Oliver Cromwell, ‘Oh Happy Day,’ and The United Methodist Church

-
0
Oliver Cromwell, ‘Oh Happy Day,’ and The United Methodist Church

Expand | Collapse
(Photo: AP Images/Matt York)CrossRoads United Methodist Church in Phoenix, Arizona is seen here in a Feb. 13, 2010 photo.

Christianity is a faith with a long and detailed history, with numerous events of lasting significance occurring throughout the ages.

Each week brings the anniversaries of great milestones, horrid tragedies, amazing triumphs, telling tribulations, inspirational progress, and everything in between.

Here are just a few things that happened this week, April 22-28, in Church history. They include the birth of Oliver Cromwell, the Billboard debut of the hit song “Oh Happy Day,” and the creation of The United Methodist Church.

The United Methodist Church is Formed – April 23, 1968

Expand | Collapse
(Screenshot: Vimeo/James J. Rollins-Silverman)A communion service being held at the “Uniting Conference” in Dallas, Texas in 1968. The conference resulted in the creation of The United Methodist Church when the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church agreed to merge.

This week marks the anniversary of the creation of The United Methodist Church, a mainline Protestant denomination formed by the merging of the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church.

The “uniting conference” that took place between the two…

… Read More

—-

Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.

قالب وردپرس

Islamic State Suicide Bomber Kills 57 in Afghan Capital

-
0
Islamic State Suicide Bomber Kills 57 in Afghan Capital

An Islamic State suicide bomber carried out an attack at a voter registration center in the capital Kabul on Sunday, killing 57 people and wounding more than 100 others, said officials from the Afghan interior and public health ministries.

Public Health Ministry spokesman Wahid Majro said that among 57 who were killed in the attack, 22 were women and eight are children. Majro added that 119 people were wounded in Sunday’s attack, among them 17 children and 52 women. “The tolls could still rise,” he added.

Gen. Daud Amin, the Kabul police chief, said the suicide bomber targeted civilians who were registering for national identification cards.

The large explosion echoed across the city, shattering windows miles away from the attack site and damaging several nearby vehicles. Police blocked all roads to the blast site, with only ambulances allowed in. Local TV stations broadcast live footage of hundreds of distraught locals gathered at nearby hospitals seeking word about loved ones.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency, saying it had targeted Shiite “apostates.”

The attack comes almost a month after another deadly attack by IS in which a suicide bomber carried out an attack near a Shiite shrine in Kabul that targeted attendees celebrating the Persian new year. That attack killed 31 people and wounded 65 others.

In a statement issued by the president’s office condemned Sunday’s attack and quoted President Ashraf Ghani as saying such “terrorist attacks” won’t prevent people from participating in…

… Read More

—-

Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Urban Christian News

قالب وردپرس

How Parents and Teachers Can Help

-
0
How Parents and Teachers Can Help

(Photo: REUTERS/Susan Stocker/Pool)Nikolas Cruz (C) appears via video monitor with Melisa McNeill (R), his public defender, at a bond court hearing after being charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on February 15, 2018.

Read parts 1, 2 and 3 of The Christian Post’s series on youth and school violence.

Nikolas Cruz, the troubled 19-year-old who was charged with the premeditated murder of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February, was troubled.

His attorneys have painted him as “a broken child” who struggled with chronic mental illness and depression. They have also pointed to his chaotic family life which was made worse by the death of his adoptive mother, Lynda Cruz, in November 2017.

As many have sought to find an explanation for the conditions that give rise to school shooters, mental health experts agree that family dysfunction is one factor in the tide that leads them to strike like the “perfect storm.” But even so, there is no one type of family situation that would lead to the making of a school gunman.

“The dynamics of a school shooter is extremely complex. It’s like the meeting of a perfect storm,” said Daniel Huerta, vice president of the Parenting and Youth department at Focus on the Family, who is also a licensed clinical social worker.

“It’s not necessarily the exact same family pattern where you can say, ‘well, these families did this and so they developed and raised a school shooter.’ Some of the families are described as just average,” he noted.

Three Kinds of School Shooters

(Screenshot:…

… Read More

Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.

