The Church Commissioners excluded, on ethical grounds, more than 800 companies from potential investment last year, including, they report, 38 companies that failed to engage with them over connections with Russia.

The figures are set out in their latest stewardship report, An Ethical and Responsible Approach, published last week. It is prepared annually to meet the reporting obligations of the UK Financial Reporting Council’s Stewardship Code and the Principles for Responsible Investment.

The total endowment fund was valued at £10.4 billion at the end of 2023 — up from £10.3 billion at the end of 2022 (News, 2 June 2023). The report covers the first year of the 2023-25 triennium, in which the Commissioners have committed themselves to distributing £1.2 billion in support of the Church’s mission — an increase of about 30 per cent on the previous triennium (News, 7 June).

Read it all.

The Church Commissioners disinvested, on ethical grounds, from more than 800 companies last year, including, they report, 133 companies that failed to engage with them over connections with Russia https://t.co/pPbbJCy0N8

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 15, 2024

As this debate unfolds there are three points I would like to put before you. I hope that you will take part in the debate, whenever and wherever you can, and that you will write to your Member of Parliament.

The first point is this: Be careful what you wish for.

No doubt the bill put before Parliament will be carefully framed, providing clear and very limited circumstances in which it would become lawful to assist, directly and deliberately, in the ending of a person’s life. But please remember, the evidence from every single country in which such a law has been passed is clear: that the circumstances in which the taking of a life is permitted are widened and widened, making assisted suicide and medical killing, or euthanasia, more and more available and accepted. In this country, assurances will be given that the proposed safeguards are firm and reliable. Rarely has this been the case. This proposed change in the law may be a source of relief to some. But it will bring great fear and trepidation to many, especially those who have vulnerabilities and those living with disabilities. What is now proposed will not be the end of the story. It is a story better not begun.

The second point is this: a right to die can become a duty to die.

A law which prohibits an action is a clear deterrent. A law which permits an action changes attitudes: that which is permitted is often and easily encouraged. Once assisted suicide is approved by the law, a key protection of human life falls away. Pressure mounts on those who are nearing death, from others or even from themselves, to end their life in order to take away a perceived burden of care from their family, for the avoidance of pain, or for the sake of an inheritance.

Read it all.

This Wednesday a bill will be introduced to Parliament proposing a change in the law to permit assisted suicide. As this debate unfolds, I ask you to play your part in it. Write to your MP. Have discussions with family, friends and colleagues. And pray.https://t.co/mgjUOwehms

— Cardinal Nichols (@CardinalNichols) October 10, 2024

According to Professor Jonathan Lanman from Queen’s University Belfast, “Our large cross-cultural surveys reveal that while many factors may influence one’s beliefs in small ways, the key factor is the extent to which one is socialised to be a theist.” He added: ‘Many other popular theories, such as intelligence, emotional stoicism, broken homes, and rebelliousness, do not stand up to empirical scrutiny.”

And Dr Lois Lee from the University of Kent commented: “The UK is entering its first atheist age. Whilst atheism has been prominent in our culture for some time – be it through Karl Marx, George Eliot, or Ricky Gervais – it is only now that atheists have begun to outnumber theists for the first time in our history.”

This is not the first obituary for Christianity. To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of Christianity have been greatly exaggerated, largely because its atheist critics resent having to bow to a religion in a society that, they insist, no longer bows to God. In their eyes Christianity is a pernicious influence; at best it is a private hobby that everyone else is forced to fund….

Read it all.

In the UK, according to a recent survey, there are more atheists than people who believe in God. Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast spent three years asking why atheism has grown around the world. Is Christianity on the decline where you live?https://t.co/kjtewirOtP

— Mercator (@mercatornet) October 8, 2024

The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, the joint lead bishop on health care for the Church of England, echoed Bishop Smith’s concern.

She said: “No amount of safeguards could ensure the safety of the most vulnerable in society, should there be a change in the law allowing for assisted suicide”

Bishop Mullally, a former chief nursing officer for England, said: “I worked for many years as a nurse in the NHS, including as a cancer specialist, and I understand first-hand the crucial importance of compassionate care and dignity for all patients, including those who are most vulnerable and reaching the end of their lives.

