The Sandy Valley Baptist Church men’s group independently raised $12,000 and decided to bless members of the church.

They had just one rule for them to receive the cash.

“Take it home and open it with your family and talk about the ways you can bless someone,” CJ Holmes, who headed Project Multiply, told Fox News.

“One family bought a bunch of blankets and gloves and some fast food gift cards and gave them to homeless people with information on the shelters in town.”

Another member tipped their waitress $500.

Many families decided to match the amount they had received before giving it to someone in the community.

A church member going through chemotherapy was gifted with enough money to cover their medical bills after one group joined the money they had received together.

80 families in total received the money at church on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

“We’ve been individually blessed and wanted to lead them in a project to allow us to bless many other people,” Holmes added.

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Drug and alcohol charity Addaction’s research also found a third of schoolgirls with mental health problems have hurt themselves or attempted suicide.

Abbie Robson is a Christian and author of the book ‘Insight Into Self Harm’.

Explaining how the Church can help young people, Robson told Premier: “I think it’s really important that churches talk about mental health and talk about mental illness and what it means – not just for young people but for adults as well because it affects people of all ages.

“We need to have sermons about it; we need to be talking about it in our Sunday schools.”

The researchers spoke with more than 8,500 pupils aged 13 to 17 at schools in Cornwall, Kent and Lancashire.

They also found that 28 per cent of the teens had felt down or depressed on at least six days in the last month.

Meanwhile, 22 per cent felt overwhelmed or worried often or all of the time.

Robson said she wasn’t surprised by the results of the poll.

She added: “I think pressure is really, really high for teenagers and most of what they’re being taught in schools is much more academic than how to manage their own emotions and how to manage that pressure.”

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Rev Melvin Tinker, vicar of St John Newland in Hull, accepted an invitation by students at the CU but was later informed that the invitation had to be withdrawn as bosses at the cathedral would not permit him to speak.

He says he’s not heard anything from the cathedral itself and has only been informed via the CU.

Speaking to Premier, Rev Tinker, said: “I guess the implication was that I was going to say something rather dodgy or bring the cathedral into disrepute, but I think they’ve done a good job of that themselves, with some of the films they’ve been showing over the summer, which are rather dubious, and blocking me an Anglican priest in the church of England”

When asked what the cathedral might have taken issue with, Rev Tinker told Premier: “To be honest it’s very difficult not to cause upset in the Church of England now if one holds an orthodox line, just on the basic beliefs and basic Christian behaviour and discipleship.”

“It seems that basically the progressive agenda is one that is being bought into, and if you don’t buy into that, then by default you are excluded….I’m saddened and not surprised, because this is part of a bigger trend.

“With all the talk of radical inclusion in the Church of England by two Archbishops, it seems increasingly the only people not being included are orthodox or particularly evangelicals.”

Rev Tinker went on to say that the…

Dr Peter Saunders, who is the campaigns director of Care Not Killing, said the country’s highest court was correct on Tuesday to deny Noel Conway the right to take his legal battle further.

Explaining his opposition to allowing assisted dying, Dr Saunders told Premier: “It would inevitably lead to pressure being placed on vulnerable people – especially those who are elderly, sick, disabled or depressed – to end their lives so as not to be a burden to others; that is why the blanket ban is there.”

Mr Conway (pictured in May 2018), who has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease, wants to be able to receive medical assistance to die when he has less than six months to leave and still have mental capacity.

The 68-year-old retired lecturer from Shrewsbury lost a Court of Appeal bid in June 2018 to challenge a decision by the High Court to reject his argument that a ban on assisted dying infringes upon his human rights.

He said: “All I want is the option to die peacefully, with dignity, on my own terms, and I know that the majority of the public are behind me.

“It is downright cruel to continue to deny me and other terminally-ill people this right.

Explaining their decision, the justices said only Parliament could alter the law on assisted dying. Mr Conway said supporters of legal assisted dying would campaign at…

At least 350 Christian-owned properties were occupied by Iraqi officials according to an investigation by Iraq television network al-Sumaria.

The TV investigation also found Iraq’s government only prevented 50 properties being sold in the Niniveh plains.

Shlemon Audish Warduni, auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad, told the network: “The numbers are unclear but this is real and serious.

“For some time, Christian houses and properties have been the object of seizures or illegal occupations and this is unfair.”

Tens of thousands of Christians remain displaced following the ISIS insurgency in 2014.

The UK’s Prime Minister has pledged her support of Christians who are persecuted in Iraq and other countries around the world.

Earlier in the year, she told MPs: “We stand with those persecuted Christians. We will be looking to see what more the Government can do to support them.”

Despite ISIS’ hold on the Nineveh Plains ending in November 2017, after nearly three years occupation, there are reports of extremist violence elsewhere in the country.

Archbishop Al-Shamani told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need: “An international peace-keeping force should be stationed on the Nineveh Plains.

“We want a guarantee that our freedom and our security will be upheld.”

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The American missionary was killed trying to evangelise to the Sentinelese, one of the most isolated tribes in the world.

The hunter-gather’s live in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and are cut off from the outside word.

John Allen Chau was reportedly killed with arrows when he arrived at the Islands on 17th November.

Indian official’s attempts to retrieve his body have been unsuccessful.

Reports suggest that the rescue efforts have been put on hold so as not to disturb the protected Sentinelese tribespeople.

People are forbidden by law from visiting the Sentinelese and the tribesmen have repeatedly treated outsiders with hostility.

The isolation of the tribe means contact with others could pose a significant health risk, as they may have no immunity to common illness.

Posting a statement on John’s social media feed, his family expressed their grief: “He was a beloved son, brother, uncle, and best friend to us.

“To others he was a Christian missionary, a wilderness EMT, an international soccer coach, and a mountaineer. He loved God, life, helping those in need, and he had nothing but love for the Sentinelese people.”

They added: “We forgive those who reportedly responsible for his death”

Reuters reported that that before he was killed, Chau wrote he was “doing this to establish the kingdom of Jesus on the Islands…Do not blame the natives if I am killed.”

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