قالب وردپرس

Inside the Houston Church Barbara Bush Attended and Where Her Funeral Took Place

-
0
Inside the Houston Church Barbara Bush Attended and Where Her Funeral Took Place

(Photo: COURTESY OF WYLIE CONSULTING ENGINEERS)St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston

Barbara Bush’s funeral Saturday put the church she attended in the international spotlight.

Bush, the wife and mother of presidents, was a cradle Episcopalian. Together with her husband, George H.W. Bush, she attended St. Martin’s in Houston for decades.

The casual observer watching the funeral on television may have thought St. Martin’s was a cathedral, perhaps because of the soaring architecture. While not a cathedral, it is the country’s largest Episcopalian congregation.

Between having 9,100 communicants on the parish rolls and 12 clergymen working under its rector, the Rev. Dr. Russell Levenson, it is comparable to an evangelical mega-church.

It’s also one of the last vestiges of an era when the Episcopal Church was called, at least by some, the Republican Party at Prayer. Today, St. Martin’s maintains church doctrine on the issue of marriage at a time when the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion has been engulfed in endless controversy and schisms over gay marriage and LGBTQ inclusion.

Despite the old-school architecture St. Martin’s is actually relatively new, having been founded in 1952.

In the ensuing decades the congregation grew to the point where it could afford its present-day building, which opened for worship on Easter Sunday in 2004.

Houston…

… Read More

Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.

قالب وردپرس

Prayer walk for violent crime due hours after new fatal stabbing

-
0
Prayer walk for violent crime due hours after new fatal stabbing

Christians will gather outside Tottenham Town Hall at 4pm, hours after a 20-year-old man was stabbed to death in Finsbury Park three miles away.

A 21-year-old man found nearby with a stab wound has been arrested on suspicion of murder, affray, and possessing an offensive weapon.

 

The knife attack in Seven Sisters Road at around 3am on Saturday brings the number of violent deaths in the capital to 58 so far this year.

Organiser of Sunday’s march, Nims Obunge MBE from the Peace Alliance told Premier: “I’ve never seen a need to call the Church unto the streets the way I do now; we have had such unprecedented levels of violence in our communities.”

Separately, police have launched a murder investigation after a man died following an assault in Morden in south-west London on Thursday.

 

Describing the impact of prayer, Mr Obunge said: “We have seen through scripture that prayers work, we’ve seen in our practical lives that prayers work.

“If we’re ever going to try and do anything drastic, I’d rather start from the source.”

Mr Obunge said further prayer walks are planned for east, south and west London in the coming weeks – ensuring each of the city’s 32 boroughs is prayed for.

Explaining why…

… Read More

—

Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

قالب وردپرس

Priest earns standing ovation from Britain’s Got Talent judges

-
0
Priest earns standing ovation from Britain’s Got Talent judges

Father Ray Kelley was told his rendition of REM’s Everybody Hurts on Saturday evening’s show was one of Simon Cowells’ “favourite ever auditions”.

The judge and TV producer added: “I thought your voice was beautiful, I loved the version of the song, this was everything we’ve been waiting for, genuinely.”

 

Fr Kelley, who comes from Ireland, will return to the ITV talent show after learning he has progressed to the next stage of the competition.

Speaking to camera crews backstage a short time after his performance, he said: “I just had the most amazing experience on the stage singing ‘Everybody Hurts’.

“The four judges gave me a standing ovation; I mean, come on, it doesn’t get better than that.

“I’m shaking still; I’m absolutely shaking because I genuinely, genuinely wasn’t expecting that at all.”

 

The 64-year-old from Oldcastle in County Meath will be joined in the next round by a teenage survivor of last year’s Manchester Arena attack.

Thirteen-year-old Hollie Booth, and her dance troupe, Rise, got the greenlight from judges after performing to a medley of tracks by Ariana Grande.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories…

… Read More

—

Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

قالب وردپرس

Turkish president resists calls to free pastor Andrew Brunson

-
0
Turkish president resists calls to free pastor Andrew Brunson

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments about Andrew Brunson (pictured above with his wife, Norine) were made during a live interview with TV news channel NTV and later picked up by the Reuters news agency.

The vague statement came after Erdogan previously suggested the 50-year-old’s fate was linked to that of a Muslim cleric Ankara wants to see extradited to Turkey.