“In the Church of England, we are backing urgent calls for adequate funding and resourcing of palliative care services, to ensure the highest possible standards of care for all. This should include action to ensure that our hospices receive the level of state funding that they are so badly lacking at present.”

Read it all (registration or subscription).

Letby and Shipman murders show NHS workers cannot be trusted on assisted dying https://t.co/51pSDKdIzO

— Anna Gaudreault (@ladevita12) October 5, 2024

Black composers, musicians and singers are to be celebrated as part of a series of events, from exhibitions and lectures to services and study days, marking Black History Month in Cathedrals and churches across the country.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is to preside at a Eucharist at Southwark Cathedral marking Black History Month in the Diocese of Southwark.

The service will hear music by St Saviour’s and St Olave’s School Gospel Choir and the Nigerian Chaplaincy Worship Team with the sermon preached by the Dean of Gloucester, Andrew Zihni. A panel discussion will be held afterwards on the theme ‘music at the heart of change.’

The day aims to ‘acknowledge the profound positive impact music has had on the black community, and the power of music to transform worship and enhance witness, to bring hope, and provide a space of healing, restoration and justice’, Southwark Cathedral said.

Read it all.

Pray with us as we enter Black History Month.

We'll be sharing resources throughout the month to help us all reflect on how the church can address the injustice of racism, and create communities where everyone can flourish. https://t.co/iveTSWaIQX

— Leeds Minster (@LeedsMinster) October 2, 2024

Devastating hundreds of miles from the Florida Gulf Coast to Georgia to the mountains of North Carolina, Hurricane Helene has created a complicated equation for Christian organizations that are on the frontline of disaster response.

“In my more than 20 years of disaster experience, I can’t think of a time when such a large area was at risk,” Jeff Jellets, the disaster coordinator for The Salvation Army’s work in the South, said in a statement.

Samaritan’s Purse chief operating officer Edward Graham told CT that the organization had to call in equipment and volunteers from its Canadian arm for its hurricane response and even had to adjust some of its overseas work. Just for this disaster, Samaritan’s Purse is operating in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina.

Read it all.

Christian relief organizations, partnered with local churches, are working on bringing help to the most difficult-to-reach places in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. @emlybelz reports: https://t.co/mEcdbaJecl

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) September 30, 2024

The new Bishop of Exeter has been confirmed by the Archbishop of Canterbury at a ceremony in London.

Earlier in the year, it was announced the Right Reverend Mike Harrison would take on the role – he was previously the Bishop of Dunwich in Suffolk.

On Wednesday, Dr Harrison attended a ceremony at Lambeth Palace.

He said the “service marks a significant moment in that transition, and I am looking forward greatly to joining with sisters and brothers in the Diocese of Exeter…”

Read it all.

New Bishop of Exeter confirmed at palace ceremony https://t.co/dHTpYLcduj

— BBC South West (@BBCSpotlight) September 29, 2024

“When I came to CHBC,” Dever explained, “I was very clear with them that I was happy for every aspect of my public ministry to fail, if necessary, except for the preaching of God’s Word.” The hyperbole was intentional. Dever wanted the church to understand the primacy of the preached Word in the congregation’s life.

“Preaching is central to the pastoral ministry,” Dever explained at the congregational Q&A in 1993. “A lot of churches in America don’t think that. I think they’re wrong.”

Dever began by preaching expositionally through Mark’s Gospel. From his time studying the Puritans, Dever realized that in a “Christian culture,” the way you preach evangelistically to self-conscious Christians who may not be converted is by constantly repeating the same truth in sermons: This is what a Christian is like. The Gospels provided the perfect lens to do so through Jesus’s words.

Read it all.

What are the marks of a faithful pastor?

Preach
Pray
Love
Stay

On the 30th anniversary of Mark Dever's installation as pastor of @CHBCdc, here are some reflections on how these goals have shaped Mark's ministry on Capitol Hill.https://t.co/rhunQTIFQm

— Caleb Morell (@calebmorell) September 25, 2024

Speaking about her new position as an archdeacon, she said: “I am a bridge between the diocese and the parish.

