Vicar’s tribute to ‘beautiful’ Libby Squire at funeral

The 21-year-old disappeared in Hull in the early hours of February 1 after an evening out.

The Hull University student’s body was recovered from the Humber Estuary on March 20.

 

At least 250 people, including friends, family and community members, filled St Lawrence’s Church in West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, on Thursday for her funeral.

The philosophy student’s coffin was taken to the church in a vintage black hearse with flowers surrounding it.

Among the flowers was a bouquet from Hull University students and staff with a card that said “rest in peace”. Another bouquet had a card that read “it broke our hearts to lose you”.

Her mother and father embraced as the coffin, covered with white roses, was taken into the church.

A personal tribute and poem were read by her mother Lisa during the afternoon service.

Mrs Squire also thanked friends and family for their love and support. “We would not have got through any of this without you,” she told the service.

Rev Jenny Ellis conducted the service, telling the mourners: “It’s a wonderful tribute for Libby and her family that so many of you are here today.

“Let’s make this a wonderful celebration of a beautiful person.”

PA

 

Ms Ellis said the funeral was “absolutely essential” to give family, friends and the community closure.

“The whole point is to draw a line under things and enable…

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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.

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Brother of murder victim forgives woman who shot him: Refuting the secularization thesis through courageous compassion

Brandt Jean, Botham Jean’s younger brother, hugs former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger after she was sentenced to ten years in jail on Oct. 2, 2019, in Dallas.

Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was sentenced Wednesday to ten years in prison for killing twenty-six-year-old Botham Jean in his apartment. At the sentencing phase, Jean’s younger brother told her: “I think giving your life to Christ would be the best thing that Botham would want for you.” He added: “I love you as a person, and I don’t wish anything bad on you.”

He then asked the court for permission to hug her. The image of the two embracing made national headlines. The prosecutor said that in thirty-seven years of practicing law, “I never saw anything like that.” 

Brandt Jean was right about his older brother’s character and faith. Botham Shem Jean was born in Saint Lucia, an island in the eastern Caribbean. He became a Christian at an early age and began preaching as a teenager. He sang in his church choir in Saint Lucia, in college, and at Dallas West Church of Christ, where he led the congregation in worship the Sunday before he was killed. 

CNN reports that after Brandt Jean’s remarkable act of grace, District Judge Tammy Kemp gave Guyger a Bible and also hugged her. “You can have mine. I have three or four more at home,” the judge said. “This is the one I use every day. This is your job for the next month. It says right here. John 3:16. And this is where you start. ‘For God so loved the world . . .’” 

“Some of us just go one god further.” 

Clearly, neither Brandt Jean nor Judge Kemp intended to minimize the horrific pain caused by Guyger’s actions. Rather, we should see their gracious acts as personifications of the gospel’s transformative power. 

When we know we have been forgiven, we are more empowered to forgive others. We want to give what we have received, to pay forward the grace that has changed…

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Five Key Reasons Many Churches Struggle to Reach Their Communities

Podcast Episode #577

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The local church is responsible for engaging the community. Many churches today are declining because they are too inward focused. In today’s episode Thom and Sam discuss the basics of engaging the community and neighborhoods around the church.

A few episode highlights –

  • The call to pastor a church is the call to pastor a community.
  • Established churches can become busy with programs and get distracted from serving the community.
  • If you are going to reach the community there needs to be an intentional plan.
  • God honors churches that put prayer as a priority.
  • The pastor needs to take the lead on inviting people.

The five key reasons are:

  1. Busyness with activities
  2. Lack of intentionality and priority
  3. Scarcity of tools
  4. No prayer about or for the community
  5. Leaders and members who fail to become an active part of the community

Resources mentioned in today’s podcast:


Episode Sponsors

The mission at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by equipping students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission. The school offers more than 40 different degree programs, including the new Master of Arts in Church Revitalization in partnership with Church Answers and the Revitalization Network. This 37-hour degree is designed to help students move established churches from flatlining to flourishing.

Learn about this program and more by…

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Thousands of Students Prepare for ‘Bring Your Bible to School Day’ on October 3

Thousands of Students Prepare for ‘Bring Your Bible to School Day’ on October 3



On October 3, children all across the United States are invited to bring their Bibles to school with them for the sixth annual “Bring Your Bible to School Day.”


