The post Open Heaven 8 July 2019 – In the ways of the Lord appeared first on Flatimes.
12,000 High Schoolers at Christian Conference Raise $57,000 for Battered Women, Homeless
More than 12,600 students from 32 states and five nations jammed into an Atlanta-area arena, raising $57,000 for abused women and the homeless during a four-day Christian conference. The Forward Conference 2019 was held June 27-30 at Infinite Energy Center in Duluth and hosted by Free Chapel, a multi-campus church in Gainesville.
“When students are given more than just rules and regulations and given the opportunity to really make a difference in the world, I have found time after time they rise to the occasion,” Jentezen Franklin, senior pastor of Free Chapel, told Fox News.
The 15thannual event featured music sets and faith-based messages from some of the most prominent Christian bands and speakers. This year’s lineup included Hillsong Worship, Passion, Bethel, and the band from Free Chapel. Featured speakers included Carl Lentz of Hillsong NYC, DawnChere Wilkerson of VOUS Church in Miami and Levi Lusko of Fresh Life Church, a network of congregations based out of Kalispell, Montana.
“The culture of Forward Conference is one that students know they’re going to have fun, they’re going to hear great music and great bands and they’re going to hear relevant messages to their life,” Franklin told the Gwinnett Daily Post. “Someone is going to talk to them about where they’re living now and how do you flesh out the walk of…
… Read More
Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
Egyptian Committee Legalizes 127 Churches That Were Previously Outlawed
An Egyptian committee has approved the legalization of 127 churches in the country.
According to CBN News, the churches previously were operating illegally.
Legal churches must obtain state approval in a process that had been criticized for being too restrictive and slow. In response, thousands of churches set up without permits.
“Egypt has a long history of regulating the building of churches, but many churches were not able to complete this process,” said a release from the International Christian Concern. “Instead, they were built illegally.”
The churches must only be used for religious activities, according to a media release.
But in 2016, the Egyptian government passed a new law that aimed to speed up the legalization process. International Christian Concern says that more than 1,000 churches have been granted permits since the law change.
Under the new law, a cabinet committee of the prime minister and the ministers of justice, housing and antiquities, review church requests for approval.
In late 2018 after more than 100 churches were approved, the president of the Protestant Churches of Egypt said the process would continue to improve.
“I am pleased,” said Andrea Zaki. “The process has been slow in the beginning, but I think going forward it will be better.”
According to Open Doors USA, Christians in Egypt are still…
… Read More
Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
Church of England votes to adopt covenant on clergy care and well-being
Members voted overwhelmingly to adopt a covenant committing parishes, dioceses, the wider Church and individual clergy to share responsibility for the welfare of ministers and their households.
Rev Canon Simon Butler, who headed the working group which drew up the covenant, said: “There is a widespread acknowledgement that we can and must do better to support clergy in ways that promote good practice and prevent occasional stress becoming a harmful and chronic condition.
“It will be a great boost to many clergy to see the General Synod taking a lead, and I hope to see the wider church following in the coming months.
The measures include work to promote access to pastoral supervision for clergy including coaching, consultancy or mentoring.
Synod also approved plans to promote awareness of stress and the dangers of burnout as part of training for ordained ministry and new resources for licensing and induction services highlighting the care and well-being of clergy.
Under plans approved by Synod, clergy, parishes and dioceses will be invited to contribute their responses to the covenant as part of a ‘Big Conversation’.
Churches and dioceses will also be invited to adopt the Covenant, which was drawn up by the Working Group following a debate at the General Synod in 2017 in which members heard of the impact of stress, isolation and loneliness on clergy’s lives and…
… Read More
—
Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Pray for Nelson Street Missionary Baptist Church
Location: Lenoir City, Tennessee
Pastor: Bill Freeman
Weekly Worship: 11:00 AM, Eastern
Fast Facts: Starting in a old house as a church plant of First Baptist Lenoir City, Nelson Street Missionary Baptist Church has served as a light in its community. The church has an aging membership and facility and is praying for laborers and support to revitalize their people and facility. Please pray that God would send revival in the hearts of those at Nelson Street and spread it throughout their community.
“Pray for . . .” is the Sunday blog series at ThomRainer.com. We encourage you to pray for these churches noted every Sunday. Please feel free to comment that you are praying as well.
If you would like to have your church featured in the “Pray for…” series, fill out this information form..
Related
… Read More
—
Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Thom Rainer.
Conference Disinvites Bible-Believing Speaker to Create ‘Safe Space for Everyone’
A major national conference for graphic designers and illustrators has disinvited a Christian speaker, apparently because he serves at a well-known church that affirms the Bible’s teaching on sexuality.
The Circles Conference announced this week that David Roark, the communications and resources director at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, would not be speaking at its conference Sept. 18-20 in Richardson, Texas.
The move came after the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) released an open letter saying it would not participate in the conference because the speaker roster included an employee of The Village Church, an organization “that does not meet our standards of inclusion because of openly discriminatory policies and practices towards women and the LGBTQ+ community.”
The Village Church is a Southern Baptist Convention and Acts 29 congregation. Its pastor, Matt Chandler, is an author and one of the more well-known evangelical ministers in the United States. He and Roark wrote the book Take Heart: Christian Courage in the Age of Unbelief.
“Since the beginning, one goal of Circles Conference has been to bring people of different world views and creative backgrounds together,” the Circles Conference’s Ismael Burciaga wrote in the letter to members. “While cultivating a collaborative and…
… Read More
Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
Is tomorrow really our Independence Day? Reflecting on the courage of the Founders
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day America declared her independence from Great Britain.
Or is it?
The Continental Congress actually declared America’s freedom from the British on July 2, 1776. The delegates then went to work editing a draft of their Declaration of Independence prepared by Thomas Jefferson.
Two days later, on July 4, Congress adopted this Declaration, which is why the date is celebrated as Independence Day. But most of the delegates didn’t actually sign the document until August 2; several signed even later.
“The point at which time touches eternity”
The men who acted with such courage in Philadelphia 243 years ago could not have imagined the future significance of their present faithfulness. That’s because we live in a universe bound by time—we can remember the past and anticipate the future, but we can experience only the present.
In The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis has a demonic tempter named Screwtape write to his nephew Wormwood: “The humans live in time but our Enemy [God] destines them to eternity. He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point of time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity.”
Why does God want us to focus on today?
Screwtape explains: “Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which our Enemy has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them. He would therefore have them continually concerned either with eternity (which means being concerned with Him) or with the Present—either meditating on their eternal union with, or separation from, Himself, or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure.”
Traveling into…
… Read More
—
Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Denison Forum.
Natalie Grant shares why she went to church after discovering her mum had a heart attack
The award-winning Christian singer and songwriter took to social media to explain why she forwent being by her mum’s side.
Writing on Instagram, she said: “Very early this past Sunday morning, my dad called to tell me my mom had a heart attack.
“Living far from my family has never been easy, but it’s never been harder than it was in that moment.”
Grant, who fell herself in 2017 and had an operation to remove cancer from her throat, said she felt “paralysed” hearing the news.
“How serious is it? Is she OK? Should I fly home? I gathered my girls and Bernie and we prayed. And then we decided to go to church [because ]I sure couldn’t think of a better place to be in that moment,” Grant explained.
“One thing was certain, I had zero control over my mom’s situation, but being with my church family and worshiping the one who’s in complete control brought such comfort and hope.”
… Read More
—
Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Anglican Communion 7 July 2019 – Take Simple Instruction
The post Anglican Communion 7 July 2019 – Take Simple Instruction appeared first on Flatimes.