“So I talk to the parishes about what the diocese is saying and what they have to offer. I then go back to the diocese centrally and say what the parish and clergy are saying.”

The Venerable Ruth Newton explains one of her biggest challenges will be addressing the recruitment crisis within the clergy.

She said: “There are a lot of vacancies. People are working on a shoestring.

“The pressure on clergy is to work and work and work is really extensive so hopefully get a better work life balance than I presently see in some areas.”

Read it all.

The Venerable Ruth Newton has been named as the Archdeacon of Carlisle as she looks to reduce a large number of vacancies within the church.https://t.co/hIgBLyWpTx

— ITV News Border (@ITVborder) September 25, 2024

But a funny thing happened on the road to nihilism. At many intellectual institutions, the wind had already begun to blow in the opposite direction. In the late 1960s, Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga provided his classic free-will defense for the problem of evil, and in the late ’70s, Richard Swinburne began his trilogy on the philosophy of theism.

Before 1970, generations of philosophy students were fully expected to graduate from departments headed by atheists where belief in God was conspicuously absent. Yet a decade later, Time ran a story suggesting a quiet philosophical coup had taken place: Theistic arguments for God were making a modern comeback, and reports of God’s death turned out to be greatly exaggerated.

It seems many of the bright philosophers graduating from eminent programs and taking positions in prominent universities were—shockingly—theists. And many of them were Christians, bringing their intellectual powers to bear on the apologetic front. These scholars were slowly making inroads among the intelligentsia, and their influence was trickling down into the public square.

Soon, Christian philosophers were not only well-respected academics in their field but chairs of their departments. The early members of this class of faith-led scholars gave way to later members who carried the banner even further—such that by the 2000s, Christian philosophy of religion had become a powerful force to be reckoned with in the academy.

Read it all.

Some of Christianity’s biggest skeptics are becoming vocal converts. These “New Christians” are the result of decades of apologetic work.

But, @nathanpguy asks, is their faith merely intellectual?https://t.co/pXWodcXBX9

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) September 24, 2024

The dynamics at Grace are a dramatic example of an emerging truth: For the first time in modern American history, young men are now more religious than their female peers. They attend services more often and are more likely to identify as religious.

“We’ve never seen it before,” Ryan Burge, an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, said of the flip.

Among Generation Z Christians, this dynamic is playing out in a stark way: The men are staying in church, while the women are leaving at a remarkable clip.

Church membership has been dropping in the United States for years. But within Gen Z, almost 40 percent of women now describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated, compared with 34 percent of men, according to a survey last year of more than 5,000 Americans by the Survey Center on American Life at the American Enterprise Institute.

Read it all.

In a first among Christians, young men are more religious than young women.
Within Gen Z, almost 40% of women now describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated, compared with 34% of men. In every other age group, men were more likely to be unaffiliated https://t.co/Efq8pmjqxa

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) September 24, 2024

Reconciliation is not an event; it is a process taking generations. In 1945, Europe was a hopeless and bankrupt slaughterhouse of hatred and cruelty. Today, there are huge struggles, but the only place we ever truly express rivalry and hunger for victory is on the football field. And France is remarkably successful.

Reconciliation requires human participation. It happens through the brilliance of leadership, de Gasperi, Adenauer, Monnet, Schumann, de Gaulle, Churchill, General Marshall. Defying the bloodshed of the past, it beats swords into ploughshares. Reconciliation means history that is true. It means healing past hurts and admitting wrongs.

Reconciliation is not only agreement, although agreement is necessary; reconciliation is the transformation of destructive conflict into creative rivalry underpinned by mutual acceptance and love. It is a cycle of peace, justice, and mercy, building up a structure shining in the love of God. A moment of peace opens the way to truth telling. Truth telling sows the seeds of relationships. They allow a gram more of peace. In this thin soil of peace, justice can be sown. Amidst justice a fragile confidence appears. From confidence the next and better circle can begin.

But the foundation of it all is prayer, for in prayer we commit ourselves to partnership with God.

Read it all.

In a world of conflict, we must imagine peace – and that begins by partnering with God in prayer.

