Youth workers must be up to speed on online grooming

John Carr’s comment came as new figures show the number of child grooming cases recorded by police have risen by a third in 12 months in England and Wales.

The NSPCC said Instagram accounted for one in three cases in the year to April.

 

Carr, who’s the Secretary of the UK Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety, said: “Any groups that are working with young people can do some great work.

“I’ve seen great examples of in youth clubs and church groups, scouts, and so on.

“The leaders of these groups need to be up to speed. They need to know what’s going on.

“Anybody who works with children who doesn’t understand how the internet works and our children use it can’t be doing their job properly or well enough, I’m afraid.

“There’s a great role for youth leaders in in every area to help.”

Figures published by the NSPCC also show more than 7,500 crimes have been recorded in the two years since the offence came into law.

One in five cases involved children aged 11 or under.

Facebook, which owns Instagram, said it has a team of 30,000 people ready to respond to issues around the clock.

Carr said the bulk of the responsibility lies on social media platforms to tighten up security and deal with issues quickly, but parents can’t rely on that.

“I think companies do need to step up and do more, but certainly no parent should delegate to a technology company responsibility for…

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Chelsea footballer guest edits Christian magazine

The 32-year-old striker was chosen as the guest editor in chief for the French publication ‘Jesus’.

Giroud told French newspaper Le Figaro that he uses any opportunity he can to talk about this faith.

 

“I try to speak about my faith whenever I can,” he said.

“I feel I have to use my media profile to talk about my commitment to Jesus Christ, and the matters that concern me.

“That is why I accepted the chance to edit September’s Jesus magazine. It’s very interesting for me.”

Giroud, who turns 33 on September 30, appears on the cover of the magazine with the headline “33 years old, the age of Christ.”

@MagazineJesusFr Twitter

September cover of Jesus magazine

 

Giroud also expressed his disdain for current issues in football.

“When I see what’s happening in football these days – racism, homophobic banners – it makes me want to take a stance and say ‘stop’,” he said.

“We organised a gala in London recently to benefit Christians who are persecuted around the world. It went very well.

“This is unusual in the world of football, but sometimes when I go to church people call on me to help.

“It is all done humbly and discreetly, and it is something that means a lot to me.”

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox every…

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9/11 and the illusion of control: Living for what matters most

Manhattan Skyline, Sept. 15, 2001.

It’s been said that history pivots on tiny hinges. The shots fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914. Pearl Harbor. 9/11.

At this time eighteen years ago, no one but the terrorists knew that September 11, 2001, would change history. We owe it to the victims and their loved ones to remember what happened on this horrific day

At the World Trade Center (WTC) site in Lower Manhattan, 2,753 people were killed when hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were flown into the north and south towers. The victims ranged in age from two to eighty-five years. 

At the Pentagon, 184 people were killed when hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building. Near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, forty passengers and crew aboard United Airlines Flight 93 died when the airplane crashed into a field. 

As of July 2019, only 60 percent of the WTC victims’ remains have been positively identified. 

And the deaths continue. Twenty-three New York Police Department first responders were killed in the attack on the World Trade Center, but 241 members of the NYPD so far have died of 9/11-related illnesses. While 343 members of the Fire Department of New York died in the attack, 202 FDNY members so far have died of illnesses related to their service on September 11 or in the immediate aftermath. 

“I actually have no control” 

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Christina Stanton could see smoke billowing from the World Trade Center after the first plane hit. The second plane then flew within five hundred feet of her twenty-fourth-floor balcony. The roar of the airplane’s engines knocked her down, rendering her temporarily deaf. She and her husband, Brian, fled their building. 

As the towers fell and debris covered everything, Christina and Brian, exhausted, stopped. She asked him, “Are we going to die?” He…

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US megachurch pastor and mental health campaigner dies by suicide

Wilson was the associate pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California and was transparent about his struggle with depression. 

He was the co-founder of mental health charity Anthem of Hope and had a passion for helping people deal with suicidal thoughts. 

 

Before his death on Monday evening he tweeted:” Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure suicidal thoughts. Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure depression. Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure PTSD. Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure anxiety. But that doesn’t mean Jesus doesn’t offer us companionship and comfort. He ALWAYS does that.”

