience for MPs and Peers where the party whip is not usually applied, and we believe firmly that it should remain so. We can provide assurance that we will also vigorously challenge any attempt to extend…

The Charity Commission disqualified the individuals after they resigned as trustees of Kingdom life Ministries, holding them to account for financial mismanagement, governance failings, and non-compliance with the Commission.

In the regulator’s investigation into Kingdom Life Ministries, which was opened after repeated failures to file accounts, the Commission found that all trustees received unauthorised payments from the church between June 2013 and November 2018, totalling £456,853.

During an inspection of the charity’s records, investigators found that the three former trustees had decided their own weekly salary payments of £200, £200 and £90 respectively. These payments were made in breach of the church’s governing document, and continued even after formal regulatory advice instructing an end to these arrangements. A total of £28,971 was paid in the months following the inspection.

The former trustees claimed that other payments related to reimbursement of costs, but did not provide enough information to prove it. The Charity Commission said after being informed that the inquiry was closing, the trustees did submit invoices relating to construction work, international flights and video production, however analysis of the charity’s bank statements showed that the majority of payments made to the former trustees were round sums.

Bank records also…

Fr Nguyen Dinh Thuc, believes he was prevented from travelling as a punishment for his activism on behalf of fishermen who lost their livelihood after the Formosa Company steel plant disaster in 2016. 

A notice signed by the immigration authorities states that Fr Thuc was prevented from travelling for reasons of “national security and social order”.

Christian Solidarity Worlwide’s (CSW) chief executive Mervyn Thomas has condemned Vietnamese authorities for their actions.

“The suggestion that this has been done for reasons of national security is completely unfounded and is a clear reprisal for peaceful advocacy,” he said.

“We call on Vietnam to allow the priest to travel freely, and to cease all harassment.”

CSW said it continues to receive reports of severe violations of freedom of religion or belief against every major religious community in Vietnam, including Catholics. The charity said individuals in remote areas who are both ethnic and religious minorities, such as the Montagnard ethnic minority Catholics and Protestants in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, suffer the most severe abuses, including disruption of religious services, beatings, threats and intimidation and damage to properties used for religious services.

CSW added Catholics who defend the rights of others are subject to arbitrary detention, sometimes leading to lengthy sentences.

Nguyen Van Hoa, a…

Pastor Samuel, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, lives in north-eastern Syria and said he believes that Mr Erdogan’s words do not match Turkey’s treatment of Christians.

He told Christian charity Open Doors: “In reality, you can see the massacres that the Turks have committed against Christians at different times until today, so why would he build a church while killing Christians? Why did he enter the area and destroy the churches in the first place? Even if these promises were true, why would that benefit me when he has caused everyone to leave the area?”

 
 
President Erdogan made the promise while speaking at the White House earlier this month following his meeting with the US President Donald Trump. He said his government has “plans” in place to help Syria’s Christian communities restore their churches damaged during Tukey’s military operation in north-eastern Syria.

Pastor Samuel claimed that Syria’s Christians are made to be part of “a game of political interests” of big states. He added that based on previous experiences with Turkey, “trust is absent in this scenario”.
 
“Almost no Christians have remained in Tal Abyad or Ras Al-Ain on the border with Turkey. What would the churches or cathedrals do if the people have fled, were killed or became homeless after their houses were destroyed? The president’s statement comes as a drug to…

The guide comes at a time of major debate over relationships and sex education in England’s schools, with the subject due to become a legal requirement next September.

Relationships education will be compulsory in primary schools and relationships and sex education will be compulsory in secondaries.

Although parents have the right to withdraw their child up to age 15, concerns have been raised in over what younger children will be taught.

The new charter has eight commitments which all schools, Church of England and others, can sign-up to prior to the new guidelines becoming law.

The charter says that CofE schools should ensure that the curriculum “protects, informs and nurtures all pupils” and clearly differentiates between factual teaching on topics such as biology, the law, marriage and different types of families and moral teaching about relationships and values.

It also includes delivering the curriculum as a professional and identifiable part of Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE), building resilience of pupils, promoting healthy relationships, meeting individual requirements including special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and seeking pupils’ views to make teaching relevant to their lives.

It says: “Relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) should ensure that children are able to cherish themselves and others as unique and…

The US evangelist is due to host a mission event at the city’s FLYDSA arena as part of an eight day tour next June.

The Rt Rev Dr Pete Wilcox released a statement on Wednesday encouraging churches not to attend on the grounds that Graham’s views “represent a risk to the social cohesion of our city”.

The statement read: “I’m afraid I cannot support the Graham Tour mission event at the FlYDSA Arena on 6th June next year, at which Franklin Graham is due to speak, and so will not be encouraging parishes in the Diocese of Sheffield to support it either.

“Mr Graham’s rhetoric is repeatedly and unnecessarily inflammatory and in my opinion represents a risk to the social cohesion of our city.

“I gladly took part in Billy Graham’s Mission England in 1984 as a candidate for ordained ministry, and in his LiveLink Mission in 1989 as a curate. But to my sadness I detect a tailing off of humility and generosity in the Graham organisation since those days.”

The son of legendary Billy Graham held a rally in Blackpool last year in which thousands attended, his visit was met with objection though with a petition calling for him to be banned from entering the country due to past comments on Islam and homosexuality.

The preacher has previously described Islam as “an evil and very wicked religion” and spoken out against LGBT rights, saying Satan is behind same-sex marriage.

The Billy…

The 6-point-4 magnitude quake struck close to the capital Tirana, on Tuesday.

40 people were killed and over 650 injured in the country’s strongest tremor there since 1979.

Mission Without Borders (MWB) is an international organisation working with thousands of poverty stricken families across Eastern Europe.

The charity’s Albanian office is based in Durres, one of the two cities most severely affected.

MWB has set up the campaign, Albania Earthquake Appeal to raise “much needed funds” to provide immediate support to families and communities.

MWB Country Director John Chamberlain told Premier how they are responding to the disaster: “We’re distributing food parcels and clothing and blankets to those in need, we’re preparing a truck to go as soon as we can with more supplies and we have rescue teams working to find people in the rubble.”

Funds will also go towards the costs of repairing homes destroyed in the disaster.

Chamberlain is encouraging the Christian community to contribute to the appeal and pray for all those involved.

“Pray that more people will be found safe, there’s a lot of people unaccounted for,” he said.

“Pray for the country and the rescue teams and MWB. Pray for our partner churches that we can continue to do whatever we can to bring some help and support.”

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