It was a great privilege to address the #SantEgidio International Meeting for Peace in Paris today.

You can read my address here: https://t.co/wker09gmcy #PeaceIsPossible pic.twitter.com/9MBNzjGmb7

— Archbishop of Canterbury (@JustinWelby) September 22, 2024

….he believes that there are good reasons to challenge simplistic accounts of Christianity’s rise and fall. For a start, it is enjoying significant numerical growth globally and, closer to home, the crises engulfing organised religion do not necessarily translate into an equivalent embrace of atheism or wholesale rejection of Christian beliefs and values. The contribution made by Christian agencies to aid and development work around the world is immense even if seldom acknowledged. He robustly challenges secularisation theories prevalent among sociologists since the 1960s. He maintains that we are “metaphysical animals . . . unlikely to abandon age-old quests for a fundamental and inclusive context of meaning”.

Nevertheless, “mainstream European culture is hurtling forward largely without the fuel that Christianity has historically supplied”. This has disturbing consequences acknowledged even by avowed atheists. But the question remains whether Christianity’s credal credentials can enable it to fuel a sustainable culture into a future threatened by complex existential crises facing humanity and the environment.

Shortt responds to such a challenge, first, with an exposition of just how shallow and insipid so much atheist polemic has been of late. He eloquently defends both the meaning and the mystery of Christian beliefs founded upon scripture and tradition as objectively credible even if, as the biblical critics and liberal theologians for whom he has little affection attest, it is ultimately unfathomable. Shortt entitled one of his books The Hardest Problem and tackled head-on the problem of evil with appropriate humility. while confident that it does not hole Christianity below the water line — a case that he succinctly summarises here.

Read it all (subscription or registration).

"He believes that there are good reasons to challenge simplistic accounts of Christianity’s rise and fall."

John Saxbee reviews The Eclipse of Christianity: And why it matters by Rupert Shortt https://t.co/oRYQTpKpas

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 21, 2024

Proposals to reform the CNC should have included its current members, and imputations about the unfairness of the process were off the mark, some observers of Wednesday’s House of Bishops meeting said (News, 18 September).

On Thursday, the longest-serving central member of the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC), Christina Baron, criticised the bishops for not consulting CNC members before drawing up proposals.

“The way in which these proposals came forward without any consultation, without even any notice, has made all the elected members of the CNC very angry,” Ms Baron said.

The message to CNC members seemed to be, she said, that their work “is not respected, is not valued, that we are not taken seriously”.

Read it all.

Proposals to reform the CNC should have included its current members, and imputations about the unfairness of the process were off the mark, some observers of Wednesday’s House of Bishops meeting saidhttps://t.co/iUbX4Efinp

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 20, 2024

The bells of St Wendreda’s church have not rung for almost two years after a piece of metal fell to the spire floor in 2023. Now, its vicar fears that the church, famous for its ‘heavenly host’ ceiling, could be put on an at-risk list unless £250,000 is raised to pay for its repairs.

Rev Ruth Clay discovered that metal bars in the spire of St Wendreda’s, Cambridgeshire, were corroding. Engineers estimate the damages and scaffolding needed will cost £250,000.  

The church is unique – firstly in its stunning ceiling of carved angels, dating over 500 years.  It is also the only church to be named after St Wendreda, an Anglo-Saxon nun. Thought to be the daughter of King Anna of the East Angles, Wendreda used her knowledge of herbs to help heal sick people and animals.

Read it all.

Today I fulfilled a 20-yr-long wish & went to see the double-hammer-beam roof of St Wendreda’s Church in March.

118 oak angels soar aloft in it, carved in the early 1500s, their wing feathers modelled on those of the Marsh Harriers that wd have been abundant there 500 yrs ago… pic.twitter.com/MDThOOQy55

— Robert Macfarlane (@RobGMacfarlane) April 16, 2023

The economic, social, and public benefits provided by universities are “threatened by the financial crisis” in higher education, the Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Pete Wilcox, has warned.

Contributing to a two-hour debate on the subject in the House of Lords last week, Dr Wilcox said that, in his diocese, the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University “support more than 19,500 jobs and generate more than £1 billion annually for the local economy. What is true in Sheffield is true across the country: universities are generally hugely beneficial to the communities within which they are situated.”

