The decision has angered some members of the community who suspect the church in Wimbledon will not welcome LGBT groups into its facilities and also are fond of the building. 

Elim Pentecostal Church has been given permission to occupy the land where Merton Hall currently is for use as a church and for hire in a swap for their current building.

Elim takes the view that being in a gay relationship is unbiblical and incompatible with the Biblical model for romantic relationships.

According to The Guardian, the church’s administrator, Sarah Bale, said Elim will “take bookings that did not conflict with the constitution of our charity”.

Local Councillors have expressed criticism of the Labour council who made the deal with the church in exchange for turning their old building into a new school.

The alterations will involve partial demolition of the building, refurbishments inside and the building of a new worship hall, café, foyer and meeting rooms.

Locals on twitter have expressed their views on the move:

You’re steering Merton into a wall at the moment!

Funding an anti-LGBT church, filthy streets, destroying heritage, wheelie bins no one wants, fake consultations, wrecking communities, appointing @veoliaUK, the incinerator, constant lies …

Merton Labour: #forthefew@UKLabour pic.twitter.com/wpllugECM8

— Merton Matters (@MertonMatters) 27 November 2017

£4,725 has…

Rt Rev Graham Usher, Bishop of Dudley is trying to use less plastic during Lent.

“I’ve changed from using a plastic toothbrush to a bamboo toothbrush,” Bishop Graham said.

“Although I must say I’ve been told don’t go for the one with boar’s hair bristles because they make you have bad breath, so I’m afraid I’ve still got plastic bristles.

“There are all sorts of other things from choosing natural fibres to wear to using milk in returnable glass bottles and reusing plastic bags whenever you can.”

Bishop Graham’s lifestyle change is a part of the Church England’s Lent Plastic Challenge which encourages Christians to give up single-use plastics. Halfway through Lent he told Premier it’s a tough feat.

Bishop Graham said: “I’m finding it really tough – everyday I’m confronted with plastic. Sometimes I’ve not been that good but I’m trying my best and I am certainly reducing the amount of single-use plastic.”

He added that Christians should be “living the simpler life, one that is in harmony with the whole of creation and life that has a good sense of stewardship” because people are experiencing climate change troubles around the world.

“I was speaking with the Archbishop of Capetown. Next month they will run out of water because there has been no rain.

I was speaking to a bishop of Polynesia and he said that rising sea levels mean many of his island communities are becoming…

Supermarkets and most other retailers closed for the first time on Sunday since liberal shopping laws were introduced in the 1990s after communism’s collapse.

The change has stirred up a range of emotions in a country where many feel workers are exploited under the liberal regulations of the past years and want them to have a day of rest.

The law was proposed by a leading trade union, Solidarity, which said employees deserved Sundays off.

It found the support of the conservative and pro-Catholic ruling party, Law and Justice, whose MPs passed the legislation.

The Catholic church is influential in Poland as more than 90 per cent of Poles belong to the church.

People walk past closed shops in a shopping mall in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, March 11, 2018.

Among the Poles who saw it as a good step toward returning a frazzled and overworked society to a more traditional lifestyle was 76-year-old Barbara Olszewska, who did some last-minute shopping Saturday evening in Warsaw.

“A family should be together on Sundays,” Olszewska said after buying some food at a local Biedronka, a large discount supermarket chain.

The new law at first bans trading two Sundays per month, but steps it up to three Sundays in 2019 and finally all Sundays in 2020, except for seven exceptions before the Easter and Christmas holidays.

The Very Rev Martin Thrower, 56, who was rector of Hadleigh, Suffolk, admitted at Norwich Crown Court to two counts of voyeurism and was sentenced to a suspended four-month jail term in August 2017.

The Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich conducted an internal disciplinary procedure afterwards, but the outcome was not published at the time.

Thrower was removed from his post as rector of Hadleigh and barred from ministry as a priest in the Church of England for seven years in October 2017.

The decision not to publicise the ban at the time is being reviewed by the diocese.

John Howard, spokesman for the diocese, said Thrower could apply to return to ministry after the seven-year ban but that an independent safeguarding risk assessment would need to be carried out to assess his fitness to minister.

He said Thrower was suspended from ministry as soon as the church became aware of the allegations, and he remained suspended until his dismissal.

“The Church of England apologises unreservedly to those people affected by the criminal behaviour of Martin Thrower,” said Mr Howard.

“The impact on those affected by voyeurism can be devastating.

“Although none of his offences took place at church, or in connection with his church role in any way, the Church of England in Suffolk takes safeguarding very seriously, and is committed to making all of its churches a safer place for…

The much-loved star, famous for his epic stand-up shows, his tickling sticks and Diddy Men, died on Sunday in the home he was born in, in the Liverpool suburb of Knotty Ash.

His wife was at his bedside.

The Liverpool comedian, who once described the Book of Common Prayer as the guide to life, left hospital on February 27 at the end of a six-week stay for a chest infection.

He wed Anne Jones, his partner of 40 years, on Friday and an announcement was due to go out later this week about the marriage.

His publicist Robert Holmes told the Press Association: “To my mind, he was one of the last music hall greats. There is no-one else that comes close.

“He passed away in the home that he was born in over 90 years ago. He’s never lived anywhere else. It’s absolutely amazing.

“With Ken gone, the lights have been turned out in the world of variety.

“He was a comedy legend and a genius.”

He said of his marriage: “He asked Anne if she wanted to marry. They got the registrar and were married in the house on Friday.

“He died two days later on Mother’s Day. Anne is obviously very upset. They had been together for 40 years.

“It’s a love story to beat them all.”

Sir Ken, known for his unruly hair and teeth, performed his very last show just…