John Cooper, founding member of the American Christian band Skillet, wrote on Facebook: “We must STOP making worship leaders and thought leaders or influencers or cool people or ‘relevant’ people the most influential people in Christendom. (And yes that includes people like me!) I’ve been saying for 20 years (and seemed probably quite judgmental to some of my peers) that we are in a dangerous place when the church is looking to 20 year old worship singers as our source of truth.

“We now have a church culture that learns who God is from singing modern praise songs rather than from the teachings of the Word.”

The lead vocalist criticised the public nature of declarations about their loss of faith by people like Joshua Harris, author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and Hillsong worship leader Marty Sampson, saying: “I am stunned that the seemingly most important thing for these leaders who have lost their faith is to make such a bold new stance.

“Basically saying, ‘I’ve been living and preaching boldly something for 20 years and led generations of people with my teachings and now I no longer believe it..therefore I’m going to boldly and loudly tell people it was all wrong while I boldly and loudly lead people in to my next truth.’ I’m perplexed why they aren’t embarrassed? Humbled? Ashamed, fearful, confused? Why be so eager to continue leading people when you clearly don’t know where you are headed?”

He also…

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Safeguarding in Faith Settings has issued a call for evidence.

The focus for the second inquiry is on whether there should be a change in legislation relating to ‘positions of trust’ within faith settings. This inquiry comes as the Ministry of Justice undertakes a review of the current government legislation.

The intended objective of the inquiry is to publish a report detailing current knowledge on whether there is a need for changes to be made to ‘positions of trust’ within the Sexual Offences Act, 2003 to ensure faith settings are sufficiently within scope to allow young people to be better protected from harm.

Under the current legislation, it is illegal for groups of professionals such as teachers, care workers and youth justice staff to be involved in sexual activity with a 16 or 17-year-old under their supervision.

However, other adults who hold similar positions of power within settings such as faith and religious organisations and sports teams, are not covered by the current provisions.

Thirtyone:eight was announced as a core participant for the investigation and review into the current child protection policies and procedures in religious institutions in England and Wales, including non-conformist Christian denominations and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Those within the Islamic, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu and Buddhist faiths will…

The grime artist will pay the tuition fees of two black students.

Stormzy will also continue to cover costs for the first two students to be supported by the scheme, who are now entering their second year of study.

The Stormzy Scholarship is aimed at supporting people from minority backgrounds who have earned a place at the University Of Cambridge.

It is hoped the scheme will help address the relatively low number of black students who attend Oxbridge institutions.

So far Stormy, who recently headlined Glastonbury, has been self-funding the cost of the scholarships.

It is hoped that other funding methods can be found in future to continue the programme, with the help of outside investors.

The identities of the students supported by the scheme have been kept secret to ensure they have a normal life during their studies, although the grime star keeps track of their academic progress.

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