The Church of England believed that higher education should serve the common good, he said. The universities mentioned did this in a variety of ways, including private investment, and volunteer and work placements across health, social care, the law, and other areas.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

The economic, social, and public benefits provided by universities are “threatened by the financial crisis” in higher education, the Bishop of Sheffield @PeteWilcox1564 has warned https://t.co/Jx29BNFPf0

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 17, 2024

The Rev. John Parks was taking his first sabbatical in 40 years of ministry when he got a call from his church’s accountant with some bad news.

Church Mutual, the church’s insurance company, had dropped them.

“This does not make sense,” Parks, the pastor of Ashford Community Church in Houston, recalls thinking at the time. “We’ve never filed a claim.”

Five months and 13 insurance companies later, the church finally found replacement coverage for $80,000 per year, up from the $23,000 they had been paying.

“It’s been an adventure,” said the 69-year-old Parks from his home in Houston, where the power was out after Hurricane Beryl. “That’s putting it politely.”

Parks and his congregation are not alone. An ongoing wave of disasters — Gulf Coast hurricanes, wildfires in California, severe thunderstorms and flooding in the Midwest — along with skyrocketing construction costs post-COVID have left the insurance industry reeling.

Read it all.

The same factors that have caused a crisis in the homeowner's insurance market are also affecting churches, who have to choose between paying for insurance or running programs.https://t.co/EZuQfur4d8

— RNS (@RNS) July 10, 2024

The secret ballot by which diocesan bishops are nominated could be removed under changes intended to restore trust in the processes of the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC).

In the wake of the failure of the CNC to appoint on two occasions in the past nine months, faith in the process has deteriorated to the extent that candidates across a range traditions are refusing to have their names added to longlists, a paper by the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, warns.

Others are “openly questioning the integrity of the process”, while “allegations of politicking in the Vacancy in See process are commonplace”.

Read it all.

The secret ballot by which diocesan bishops are nominated could be removed under changes intended to restore trust in the processes of the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) https://t.co/2RtEht4aQB

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 12, 2024

The British biologist J. B. S. Haldane once quipped that “there is no great invention, from fire to flying, which has not been hailed as an insult to some god”. The concept of “playing God” is a well-known cultural trope. For most people the phrase implies Promethean hubris, an arrogant overextension of human capabilities and ambitions beyond what is appropriate, potentially leading to unforeseen and uncontrollable consequences. But who decides what humanity’s “proper” limits might be? Might the quest for a deeper understanding of our world be an act of service, aimed at safeguarding our world on the one hand and promoting human flourishing on the other?

Playing God: Science, religion and the future of humanity by Nick Spencer and Hannah Waite offers an engaging and helpful overview of the contemporary debates on these themes. Both writers are associated with the London-based Theos think tank, which hosts public debates, discussions and lectures about religion and society. Although the theme of “playing God” is emphasized in the work’s main title, its focus is better seen as an exploration of the interaction of science and religion in discussing a series of questions raised, but not answered, by technological advance.

Read it all.

'The question shifts from whether we should play at being God to how we should do this.'

Alister McGrath (@alisteremcgrath) on what theology might teach us about technological hubris
https://t.co/KsRh8JBYti

— The TLS (@TheTLS) August 23, 2024

Annapolis historian Janice Hayes-Williams remembers visiting this graveyard with her uncle, George Phelps Jr., in 2001. As they wandered through it that day, he keptmuttering to himself. “Jesus. … Jesus. … Jesus.”

“It was overwhelming to my uncle and me,” Hayes-Williams, 67, recalled on a hot July morning as she walked past the numbered markers. “The word that came to mind was ‘disposable.’”

“We both kept saying, ‘A cemetery of patients and no names? No names?’ It was more than unbelievable,” she said. “This is not how you treat human beings.”

Read it all.

Their graves were marked only by numbers. She fought to find their names. https://t.co/vFukMCQVze

— Joe Heim (@JoeHeim) August 31, 2024

Andrew Copson, chief executive of Humanists UK, said: “For the first time ever, the number of those affirming versus swearing an oath has come close to reflecting the beliefs of the population as a whole. We’ve known for a while that the UK is one of the least religious countries in the world. We now have one of the least religious national parliaments in the world, too.”