According to the event’s sponsor, Focus on the Family, the event is designed to be a yearlong movement that encourages students to not only bring their Bibles to school but to share their Bibles and live their lives according to the word.


To help students get involved in the movement, Focus on the Family offers monthly challenges that give kids “specific, tangible actions they can take to live out their faith at school and in the community throughout the year.” 


The motto for this year’s event is: “Bring It. Share It. Live It.” And according to CBN News, this is the first time Focus on the Family has introduced the “Live Your Faith” initiative.


This year, too, the ministry is offering one student and their family a chance to win a trip to the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. if they sign-up to participate in BYBTSD


BYBTSD made national headlines in September after Focus on the Family revealed that NFL superstar Drew Brees would be partnering with the organization on the event.


Known for its pro-family beliefs, Focus on the Family was pegged as homophobic and anti-LGBTQ, sparking many to call Brees’ partnership with the Christian organization into question.


As…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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‘Give Your Life to Christ’ — Brother Forgives, Hugs Ex-Cop Who Killed Botham Jean

‘Give Your Life to Christ’ — Brother Forgives, Hugs Ex-Cop Who Killed Botham Jean



The brother of a man shot and killed in his own apartment by a former Dallas police officer shocked the courtroom and sparked a national debate Wednesday by forgiving his brother’s killer and urging her to turn her life to Christ. 


The brother, Brandt Jean, then hugged the officer who had killed Botham Jean. The interaction even brought the judge to tears. 


“I forgive you,” Jean said before urging the former officer to “… Give your life to Christ.”


Amber Guyger was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison for the 2018 fatal shooting of Botham Jean. Guyger had mistakenly entered the wrong apartment and believed he was in her apartment. 


Brandt Jean, who is 18, took the witness stand after the sentencing and addressed Guyger.  


“I don’t want to say twice or for the hundredth time … how much you’ve taken from us. I think you know that,” Jean said. “But … I hope you go to God with all the guilt [and] all the bad things you may have done in the past. Each and every one of us may have done something that we’re not supposed to do. If you truly are sorry – I know I can speak for myself, I forgive you. And I know if you go to God and ask Him, He will forgive you.”


As he spoke, sobbing could be heard throughout the courtroom. 


“But I love you just like anyone else. And I’m not gonna say I hope you rot…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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Title X Protect Life Rule Reallocates Millions of Dollars from Planned Parenthood to Other Providers

Title X Protect Life Rule Reallocates Millions of Dollars from Planned Parenthood to Other Providers



Earlier this week, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that $33.6 million in Title X funding will be reallocated to 50 other groups and not Planned Parenthood.


The announcement came after the Trump administration created the Title X Protect Life Rule in 2019, as Chrisitan Headlines previously reported. The rule refuses to provide federal funds for organizations that refer for abortion services.


The money will now funnel to health departments and clinics across the United States to help meet needs caused by the loss of federal funding from Planned Parenthood and other organizations that refused to comply.


“In order to minimize the service gaps created by those grantees, HHS awarded supplemental grants to qualified organizations that comply with the law,” HHS Director of External Affairs Mia Heck said to Fox News.


“Those supplemental grants allow them to expand family-planning services and increase protections for women and children at risk of (or victims of) child abuse, child molestation, sexual abuse, rape, incest, intimate-partner violence, and sex trafficking.”


Other organizations that lost funding besides Planned Parenthood included government health departments in New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, Vermont and Oregon. States such as Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi and Delaware will receive…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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Bible’s Teachings on Gender Are ‘Incompatible with Human Dignity,’ British Court Rules

Bible’s Teachings on Gender Are ‘Incompatible with Human Dignity,’ British Court Rules



A British court has upheld the firing of a Christian doctor for failing to use the correct pronouns for transgender patients, ruling that his biblical beliefs on sex and gender are “incompatible with human dignity.”


David Mackereth, a doctor with 26 years of experience, was dismissed last year from his new job as health and disability assessor with the Department for Work and Pensions after telling a superior he would only use pronouns that reflect a person’s biology.


