Turkey’s military claims to have seized the key border town of Ras al-Ayn in its attack on the north-eastern border of Syria, a region where many Kurdish people live as well as Arabs, Syrians, and Christians.

The UK says it has ‘grave concerns’ about the action and has called Turkey to end its military occupation there.

US troops were supporting Kurds in the region until President Trump withdrew them, leaving Kurdish people and Christians there vulnerable to Turkish attack.

Archbishop of Hassaké-Nisibi, Jacques Behnan Hindo says he fears a mass exodus of Christians from the nearby cities of Hassaké and Qamishli.

Describing the plight of 5,000 families in his former diocese, Archbishop Hindo told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN): “In recent days, many had already moved from the border towns to Hassaké.”

The archbishop, who reported the killing of two Christians on Thursday, in attacks on Qamishli, added: “Now the conflict has become even more serious and I fear that many will emigrate.”

Half of Hassaké Catholics and Orthodox Christians are already thought to have fled with similar numbers exiting Qamishli.

Archbishop Hindo says he “fears a similar exodus, if not a greater one” in light of the escalating conflict.

The archbishop spoke out against the international community’s intervention in Syria throughout the countries ongoing conflict and…

Mako Vunipola expressed his concern for family members who had travelled to Tokyo in support of England’s rugby world cup fixture against France, after the nation’s biggest hurricane for 61 years approached landfall on Saturday.

The match originally scheduled for Saturday was cancelled and the England prop, together with his squad were flown 700 miles from the area, as 1,000,000 people were warned to leave their homes ahead of Typhoon Higibis.

Vunipola said he feared for the relatives who had remained in Tokyo saying: “We have families and friends there. That was probably the hardest thing to deal with – realising that the game wouldn’t be on and trying to make plans for them.”

“Japan are pretty used to typhoons and they have regulations to deal with it, so it’s just a case of them doing as they’re told and us hoping and praying that they’re safe.”

“I just hope the damage isn’t too much and people are OK,” he added.

Exeter Chiefs Luke Cowen Dickie, took to social media to warn fans in Tokyo to “stay safe”.

In a video posted on twitter he said: “We are sorry we can’t be there playing … but the main priority is that you are safe.”

To all the England fans in Tokyo…

“Stay safe.”

A message from Ben Youngs. pic.twitter.com/BxBVZgUhld

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) October 12, 2019

19 people have been reported dead and a further 16 are missing after some victims were buried in landslides and swept away by raging rivers.

Boats and helicopters have been…

Exeter Cathedral is set to host the technology enriched service on Sunday, in which worshippers will take a virtual underwater journey aimed to encourage “contemplations on the depths of Jonah.”

The book of Jonah tells the story of a prophet who runs away from his God-given mission and boards a ship. Following a storm sent by God, Jonah is thrown into the sea where he is saved from drowning when he is swallowed by a whale.

The PlayStation game Abzu, which has been dubbed “an epic descent into the depths of the sea,” will give players the opportunity to navigate through virtual oceans on a large projection screen as they listen to the Old Testament story.

Getting ready for Sunday’s video game enriched worship at @ExeterCathedral. @AbzuGame looks amazing and leads us into contemplating the depths of Jonah. See you there? Please share. 7pm Sunday 13th Exeter Cathedral. #Spirituality #Free #Refreshments #Hope pic.twitter.com/o6Kxqh6kLF

— Andy Robertson (@GeekDadGamer) October 10, 2019

The “virtual journey” will be led by former theology student turned video game journalist, Andy Robertson.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Robertson said he hopes to engage all ages to participate.

“It’s about giving them access to the benefits of the game so they can use it in their worship, rather than trying to make worship cool. There won’t be many kids there, so the challenge…

The study, conducted by Christian Research panel Resonate surveyed over 5,000 Christians across the UK and found 74 percent believed hell existed while 10 per cent did not, and a further 16 per cent said they were uncertain.

The report also revealed that 15 percent believed the topic of hell was of little relevance to modern day life.

Author Matt Adcock, who commissioned the study ahead of the launch of his new book Complete Darkness told Premier he was surprised by the findings.

“I thought hell perhaps was even less of an issue for people now. It seems like a very harsh doctrine,” he said.

Adcock who is in the ten per cent that doesn’t believe in hell, went on to say that he thought teaching on the subject was becoming out-of-date and less “favourable” within the Church.

“People want to believe in heaven and a positive God of love that’s gonna love you forever. I think it’s a harder doctrine to say, you know, you’ll be judged and accountable for everything you’ve done on Earth.

“I think churches are adapting their message to attract people who have a more liberal mindset,” he added.