About 53 per cent of people in Britain say they belong to no religion, and 42 per cent do not believe in a god.

Chine McDonald, director of the Theos religion think tank, said: “What we see reflected here is a falling away of cultural, nostalgic Christianity and a rise in the number of options available in an increasingly diverse and multi-religious society. It’s no surprise that a younger and less conservative group of parliamentarians might be less wedded to cultural Christianity, yet there are still a good number with a vibrant and active faith.”

Read it all (requires subscription).

Record number of MPs chose to take non-religious affirmation rather than swear on a Bible or other holy text this week

Up to 40% from 24% in 2019:https://t.co/3jlvKWTYpz

— Kaya Burgess (@kayaburgess) July 12, 2024

Proposals to remove impediments on the use of new blessings for same-sex couples in stand-alone services, along with the provision of delegated episcopal ministry for those who oppose the changes, were shown a pale green light from the General Synod on Monday afternoon….

A notable opponent of the motion was the Bishop of Bath & Wells, Dr Michael Beasley, who has previously voted for LLF motions and supported an amendment in November last year calling for stand-alone services to be trialled (News, 17 November 2023).

He was voting against the motion this time, he said, because he felt that it was necessary to do more work on questions about whether doctrine was being changed by the introduction of services that some feared would resemble weddings.

Read it all.

Here in the Diocese of York, we call our response to the Church of England’s Vision and Strategy and its invitation to be a Christ-centred and a Jesus Christ shaped Church, Living Christ’s story. We imagine and envisage our life of missionary discipleship to be as if, led by the Spirit, we are writing the next chapter in the Acts of the Apostles, the chapter for this bit of Yorkshire in this day and for the people and communities we serve. And when Jesus says at the end of St John’s Gospel, ‘As the Father sent me, I am sending you’ (John 20: 21); and when at the end of Matthew’s gospel, he says ‘Go into all the world and make disciples’ (Matthew 28: 19); and when St Paul says to the church in Corinth that they are a ‘letter from Christ… written by the Spirit of the living God’ (2 Cor. 3: 3), it is as if God is handing us the pen, entrusting to us his mission of love to the world and asking us, imploring us, to be his presence in the world. And of course, the foundation and the inspiration for this is the living word of God that bursts forth from the pages of scripture and lodges in our hearts and minds, changing them and shaping them so that we, indeed, become that love letter from God. But for this address, knowing that it is scripture, but also the way that scripture shapes and is shaping the lives of so many others who then become these love letters from God, there are two other books I want to mention as well.

When I first went to see my parish priest, Fr Ernie Stroud, one time member of this Synod, and spoke with him, aged about 20, about a possible vocation to the priesthood, he gave me two books to read. First Iremonger’s Life of William Temple; and second Kenneth Ingram’s biography of the slum priest, Basil Jellicoe.

I read these books when I was about 20 years old and they have made a mark on my life and groove in my ministry that has never gone away, that has laid down tracks upon which I believe I am still seeking to live and minister today.

William Temple gave me – and I believe still gives to the Church – a profound vision of how Christian Faith shapes and orders society; and since we are gathering the day after a General Election, it is especially relevant for us not only to pray for our new Prime Minister and government, but also to think afresh how Christian Faith and Christian values can shape and order the world.

Read it all.

The living word of God bursts forth from the pages of scripture and lodges in our hearts and minds, changing them and shaping them.

I begin my presidential address for the opening of Church of England @synod. pic.twitter.com/PJ8BNWn1nK

— Archbishop of York (@CottrellStephen) July 5, 2024

The Heiliggeistkirche, in the Baroque German city of Heidelberg, is a 15th-century Gothic jewel of a church. Beneath its vaulted roof, worship has been offered for centuries, with music ranging from Gregorian chant to Lutheran hymns. Even at the church’s time of greatest turmoil, when it was consecrated and reconsecrated by different factions during the wars of religion, nothing, perhaps, will have been quite so surprising as the music that resounded through its nave in May.