The Christian Legal Centre sued the government on Mackereth’s behalf, arguing he was improperly dismissed and that the department had violated his freedom of thought, conscience and religion protected under the Equality Act of 2010.


But a British judge, in a Sept. 26 decision, ruled it was Mackereth who violated the Equality Act, Christian Concern reports


“In our judgment, refusing to refer to a transgender person by his/her/their birth sex, or relevant pronouns, titles or styles would constitute unlawful discrimination or harassment under the [Equality Act],” the decision read.


Mackereth had asserted his deeply held religious belief in the Bible – specifically, in Genesis 1:27 – was protected under the Equality Act. (Genesis 1:27 reads, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”)


The…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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Church invests in canal barge to reach community

Polwarth Parish Church, which sits next to a canal in Edinburgh, is working with local charity People Know How to promote community cohesion, wholeness and wellbeing.

They’ve been given a £50,000 grant to get the project off the ground, while the congregation has raised a further £32,000.

 

Rev Jack Holt told Premier’s News Hour it all came about when authorities began to encourage people to engage with the canal system.

“We saw the potential of having a presence on the canal side,” he said. “The canal path has become a busy byway for people walking along, cycling, going back and forth to work from the centre of the city.

“That began the process of us considering how we could engage. So we thought what if we could make a garden? And then what if we could have a pontoon? And then what if we could have a boat.

“Over the last a few years, we’ve worked through these stages.”

Holt says it is vital churches are thinking about getting outside of their buildings.

“I think it’s absolutely essential in this day and age,” he said. “I’ve been in ministry for 35 years and wherever I’ve been I’ve always said to the congregation that your purpose is to go beyond these walls and find out what it is that makes you unique to where you are.”

The project’s been given backing by local MP Ian Murray who lodged a congratulatory motion in the House of Commons.

He said: “The awarding of a…

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New US Ambassador to UN Reaffirms Unwavering Commitment to Israel

New US Ambassador to UN Reaffirms Unwavering Commitment to Israel



The new US Ambassador to the UN, Kelly Craft, has vowed to carry on the pro-Israel work of former Ambassador, Nikki Haley.


During her first meeting with Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon, Craft committed to partnering with Israel in the fight against Iranian-backed militia groups, Hamas and Hezbollah.


“Today, Craft and I discussed challenges and opportunities Israel and the US face together at the UN. I look forward to working together in this diplomatic arena! #StrongTogether” Dannon tweeted following Wednesday’s meeting.


During the course of their meeting, Danon and Craft also spoke about undertaking a combined diplomatic effort to combat the rise of antisemitism seen across the world in recent times.


Following in Haley’s footsteps


In her first speech to the UN since being sworn into the position by Vice President Mike Pence, Craft reaffirmed America’s unwavering support for the sovereign Israeli state. “The United States has always supported Israel in the past,” she declared at the Middle East debate in the…

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.

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Christian charity warns against using court case to justify widespread abortion in Northern Ireland

On Thursday, judges ruled that the country’s laws breached the UK’s human rights commitments.

They ruled on the case of Sarah Ewart who took action after she was refused a termination in 2013.

 

She had to travel to London to end her pregnancy after doctors said her unborn child would die in the womb or shortly after birth.

Following the judgment she said: “Today’s ruling is a turning point for women in their campaign against the outdated laws prohibiting abortion in Northern Ireland.

“It should never have come to this.

“Today’s ruling is a vindication of all those women who have fought tirelessly to ensure that we never again have to go through what I did in 2013.”

Responding to the verdict, CARE chief executive, Nola Leach said: “We recognise the tragic circumstances involved in this case.

“While we respect the judgment of the High Court today it is important to note that today’s ruling relates to a very, very small number of complex cases.

“This judgment in no way justifies the sweeping changes that will be imposed on the people of Northern Ireland if the Assembly is not restored by 21 October.

“Changing the law to accommodate abortions in the cases of life-limiting conditions deemed fatal is one thing and we are ready for a discussion on these very difficult situations.

“But thanks to Westminster’s decision to by-pass devolution, Northern Ireland will have one of the…

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