The study also revealed that the number of people who believed in hell varied greatly to the number of people who believed in heaven, particularly within the Methodist Church.

Adcock says there is a mystery around the concept of hell which makes it more difficult to understand and suggested more teaching on the subject was needed.

“There’s only 15 verses in the Bible that…

Champa Digwal and her husband, Sultan became Christians when she was miraculously cured of a 12 year continual bleed, according to information from religious freedom network British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA).

The pair converted to the Christian faith after Champa heard of the healing of a woman with a similar condition who touched the cloak of Jesus, in Matthew 5:25-29.

The New Testament miracle inspired Champa, who previously followed the Hindu faith, to attend a local church where she was then reportedly healed of her bleeding infirmity and subsequently put her faith in Jesus.

Sultan also became a believer upon witnessing the miracle and the pair are now regular attenders of their local Christian church.

Their Hindu son, Rohtas has been accused of beating his parents following the news of their conversion before evicting them both from the home they shared together.

The Digwal’s, who were in poor health were provided with temporary shelter and financial support to cover a number of medical bills by their local pastor, Shusil.

A delegation of Christian and Hindu leaders has since intervened with the help of BPCA to condemn Rohtas actions and call for him to re-instate his parent’s into the family home.

Following direct comment from Hindu leaders, Rohtas has now agreed to allow his parents to return and retain their Christian beliefs without fear of…

The Hong Kong demonstrations, which began in June after the proposal of a controversial extradition law, have escalated over recent months as clashes between police and activists have become increasingly violent, with police using tear gas and activists storming parliament.

The ‘Protect the Children’ operation, launched by The Good Neighbour North District Church seeks to act as a mediator between law enforcers and protesters.

Led by Pastor Roy Chan, teams of mainly Christian volunteers inspired by the courage of young activists there, have taken to the streets to protect them from harm.

Dozens of volunteers head to out to protests each day to form ‘human chains’ in an attempt to prevent police from advancing and potential violence from escalating.

Speaking to the BBC, pastor Chan said he sees the work as his service to both God and society and an opportunity to display the sacrificial message of the gospel.

“That’s the self-sacrifice spirit. Beat us, don’t beat our kids,” he said.

Chan went on to say volunteers are finding it harder to mediate as many are experiencing increased levels of violence at the hands of police, including being kicked or pepper-sprayed for ‘obstruction’.

The group want to see more people added to it’s cause to strengthen it’s impact and protect more children.

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

The Charity Commission opened an initial inquiry into Rhema Church, Croydon in February 2015 over alleged financial irregularities, stating it was unable to clarify the correct spending of approximately £280,000 charitable funds.

Pastor Martin Phelps was suspended by the Interim Manager in 2017 pending the investigation, before ultimately being dismissed from his employment with the Charity in November 2018 for disciplinary breaches and gross misconduct.

On 11th January 2019 an order was made by the Charity Commission to disqualify Phelps from holding a senior management or trustee position within any charity, for a period of 10 years.

The Commission and subsequently the court concluded that Mr Phelps should be disqualified on the basis that he misused the charity’s credit card, used charitable funds for international trips, encouraged the breach of employment suspensions and withheld information from the court.

The decision to uphold the ruling, following an appeal by Phelps was published by the First Tier Tribunal on 7th October.

Amy Spiller, Head of Investigations Team at the Charity Commission said: “We welcome the Tribunal’s decision to uphold our disqualification of Mr Phelps of Rhema Church London.

“The decision supports our conclusion that the actions of Mr Phelps, whilst in his role as Pastor at the church, amounted to misconduct or mismanagement in the…

The Ballymena operation, famous for building London buses, was placed into administration last month with the loss of 1,200 jobs.

The former business owner Jeff Wright is a pastor at Green Pastures Church and came under fire after the church received £15 million in donations from the firm when it was profitable.

English industrialist Jo Bamford announced on Friday that he had agreed a deal in principle to buy the factory and associated land from Wright.

There was jubilation among former workers at the gates of the plant on Friday morning as the news emerged.

Steve McMaster, who has worked for Wrightbus for 42 years, described it the best day in his time working for the firm, and vowed it will “once again be the best bus company in the world”.

But regional officer for the Unite union George Brash warned that, while a deal has been agreed in principle, there remain “a few hurdles to get over”.

“We are hopeful there will be some formal deal by Tuesday next week,” he said.

“Workers have been through the mill for the last two weeks so they are entitled to a bit of euphoria.

“It is good news but … we want to see that in writing and then get to the next stage and see how many people will get employed.”

Work is understood to be continuing across the weekend, and workers will be briefed on developments on Monday at a meeting at Ballymena Showgrounds.

Northern Ireland…