 

Turkey blames Fethullah Gulen – who has been living in the US since 1999 – for a bloody attempted to overthrow the Government in July 2016. Gulen denies any involvement.

Erdogan has so far resisted pressure from the US President, dozens of American senators and the United Nations to free Brunson, who has been living in Turkey for more than 20 years.

 

The leader of Resurrection Church in Izmir faces up to 35 years in prison if found guilty or terrorism links and espionage-related charges.

Among the accusations are claims that Brunson has connections to the Fethullah Gulen – but supporters say he is simply a pawn in a political face-off. Others claim he has been targeted specifically for his Christian faith.

The married father-of-two, who comes from Black Mountain in North Carolina, denies any wrongdoing.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily…

… Read More

—

Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

قالب وردپرس

Jeb testifies to mother Barbara Bush’s faith in Jesus at funeral

-
0
Jeb testifies to mother Barbara Bush’s faith in Jesus at funeral

Jeb and other members of the Bush family were joined by four former presidents, ambassadors and sports stars at the service inside St Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas.

Addressing the congregation, the 65-year-old said: “The last time I was with her, I asked her about dying; was she ready to go, was she sad?

 

“Without missing a beat, she said, ‘Jeb, I believe in Jesus and He is my saviour.

“I don’t want to leave your dad but I know I’ll be in beautiful place.'”

The wife of former President George H W Bush, Barbara Bush died at her home with family by her side on Tuesday at the age of 92.

Wikimedia Commons

 

St Martin’s, the largest Episcopal Church in the United States, was filled during the funeral which was attended by Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and first lady Melania Trump.

The service came one day after more than 6,000 people attended a public viewing at the landmark to pay their respects to Bush, who was also known as “America’s matriarch”.

A burial ceremony later took place at the Bush Library, Texas University.

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox every morning.

… Read More

—

Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

قالب وردپرس

Catholic institutions to pull billions from fossil fuels

-
0
Catholic institutions to pull billions from fossil fuels

The commitment by 35 religious orders, lay organisations and social justice movements to “divest” their money from the polluting energy sources was announced by the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM).

Those signed up to the move include humanitarian aid organisation Caritas Internationalis, three Catholic banks with balance sheets totalling about £7.5 billion, as well as several dioceses and other institutions.

 

The announcement, aimed at tackling climate change and its impact on communities, was made on Earth Day.

Caritas Internationalis president Cardinal Luis Tagle said: “The poor are suffering greatly from the climate crisis and fossil fuels are among the main drivers of this injustice.

“That is why Caritas Internationalis has decided not to invest in fossil fuels anymore. We encourage our member organisations and other groups or organisations connected to the Church to do the same.”

The banks switching away from fossil fuels are Pax Bank, Bank Im Bistum Essen eG and Steyler Ethik Bank, GCCM announced.

John Giles/PA Wire

 

The archdiocese of Luxembourg, Salerno-Campagna-Acerno in Italy and Communaute Mission de France also announced divestment by their dioceses on Sunday.

Religious orders and institutions from four continents, in countries such as Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, China, Germany and Rwanda have also signed up to the…

… Read More

—

Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

قالب وردپرس

Pray for Bayside Community Church

-
0

Location: Olivia, Texas

Pastor: Ruben Castillo

Weekly Worship: 10:40 AM, Central

Fast Facts: Bayside Community Church was planted 18 years ago. When Pastor Ruben was called to lead the church in 2012, the church had just 17 members. Today, after six years, the membership has grown to more than 125 with 75-80 in weekly worship attendance. Bayside continues to seek God for His will and guidance through a needed building expansion. At their recent SonRise Service, they had nine baptisms. Please pray as the church launches brand new children and youth ministries. Also pray for the worship team as they seek musicians and vocalists.

Website: YourBaysideToday.com

“Pray for . . .” is the Sunday blog series at ThomRainer.com. We encourage you to pray for these churches noted every Sunday. Please feel free to comment that you are praying as well.

If you would like to have your church featured in the “Pray for…” series, fill out this information form..

… Read More

—

Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Thom Rainer.

قالب وردپرس

1...2,1922,1932,194...3,893Page 2,193 of 3,893