Following Wilson’s death, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, Greg Laurie, said in a statement: “At a time like this, there are just no words. The Bible says, ‘There is a time to mourn’. This is certainly that time.”

He added: “Sometimes people may think that as pastors or spiritual leaders we are somehow above the pain and struggles of everyday people. We are the ones who are supposed to have all the answers. But we do not.

“At the end of the day, pastors are just people who need to reach out to God for his help and strength, each and every day.”

Wilson’s wife, Juli, posted a tribute to her husband on Tuesday evening.

She said: “I love you forever, Thomas Jarrid Wilson, but I have to say that you being gone has completely ripped my heart out of…

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US megachurch pastor and mental health advocate dies by suicide

Wilson was the associate pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California and was transparent about his struggle with depression. 

He was the co-founder of the mental health charity Anthem of Hope and had a passion for helping people deal with suicidal thoughts. 

Before his death on Monday evening he tweeted:” Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure suicidal thoughts. Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure depression. Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure PTSD. Loving Jesus doesn’t always cure anxiety. But that doesn’t mean Jesus doesn’t offer us companionship and comfort. He ALWAYS does that.”

Following Wilson’s death, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, Greg Laurie, said in a statement: “At a time like this, there are just no words. The Bible says, ‘There is a time to mourn’. This is certainly that time.”

He added: “Sometimes people may think that as pastors or spiritual leaders we are somehow above the pain and struggles of everyday people. We are the ones who are supposed to have all the answers. But we do not.

“At the end of the day, pastors are just people who need to reach out to God for his help and strength, each and every day.”

Wilson’s wife, Juli, posted a tribute to her husband on Tuesday evening.

She said: “I love you forever, Thomas Jarrid Wilson, but I have to say that you being gone has completely ripped my heart out of my chest. You loved me and our boys relentlessly and we are forever grateful that I had…

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How Pastors Discern Their True Friends

By Sam Rainer

Life is better with people. Life is more fun with people. Ministry requires people. We don’t minister to squirrels.

By God’s design, we cannot make it in this life without friends and family. We are created in God’s image, and He is social. We need relationships. It’s natural for us to crave social interaction. Some are more introverted than others, but everyone needs someone. Pastors are no exception. In fact, pastors should lead their churches with friendship in the same way they lead with theology, vision, and spiritual disciplines.

But being a pastor can be lonely. This loneliness is especially true for lead pastors. A lead pastor has no peers in the church. Staff report to the lead pastor, and the people of their churches are under their care. Other lead pastors in the community are peers, but their churches are often viewed as competition, an unfortunate but real problem.

For friendship, most lead pastors rely on other lead pastors in different communities. However, the distance between them creates a situation where they are not regularly interacting and do not understand the unique dynamics of ministry in each other’s communities. It’s tough to relate when you don’t live in the same place.

Pastors should have at least one friend in the church. It’s hard, I know. Most pastors stay on guard. They’ve been burned or hurt. As a result, they are in a defensive posture. Potential friends want to relate, but it can be difficult. Since friendship can be challenging…

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Patriots’ Ben Watson Tells Media to ‘Stop Lying’ about Brees, Focus on the Family

Patriots’ Ben Watson Tells Media to ‘Stop Lying’ about Brees, Focus on the Family



A 15-year veteran of the NFL is defending New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees and Focus on the Family following mainstream media criticism of both. 


Benjamin Watson, a tight end for the New England Patriots, said Monday the criticism against Brees and Focus on the Family was unfair and inaccurate. As Christian Headlines previously reported, Brees faced a backlash after he recorded a video promoting Bring Your Bible to School Day, which is being held Oct. 3 this year and is sponsored by Focus on the Family.


The criticism focused on the organization’s stance on LGBT issues, including its defense of the traditional definition of marriage. The articles that sparked the controversy said Focus on the Family was “anti-LGBT.”


Watson, who is known for his Christian views, previously played with Brees. 


“My reaction was, first, that the article itself was misleading and a mischaracterization of Focus on the Family and of Drew. It was slanderous,” Watson said Monday on Fox and Friends. “And so my response was to stop lying with those sorts of labels.”