“The buttons of my coat were tangled in my hair. In doctor’s-office-lighting, I didn’t tell you I was scared. That was the first time we were there. Holy orange bottles, each night I pray to you. Desperate people find faith, so now I pray to Jesus, too” — these are the words of Taylor Swift’s quietly tragic song “Soon You’ll Get Better”, dedicated to her mother after a cancer diagnosis. It was one of the chief musical items in an entire service inspired by the American pop star.

Under the title “Anti-Hero” (a track from Swift’s 2022 album Midnights), the service at the Heiliggeistkirche featured a local singer and professor of popular church music at HfK Heidelberg, Tiene Wiechmann, who sang six of Swift’s songs. These were interspersed with reflections on Swift’s lyrics, life, and philosophy from the (now Protestant) parish’s Pastor, Vincenzo Petracca.

Read it all.

The £5.2m Demonstrator Churches project from the Church of England’s Net Zero Programme aims to help 114 churches in 2024 and 2025 pay for items such as solar panels, heat pumps, insulation, secondary glazing, LED lighting and infrared heating systems.

As work progresses, the network of Demonstrator Churches – representing many different types of community and situations – will share what they have learned more widely with dioceses and parishes so that all Church of England churches can learn from their experiences.

Abi Hiscock, Project and Grants Manager for the Church of England’s Net Zero Demonstrator Churches Project, said: “Ultimately, we want to demonstrate that with the right support and infrastructure, churches from diverse settings and facing a variety of challenges can reach net zero by 2030.

“By the end of this project, we will have over 100 case studies on what to do and when, and what not to do. Along the way, the supported churches are all required to act as champions to other churches in their dioceses or geographically near to them, or simply to other churches working from similar baselines to them, so that the learnings from these projects engage, influence and support this vision.”

Read it all.

@StPeterMancroft is 1st of over 100 churches 2 receive part of the £5.2M Demonstrator Churches project from the Church of England’s Net Zero Programme.

Watch our journey towards net zero in the full video on the Diocese website. Here's a snippet…https://t.co/dsrNh10sAr

— VergerStPeterMancroft (@verger_st) July 4, 2024

 …we face an extraordinarily challenging mission field. Our Bible teacher this morning, Bishop Rennis Ponniah of Singapore, gave us a teaching on 2 Timothy, which addressed the question of how we spread the Gospel in a culture like Timothy faced, where the forces of darkness were unleashed on the Church, externally through persecution and internally through false teaching. It’s a context not unlike what we face today.

Bishop Rennis reminded us that, like Timothy, it’s easy to become timid and to have our spiritual fire burning low in our own communities. The answer is to stir up the gifts and the power God already gave us through the Holy Spirit. Bishop Rennis reminded us that there are three dimensions to the power of the Spirit: first, the accomplishing power that abolishes death, annihilation, and judgment, and gives to us eternal life through Jesus Christ (2 Tim 1:9-10); second, the safe-keeping power that guards both the integrity of the Gospel and its messenger, so that we finish well and keep both the message and the messenger flourishing (2 Tim 1:11-12); and finally, there is the enabling power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to follow the pattern of the sound Word we received through the Scriptures (2 Tim 1:13-14). For those of us facing challenges in missional contexts, it was an inspiring and hopeful message.

When I left off yesterday in my video on Provincial Council, we were in the middle of robust fellowship on new canonical amendments that place the burden of safe-guarding, both children and adults, on the bishop and the diocese. There was language in the canonical amendment (Title 1; Canon 5; New Sections 8 and 9) that said it is the duty of the bishop “and not the province” to bear this burden. An eloquent objection was raised that it is both morally and spiritually wrong for the Church, and the Province in particular, to avoid responsibility for legal reasons. Another delegate moved to table the motion over lunch so that drafters and objectors could meet together and hammer out a compromise. When we returned after lunch, a new preface was added to both Sections 8 and 9 that stated it is the “moral responsibility of the Church (the province, the diocese, the congregation, and ministries) to care for the flock of Christ and protect them from abuse and misconduct.” At the same time, it was noted that where this takes place most effectively was “in the diocese rather than the province”. This compromise seemed to satisfy Provincial Council, which represents the whole Church. It was passed unanimously and stands as an excellent example of how the synod engages governance in a conciliar way and without wordsmithing from the floor.

