Dutch law states that the police cannot enter a building “intended for religious or reflective meetings of a philosophical nature, during the worship or reflection meeting”.

Bethel Church in The Hague has therefore got a back-to-back rota of preachers and church members to be in the building 24/7 so the Tamrazyan family cannot be deported. 

They live in Holland but are originally from Armenia and have not obtained a residence permit. 

Premier spoke to Reverend Theo Hettema, the chair person of the General Council of the Protestant Church in The Hague, who spoke at the very first service on 26th October.

He explained “We’ve started this service to give protection and safety to an Armenian family, the Tamrazyans, who had fled to Holland nine years ago, have applied for a resident permit which was denied again and again, given and denied again.”

The Tamrazyan family includes a mother, father and three older children (21, 19 and 15) but their request for a ‘children’s pardon’ has been rejected, despite the fact they meet the requirement of having children integrated for five years of Dutch education.

Listen to Rev Theo Hettema, the General Council of the Protestant Church The Hague, who started the first service off, speaking to Cara Bentley here:

Theo Hettema explained: “This was surely the case for this family but they were not fortunate in applying for this…

The Christian peer visited the region recently on a fact-finding mission and spoke to some of those who had been attacked by Fulani militants.

Christian leaders including the Anglican Archbishop of Jos, Benjamin Kwashi told of how 6,000 Christians were killed between January and June this year and hundreds more are being killed currently.

Deaconess Susan Essam in Jos told a story of a woman called Sarah: “They shot Sarah’s husband and children and so she begged them to kill her too, but they refused, saying that they wanted her to cry and bear the pain.”

A Church Warden at St Timothy Church in Jos said: “They came around 7pm and left just before midnight. More than 200 of them in black cloth, well armed. Yesterday we lost another 19 of our people.”

Archbishop Kwashi said: “We are not safe in our homes.

“I am raising an alarm, if the government will listen. Lord in your mercy.”

In the past, the Fulani militant herdsmen brought their animals to graze on other people’s land but then moved on. Now, though Baroness Cox has claimed they are killing people and taking their land.

Baroness Cox said: “The UK Government and mainstream media have characterised these attacks as ‘ethnic riots’ or ‘tit-for-tat tribal clashes between farmers and herders’.

“While the causes of violence are complex, the asymmetry and escalation of attacks by well-armed Fulani upon predominately…

On 4th November, Pastor Bangali Das was leading an open-air service in Bihar state when a mob of 150 men gathered around him and worshippers.

They demanded that the pastor either stop the service or move to a building, before attacking him and members of his congregation.

Mr Das told International Christian Concern from hospital: “When our believers requested them to give some time to buy a place and build a worship hall, they surrounded us and started beating us.

“Two men caught me and began to rain blows on me with their hands. I got hurt in my chest very badly and my arm was injured. They threw me on the ground and beat me until I became unconscious.”

The pastor has since been discharged from hospital but said the attack has left him suffering from headaches, internal injuries and he is still unable to speak without difficulty.

India is ranked eleventh on Open Doors’ annual World Watch List.

The charity claims 24,000 Christians were attacked in India last year alone.

Mr Das said he lived in expectation of persecution because of his faith.

“Since I am working for the Lord, I have always prepared myself for any kind of eventuality, persecution, or danger,” he said.

“I am prepared to pay the price for serving my God.”

According to the pastor’s son, as soon as his father gets well, he plans to continue the ministry.

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Seventy acres, located at the northern tip of the West Bank, were seized in 1979 via a confiscation order which has been renewed regularly ever since.

After being informed this week that the measure had been renewed again, the chancellor of the Latin Catholic Church in Jerusalem, Fr Ibrahim Shomali told Premier: “It’s our land.

“We have to have the right of our land. They are taking the land without our permission and without any agreement between us and them.”

The land forms part of a larger collection of plots which the Latin Catholic Church says it has been using for agricultural purposes.

The Latin Catholic Church says the Israeli military has claimed certain “security reasons” to justify occupying the land.

Fr Ibrahim: “We are not ready to give any land to anybody because it’s our land and we have to keep it for ourselves and for the future of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

“You can’t put your hand on it without the permission of anybody.”

In a statement posted online, the Patriarchate said it would “contest” the seizure.

Premier has contact the Government of Israel and the Israel Defence Forces for a comment.

Click here to listen to Premier’s Alex Williams speaking with Fr Ibrahim Shomali:

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The Bishop of Tonbridge’s comments were made at a conference that explored the role churches can play in supporting young people with their mental well-being.

The Rt Rev Simon Burton-Jones told attendees of the event in Christ Church, Tunbridge Wells: “A major NHS report last week into the mental health of young people was sobering.

“Among other findings, it showed that nearly one in four young women has a mental illness, with depression and anxiety being especially common. We know something is not right and it appears to be getting worse for both young women and young men, and symptoms are presenting at an earlier age.

“Faced with such uncertainty, some people fall back on easy remedies or, better still, finger-pointing, so others take the blame.”

Drug and alcohol charity Addaction found in a recent poll that a third of schoolgirls with mental health problems have hurt themselves or attempted suicide.

Bishop Simon said churches ought to be the place young people can turn to as “churches have the capacity to offer care across the generations and to use the sizeable local spaces we have to bless those who have no safe space”.

He added: “There is already a developing generational rift between baby-boomers and millennials, with the latter well aware that their futures look much less rosy because of decisions taken by their elders that impact upon debt, pay and…

The canonisation of Cardinal John Henry Newman is progressing to the next stage after a second miracle – a requirement for sainthood – was attributed to him.

The miracle, which concerned the healing of an American pregnant woman who prayed for Cardinal Newman’s intercession, has been authenticated following an investigation by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

The Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth Philip Egan wrote in a newsletter to church members: “It looks now as if Newman might be canonised, all being well, later next year.”

Born in London in 1801, Cardinal Newman became a Catholic priest in 1847 after converting from Anglicanism.

Wonderful news. Please share with friends. #soul #churches https://t.co/hobGZAnolH

— Fr. Juan R Velez (@JuanRVelez) November 28, 2018

He became prominent for his involvement within the Oxford Movement, a group of Anglicans who sought to see a return of Catholic traditions to Church of England congregations.

His canonisation still requires approval from a commission of bishops and an announcement from Pope Francis.

Cardinal Newman was beatified – a step towards becoming a saint – by Pope Benedict (pictured below) during a visit to Britain in September 2010.

Sister Kathleen Dietz from the Diocese of Erie in Pennsylvania told the US-based Catholic News Agency: “Cardinal Newman was a man of…