It is a lie, Watson said, to label Focus on the Family “as anti-gay, anti-non discrimination.”


“It’s a shame in this country right now, where if you adhere to certain biblical beliefs that we all have a right to choose what religion we adhere to, you’re labeled as anti,” he added….

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Chinese Pastors Ordered to Preach about Confucius: It’s the ‘Erosion of Christianity’

Chinese Pastors Ordered to Preach about Confucius: It’s the ‘Erosion of Christianity’



Christian pastors across China are being forced to incorporate the teachings of Confucius in their sermons, and some churches even have been ordered to hold classes to study the ancient philosopher’s ideas. 


Confucius (551-479 B.C) is considered the most famous teacher and philosopher in East Asian culture. His teachings are compiled in a book, the Analects. 


The government’s Religious Affairs Bureau in the province of Henan ordered all Three-Self pastors in Yuzhou city in July to prepare their sermons based on a book, The Analects Encounter the Bible, that compares Christianity to the teachings of Confucius, according to the religious liberty watchdog Bitter Winter. Three-Self churches are Protestant congregations registered with the government. 


In other regions, Three-Self churches hold classes comparing the Bible to the Analects. The goal is to find similarities.


“An Analects study class takes all day long,” a house church member in Shandong province told Bitter Winter. “The participants even had to take photos holding the Bible in one hand and the Analects in the other, and post the images online.”


The teachings of the Bible and the Analects cannot be harmonized, one pastor from the Yuzhou area complained. The Analects Encounter the Bible book compares the Confucian saying, “All men within the four seas are…

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States See an Increase in Women Crossing State Lines for Late-Term Abortions

States See an Increase in Women Crossing State Lines for Late-Term Abortions



Though abortions across the U.S. are down, a recent article by the Associated Press highlighted women crossing state lines to seek late-term abortions, noting that some states have experienced a major uptick.


New Mexico is one of those states, having experienced the highest increase in women crossing state lines to seek an abortion with a 158% jump between 2012 and 2017.


The New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, a faith-based group, believes that abortion is a “deeply personal” decision and each woman should be given the right to make such a choice. The coalition assists an average of 100 women a year with their abortion and many of its 55 volunteers even open their homes to these women.


Executive director Joan Lamunyon Sanford believes her group “is doing what faith communities have always done: ‘Care for the stranger and welcome the traveler.’”


Beth Vial, a 22-year-old college student, was one of the women the coalition assisted. Due to a medical condition, she didn’t realize she was pregnant until she was 26 weeks into her pregnancy. Living in Oregon, she was unable to acquire an abortion, so she drove to Albuquerque for her abortion.


In response to the AP article, conservative political commentator Autumn Johnson tweeted her own story of being born at 26 weeks, the same age Vial aborted her child, as reported by 

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Over 100 Attacks Have Occurred on Syrian Churches Since Its Civil War Began

Over 100 Attacks Have Occurred on Syrian Churches Since Its Civil War Began



According to a new report, more than 120 attacks have targeted Christian churches in Syria since the beginning of the country’s eight-year civil war with President Bashar al-Assad responsible for about 60 of those attacks, according to the Christian Post.


The report, released by the Qatar-based Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), used its network of sources and daily monitoring of the country since 2011 to support its findings.


Between March 2011 and September 2019, more than 60% of the incidents were carried out by Syrian Regime forces. Other attacks were implicated by factions of the armed opposition, extremist Islamist groups and other parties.


Churches in the Aleppo governorate have been the most targeted, suffering 34 attacks. And many churches have experienced multiple assaults, such as the Church of the Lady of Peace in Homs undergoing seven attacks all by Syrian regime forces.


The onslaught of violence has left several injured and hundreds of churches seriously damaged. Attackers use missiles, bombs, bulldozers and guns to inflict damage.


“Targeting of Christian places of worship is a form of intimidation against and displacement of the Christian minority in Syria. The current regime bears direct responsibility for the destruction, displacement, and collapse of the Syrian state at various levels because it is the main cause of Syrian state…

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