The Swansea Unitarian Church appealed for information after they found their locked collection box, situated outside of the church had been tampered with. The church annually sets up a crib scene and asks for donations, which it then donates to a local charity.

Lynn Evans, chairperson of the church, said: “We’ve been raising money for local charities through our Christmas crib appeal every Christmas for decades and were very sad to discover the theft, which we think took place on Christmas Eve.”

Although they do not know how much had been raised before the theft, they had hoped to raise the money through online crowdfunding to provide support for the homeless.

The initial target of £100 was raised within a few hours so the church increased their target to £200. However, 50 supporters had donated over £600 well within 24 hours.

They intend to donate the money to support homeless people in Swansea, through the charity Matthew’s House.

According to their fundraising page, Swansea Unitarian Church is an open-minded, liberal and welcoming congregation on the High Street, in the heart of Swansea.

Their Facebook page says that the police are investigating but unfortunately there is little chance of retrieving the money stolen. They also say that the Nativity scene itself was not damaged.

The appeal has been reported by Sky News and the Facebook post has been shared over 60 times.

Professor Torrance has been honoured with a Knights Bachelor (Kt) for “services to Higher Education and Theology”.

Professor Torrance served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 2003-04 and has been the Pro Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen since 2013.

A former Territorial Army Chaplain, Professor Torrance was ordained as a minister of Northmavine Parish Church, Shetland in 1982, a position he held until 1985 when he first moved into academia at Queen’s College and then the University of Birmingham. 

Professor Torrance, whose father Very Rev Thomas F Torrance was Moderator in 1976-77, has also been recognised for his work on interfaith dialogue with Jewish and Islamic communities.

Very Rev Dr John Miller, Moderator of the General Assembly in 2001-02, said:  “It is very unusual to find a church minister exercising these gifts both in the church and in society at large.  

“Iain has been influential through his work as a Chaplain working on the importance of moral values in military training.

“He has been valued in the university sphere, as Professor of Theology and as an administrator when Dean of the Faculty of Arts in Aberdeen.”

Professor Sir Ian Diamond, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen – where Professor Torrance first started teaching in 1993 – welcomed the news.

“Professor Torrance has made an enormous and outstanding contribution to higher education, both as one of the UK’s leading theologians and…

According to website thelocal.se, a notice advertising a Christmas worship service, the church described Jesus using the pronoun ‘hen’, which in Sweden is used to refer to non-binary people or in cases where a person’s gender is not known or not relevant.

The church’s dean, Susann Senter, released a statement after the notice attracted strong reactions, stating: “The religious Christ is greater [than the historical person] and needs to be described and talked about in each era, with new words and new songs . . .”

However, she also apologized to anyone who felt offended, stating it was unintentional.

The Bishop of Västerås, Mikael Mogren, has also defended the choice, saying he was “grateful” for the debate which the advert had started.

Another story had stated that the Church of Sweden had told its clergy to begin using more gender-neutral language including terms for “God”.  However, Sofija Pedersen Videke, head of the Church’s service of worship committee, said that this was untrue, calling it “fake news”.

However, it was confirmed that their 31-year-old handbook was reviewed where some of the updated language includes three alternatives for the words to use at the start of worship services.  This included one which is gender-neutral: “In the name of the Father and Son, and the Holy Spirit,” “In the name of God, the Father and Son, and the Holy Spirit”, and “In the name of the triune God”.

Reverend Meade, who set up the choir with three other people in 1982, has been awarded an MBE for “services to music especially the development of British Gospel Music”

The choir was originally set up for a one off concert but the performance went so successfully that they went on to release 13 albums over 35 years.

Reverend Meade explained that, at that time: “We were formed from those who were passionate about their faith and were willing to take gospel music into venues that many churches at that time dared not enter.”

The choir has performed with other well-known artists including Madonna, Diana Ross, George Michael and has sang in front of Nelson Mandela and Prince Charles. They recently featured on the Gospel Christmas show on BBC 2.

Meade at the time commented: “The idea of an inter-denominational choir was something totally new to the church community.

“A few church leaders felt threatened by it. It took a while before we were able to convince them that we were not forming a new church and stealing their young people away! We knew this was a vision that God had given us and that inspired us to keep going despite the controversy which surrounded us,…”

Christian journalist Marcia Dixon said: “As a co-founder of the London Community Gospel Choir Bazil has played a key role establishing the UK gospel scene, providing mentorship and opportunities to numerous gospel artists and musicians, and flying the flag for gospel music in general.”