But pastor Bartholomew Orr’s dramatic entrance at Brown Baptist Church in Southaven, Mississippi proved controversial on social media.

One Facebook user wrote: “This is ridiculous! Look at how much money has been wasted on this contraption to lift him up like this! Nothing but a waste of funds!

“Do you know how many homeless people you could help and feed with the money you spent on this…? Absolutely ridiculous.”

Another person commented: “My goodness…Then we wonder why folks don’t take church serious anymore.”

The head pastor at Brown Baptist used the device while preaching on Sunday about the second coming of Jesus Christ.

See the zip wire movement by skipping ahead in the video to the three-and-a-half minute mark.

Hovering above pews of laughing church-goers, pastor Orr said: “I sense that day is going to come when the sky is cracked and Jesus Christ comes again and everyone will see him.

“Are you ready for his return? Brothers and sisters, are you ready today for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ? Because he’s on his way.”

Not everyone was critical of the stunt.

One Facebook user said: “Love the ingenuity. Thanks for the laugh and the reminder.”

Another wrote: “The thing is people will always down [criticise] what they didn’t create. Do it big, pastor. I know you meant positivity with the message.”

Speaking after his entrance, he told local news broadcaster…

The group, Midwives and Nurses For Life, says that if women opt for a surgical termination, nurses and midwives will be asked to provide the pre- and post-operative care, which they object to.

The petition states they find the “end of life of a foetus is morally objectionable”, and that “participation includes any supervision, delegation, planning or supporting of staff involved in termination of pregnancy”.

The group states that although the new proposed legislation provides for freedom on conscience, it states the staff involved must refer the patient on to another staff member, which they see as participation in the procedure.

Mary Fitzgibbon, a nurse, midwife and lecturer; Fiona McHugh, a paediatric nurse; and registered nurse Margaret McGovern spoke to the media about what they see as lack of negotiation from the government with those “who will be at the coalface” when legislation is implemented.

“We want to be sensitive to the women, I don’t want to meet a woman in the morning and later tell her I’m not getting involved in her care.

“We need to have that discussion at ward level, with our nurse managers, but that is not happening,” Ms Fitzgibbon said.

“There’s a lot of anxiety, a lot of fear, people are worried about promotional aspects if they say they’re invoking freedom of conscience, where does that leave them?”

The petition, which has been live for over two…

In 2009, Asia Bibi was arrested and accused of criticising the Prophet Muhammad in an argument about her drinking from the same cup as some Muslim women near a well. 

She was arrested five days later for blasphemy against Islam and, in 2010, she was sentenced to death by hanging.

After nearly a decade of petitions, visits by the family to the Pope and the UK and growing international interest, she was freed in October.

At the risk of threats from hardline Islamists, lawyer Saif ul-Malook took up Asia Bibi’s case after she lost in the first court

Asia’s case had become high-profile with far-right Muslim groups, such as the TLP party in Pakistan, determined to see her sentence fulfilled, either by the law or by mob-killing.

Before she was acquitted, two politicians were killed for speaking out in her defence – Shahbaz Bhatti and Salman Taseer. 

When the Supreme Court decided she would not face the death sentence, there were riots in Pakistan.

Saif ul-Malook fled the country, saying earlier this month that he has been inundated with threats.

He took shelter in the French Embassy in Pakistan for three nights before the army took him to their airport where he eventually went to the Netherlands.

At the Secular Conference event on Sunday, called Sharia, Segregation and Secularism, he delivered the keynote speech, speaking about how he had worked on the case for four years.

He…

The silk relic was donated to St Peter’s Church in Pwllheli, Gwynedd, by a woman with terminal cancer who used to regularly attend the church.

Fr Huw Bryant, associate priest in Bro Enlli ministry area explained in a Facebook post that the woman who donated it was actually a pilgrim.

“Not many people know that Pwllheli was once an important pilgrimage site – we tend to focus more on the ancient pilgrimage route to Ynys Enlli (Bardsey).

“But Hywel Rheinallt wrote in the 15th Century of hundreds of people coming on Mary’s feast day and says “this holy town is Mary’s ground.” Hywel Rheinallt was a bard.

Fr Bryant said she asked “for the strength to accept her death and find peace”.

He continued: “This she received and in thanksgiving organised a gift to the shrine upon her death, a piece of the veil worn by the Blessed Virgin Mary at the foot of the Christ’s cross.”

It is thought the 6m-long silk veil was first transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople – modern day Istanbul.

It was then given to the Emperor Charlemagne in 876 AD by the Byzantine Empress Irene, but it is currently kept in the cathedral in Chartres in France.

Officials claim the piece given to St Peter’s Church was removed from the full veil in 1829 and sealed with Spanish wax, bearing the imprint of the coat of arms of Fr Giuseppe Mancini, Archbishop of Sienna.

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Key Christian leader in NI peace process says he’s anxious about Brexit impact

• Church and Ministry
• Europe

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The Methodist minister was one of two independent witnesses who oversaw the decommissioning of IRA arms in 2005.

This week, Rev Good was one of a number of people chosen to meet Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday as she took part in round table discussions over Brexit.

He said there had been “lots of different thoughts” around his table, but all were agreed that reconciliation was “desperately” needed whatever the outcome of the House of Commons vote over Mrs May’s proposed withdrawal deal.

“We are in a very, very divided situation at the moment, somebody said that it was the worst thing since Suez, we were dealing then with an external foe, here in the situation at the moment, it’s a bit like a civil war,” he said.

“We are very much at loggerheads with each other… whatever way this vote goes, it will not bring people together.”

In August, Rev Good made a public appeal to Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill to “come together and do whatever it will take” to restore the powersharing government in Northern Ireland.

“Some of us were pleading, whatever way the vote goes, that there would be an all-party coming together, be it in a commission or a body of people who represent the different sides of this debate and are more representative of the nation, so it doesn’t continue to be a partisan debate.”

Rev Good said…

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Education in rural communities should be protected, says C of E

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• Europe

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Countryside schools need a strategy to keep them funded and open, the Bishop of Ely has said.

Many rural schools are incredibly small, with staff and resources shortages.

In March, the Church of England produced a report on the state of rural schools and concluded that groups of small schools need to come together to help each other achieve “outstanding” in Ofsted inspections in their specific contexts, saying success for a city school looks very different to success for a school in the country. 

They also said that formal groupings would benefit the recruitment and retention of highly skilled staff in the area.

Stephen Conway, the Church of England’s lead bishop for Education and Bishop of Ely, has now called for a cross-Government rural strategy.

Bishop Stephen said: “We have been reassured that the Government has a presumption against the closure of rural schools, which is a positive foundation for the future.”

He added that he knew countryside communities were trying to collaborate to think about how technology can help rural schools.

“However, it is clear that these steps alone are insufficient, and an overarching rural strategy is now required for the issues facing our countryside communities to be seen together,” he said.

“Such an approach is needed not only to give longer-term stability to our education provision, but for housing, infrastructure, broadband,…

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