The research carried out by The Children’s Society shed a light on Christingle services which help raise money for the most vulnerable children and young people in Britain.

Nearly half (48 per cent) of respondents said they knew what a Christingle service was, and a nostalgic 38 per cent of those surveyed said they remembered attending a Christingle service as a child.

The services are usually held from the start of December and run into the New Year, with Christmas Eve a particularly popular time. 

Mark Russell, chief executive of The Children’s Society, said: “Christingle services are a fun way to help us support young people at Christmas – so far over one million vulnerable children and young people have been helped by people across the country enjoying these distinctive celebrations. 

“The services are really special – they include hymns, messages of hope, readings and the chance to learn more about The Children’s Society. This year I hope many more people will see attending a Christingle as a tradition to look forward to.” 

The survey also sought to find out which sweets should top the iconic orange used to create Christingles.

The nation’s favourite sweet has been revealed by the survey as fudge, with fruit pastilles coming in second place and jelly babies a close third.

The orange (representing the world) is wrapped in a ribbon to symbolise…

The Desiring Decency manifesto outlines the important role of faith-groups in society and calls for them to be recognised and properly funded.

Faith Action’s National Executive Director, Daniel Singleton tells Premier why the organisation wants to re-affirm the “understated” value of decency.

“It essentially gives people a good standard of living and a good interaction with one another. We can all have a sense of decency, rich or poor, young or old.”

The manifesto says the link between those in need and the faith-based services available to them need to be strengthened as they are often not known to the wider community.

Singleton explained: “One of the biggest problems we have in the UK is that 40 to 60 per cent of GP appointments are often non-medical things. Churches and faith groups are great destinations for people where those who are isolated could go to their parent and toddler group, could go to a lunch club or different things like that.”

Faith Action are asking for the skills, experience and benefits of faith-based organisations to be appropriately recognised and resourced.

Local authorities have also been challenged to sign a covenant to work in collaboration with faith groups to better serve communities, foster unity and combat loneliness.

The faith covenant has already been adopted by thirteen local authorities.

The manifesto’s final proposal focuses on…

Reverend Doctor Paul Overend has now been charged by South Wales Police with one offence against a woman between April and July 1997, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed.

It comes after the Bishop of Lincoln, Christopher Lowson, was suspended from office following alleged failures to adequately safeguard children and vulnerable people in May.

Reverend Overend is due to appear before Cardiff Magistrates Court on 4th December.

He was appointed as Canon Chancellor at Lincoln Cathedral in November 2017 to lead the cathedral’s work of public theology and Christian education, he stepped down from his post in April after a police investigation was launched.

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Keith and Christine Rowbottom met at their church crèche, but they found love as teenagers after he asked her to see a Shakespeare play.

Semi-retired Methodist minister Keith wanted to surprise Christine by taking her back to the venue where love blossomed during a production of Hamlet on 22nd November 1969.

Mr Rowbottom, 68, contacted Exeter Northcott Theatre, who had an opening for a special event, and they helped Mr Rowbottom make the anniversary especially memorable.

The theatre discovered the couple married in 1974 on the night Abba won Eurovision so booked Abba tribute band Thank You For The Music for the special date.

Theatre staff provided the couple with dinner, wine and complimentary tickets to the concert; in the same row L they sat in 50 years ago.

Christine, 67, told the Daily Express the whole experience has been “totally overwhelming. I felt like the Queen – the Dancing Queen.

“I was thinking ‘this cannot be just for us’ because the warmth we felt from the crowd was wonderful and quite moving.

“We are just so very thankful to have had 50 years together. I think I am more in love now than when I first met him.”

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The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Westminster Cathedral are among those that will be taking part in #RedWednesday.

The campaign was organised by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). To mark the occasion, a candlelit 15 minute Cross procession will leave Parliament Square in the evening at arrive at Westminster Cathedral in time for a liturgy.

Rehman Chishti, the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, will be leading the procession before speaking at the liturgy.

ACN said this year’s #RedWednesday comes at the end of a year where the issue of religious freedom been taken increasingly seriously.

The findings of the Bishop of Truro’s Review into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office support for persecuted Christians found that 80 per cent of religiously motivated attacks in the world are against Christians and that this should now be called ‘Christophobia’.

Patricia Hatton from ACN (UK), explained that the procession shows solidarity to persecuted Christians – the world’s “most widely targeted” faith group according to Pew Research Centre.

She said: “Following the endorsement of #RedWednesday in the Bishop of Truro’s review into FCO support for persecuted Christians – commissioned by former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt – the procession is a real chance for Christians to stand together and in a very visible…

Religious freedom charity Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said the police who arrested Rami Kamil refused to allow him to change his clothes, carry his medications or speak to a lawyer. They also confiscated his laptop, mobile phone and camera and books after the raids in the early hours of 23rd November.

Following his arrest, Mr Kamil, 33, was taken to an unknown location, where he went through intensive interrogation and was subjected to physical and psychological pressure, according to CSW.

He later appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) without legal representation, and was given 15 days in pre-trial detention.

Mr Kamil was accused of joining a terrorist organisation, receiving foreign funding, disturbing public order, inciting the public against the state, and using social media to incite sectarian tensions between Muslims and Christians.

Kamil is a prominent human rights activist, he is a founding member and the coordinator of a Coptic human rights group called Maspero Youth Union. The organisation emerged following the Maspero massacre of October 2011, in which over 20 Coptic protesters were killed when the Egyptian military attacked a peaceful civil rights demonstration.

CSW said the arrest happened a few days after Mr Kamil accompanied the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Leilani Farha, on a…