The Meaningful Chocolate Company are well known for making chocolate products for Christian celebrations which highlight the Biblical narratives behind the festivals, such as making advent calendars that tell the gospel narrative of the Christmas story. 

At Easter, their eggs include a 24 page copy of the story of Jesus’ last days, death and ascension. 

This year, in response to a poll which found that 96% of Christians think it is important for easter eggs to be plastic free and news that 11.5 million tonnes of food packaging waste is produced every year, their packaging will go plastic free. 

In November 2018 1,000 Christians responded to a Survey Monkey asking them to rate how important it was for the Easter eggs the were to buy in 2019 to be plastic free 3.3% said not important, 33.28% Important, 63.58% very important.

David Marshall from the Meaningful Chocolate Company, who make the Real Easter Egg, said: “Easter eggs don’t have to cost the earth. We have replaced plastic bags, tamper-seals and Best Before stickers with paper versions.

“There is still the same amount of chocolate in the Real Easter Egg and the box sizes are the same but the redesign means our Dark and Original Egg will save at least 5 tonnes of plastic and 175 tonnes of card in the next five years.”

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, said; “I am delighted that an Easter Egg, which…

Transforming Lives for Good (TLG) topped a list of one hundred groups, compiled by the Sunday Times.

The children’s charity – with the support of local churches, runs holiday lunch clubs and helps youngsters with mental health problems.

Emily Alty, TLG’s Head of People and Culture told Premier the company is delighted.

Speaking during News Hour, she said: “We really feel God’s blessed us with a great team, united in our mission to help churches to support struggling children.

“Knowing that our team loves working at TLG makes this so special.”

The Sunday Times’ list of 100 best not-for-profit organisations to work for in 2019 accepted submissions from thousands of companies from across the UK to “showcase the very best in workplace engagement”.

TLG, led by founder Tim Morfin has also been awarded a three-star accreditation by Best Companies, recognising the highest level of workplace engagement.

Morfin said: “It’s an incredible honour to top the list of the best charity employers in the UK.

“It’s amazing to have witnessed this organisation grow and see the impact that TLG is having through local churches in the lives of struggling children and families.”

TLG has spent more than 20 years on the frontline supporting children and young people needing support in the school system.

With 13 alternative provision education centres across England and 214 volunteer-led programmes…

The Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill was introduced by Scottish Green MSP John Finnie and is under consideration at the Scottish Parliament.

The Church of Scotland and a number of organisations across Scotland have vocalised their approval of the Bill.

It would create a law to abolish the defence of reasonable chastisement of a child.

Under current legislation, a person can claim that the physical punishment of a child is justifiable as a parental right or as a right of having charge or care of the child.

However, the court does also consider a number of factors such as the nature of the action and duration.

The Church of Scotland, the Scottish Youth Parliament, Social Work Scotland, Law Society of Scotland and a number of other organisations wrote submissions to Holyrood’s Equality and Human Rights Committee on Wednesday.

Expressing their support for the Bill, The Church of Scotland, in its submission, wrote: “The Church believes that the resort to violence should cease to be acceptable as our society comes to understand its negative impact.”

There has, however, been criticism of the proposals.

Police in Scotland suggested in their submission to the committee that the legislation could result in increased costs to the force as officers spend time probing allegations against parents.

Campaign group Be Reasonable Scotland – backed by The…

Victims then told the bishops of the searing emotional pain of their abuse.

Francis opened the four-day summit by telling the Catholic hierarchy that their own responsibility to deal effectively with priests who rape and molest children weighed on the proceedings.

“Listen to the cry of the young, who want justice”, and seize the opportunity to “transform this evil into a chance for understanding and purification”, Francis told the 190 leaders of bishops conferences and religious orders.

“The holy people of God are watching and expect not just simple and obvious condemnations, but efficient and concrete measures to be established,” he warned.

More than 30 years after the scandal first erupted in Ireland and Australia and 20 years after it hit the US, bishops and Catholic officials in many parts of Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia still either deny that clergy sex abuse exists in their regions or downplay the problem.

Francis, the first Latin American pope, called the summit after he himself botched a well-known sex abuse cover-up case in Chile last year.

Realising he had erred, he has vowed to chart a new course and is bringing the rest of the church leadership along with him.

The summit is meant as a tutorial for church leaders to learn the importance of preventing sex abuse in their churches, tending to victims…

The Million Dollar Vegan campaign – run by a couple from York, offered the pontiff a donation of $1m (£771,405) for the charity of his choice if he avoids all animal products for 40 days.

The face of the campaign is twelve-year-old American animal rights and environmental campaigner Genesis Butler.

She travelled to Vatican City this week to put more pressure on Pope Francis to ditch his normal eating habits during the religious observance.

The Million Dollar Vegan campaign said in a statement: “Pope Francis is considering Genesis’s plea to go vegan for Lent.

“Today Genesis attended a general audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican, following an earlier meeting inside the Vatican yesterday with senior Catholic priest Fr Pawe Ptasznik.

“It was at this meeting that Genesis spoke with such integrity and passion about her love for animals and how we need to change our behaviour to protect them and the planet that we live on.

“Father Ptasznik responded ‘we are all responsible for our Earth, I agree with your words’. And he agreed to be her messenger, and to take her letter, signed by dozens of celebrities, scientists and influencers, as well as the petition signed by tens of thousands of people, and hand it to Pope Francis.

“Father Ptasznik asked for Genesis’s home address and told her to await a response from the Pope.

“During today’s general audience, Pope Francis…

The protest was organised outside the Nigeria High Commission by Christian campaigners, exactly one year since Leah Sharibu’s disappearance in the north-eastern town of Dapchi.

Chief executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Mervyn Thomas said: “Leah Sharibu has now been in the hands of [a] violent sect for 365 days and we are deeply concerned by the lack of government action to secure her release.”

The 15-year-old was among 110 schoolgirls abducted from their classrooms on 19th February 2018. Leah was the only Christian among the group.

Leah’s classmates were subsequently released, following negotiations involving the Nigerian government.

But the teenager remained in captivity for refusing to renounce her Christian faith – an explicit precondition of her release.

Mervyn Thomas from CSW added: “We continue to call on the government of Nigeria to do everything in its power to expedite the release of this courageous schoolgirl…”

Leah is being held by Islamic State West Africa Province – a faction of the jihadist group Boko Haram which is aligned with Islamic State.

The extremists have been waging an insurgency against the Nigerian government in the north of the country since 2009.

Mr Thomas added: “We also call on the…