Read it all.

Abp.@FoleyBeach gives thanks for his years of service, and expresses his gratitude for those who served alongside him in @The_ACNA. pic.twitter.com/BzxjfEjfh2

— American Anglican (@AnglicanCouncil) June 27, 2024

The CRC does have a process for those who believe something in its confessions contradicts Scripture. CRC leaders sign three Reformed confessions—the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort—and in 2022, the denomination clarified in a footnote that the Heidelberg Catechism’s teaching that “God condemns all unchastity” includes homosexual sex, as well as adultery, premarital sex, extramarital sex, polyamory, and pornography.

At least 18 churches publicized their disagreement by declaring themselves “in protest” of that teaching. They argued the CRC should allow differences in biblical interpretation of unchastity.

Last week, however, the synod decided that churches who adopted the “in protest” status would also fall under the discipline process and be required to comply with the confessions.

“It’s okay to send a protest. The issue is when you say our whole church, our whole council, is going to take exception to the confessions,” said Cedric Parsels, reporting from the synod for the Abide Project, a group that upholds the CRC’s historic view on sexuality. “‘We are going to put an asterisk next to our name of CRC. We can only be CRC basically on our terms .’ That’s a significantly different approach.”

Read it all.

Two years ago, the Christian Reformed Church in North America clarified its stance against homosexuality.

Last week, the denomination clarified its expectations for churches whose LGBTQ-affirming teachings contradict that stance.https://t.co/xltKDkUBGn

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) June 28, 2024

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) has been one of the success stories in recent American church history. Most denominations in the U.S. are in decline, but ACNA, founded just 15 years ago, has grown to more than 1,000 congregations and a membership of 120,000.

It began as a movement of conservative Episcopalians frustrated with the liberal drift of that denomination. Today, though, most members of ACNA are not former Episcopalians. They (we, as I am a member) are new converts or — in many cases — refugees from other mainline and evangelical denominations nourished by ACNA’s combination of Reformed theology and adherence to biblical authority, its evangelical vibrancy, and the beauty of its ancient, incarnational liturgy. As I have written elsewhere, Anglicanism has the potential to breathe new life into the evangelical movement.

But the denomination is experiencing growing pains. Its growth has flattened, and there is growing discontent in the denomination about its inability (or unwillingness) to address head-on some vital issues.

The denomination holds a national conference every five years, and the next one is…[finishing up today] in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and the delegates to the conference face some important issues that need action.

Read it all.

(ANALYSIS/@WarrenColeSmith) The Anglican Church in North America has been one of the success stories in recent American church history. But its growth has flattened, and there is growing discontent about its inability to address some vital issues.https://t.co/kkEXLJf7iM

— Religion Unplugged (@ReligionMag) June 21, 2024

What’s been most interesting to me about Shuttlesworth is how he personified the mixture of Christian orthodoxy and freedom fighting that characterized the primary stream of the Black church’s social action tradition. As a pastor and leader, he called himself a biblicist and an actionist, meaning he had a devout faith in the authority of Scripture while believing right doctrine compelled the Christian into social action.

In February, I preached one of the Black History Month sermons at Zion Baptist Church, a traditional Black church in Cincinnati. After the service, Judge Cheryl Grant, a longtime congregant, thanked me for delving into the legacy of civil rights advocate Fred Shuttlesworth.

Grant had been very close with the Shuttlesworth family after they moved from Birmingham to Cincinnati in 1961, and she was working on a documentary about him with filmmaker Mark Vikram Purushotham and biographer Andrew M. Manis. Her personal testimony about Shuttlesworth and his story of redemptive action has been more than inspiring for me, and now I’d like to share his story with a wider audience.

Shuttlesworth is an unsung hero of the civil rights movement. A cofounder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he faced and ultimately outwitted Birmingham’s infamous commissioner of public safety, Eugene “Bull” Connor, to advance racial justice in one of America’s most obstinately segregated environments.

What’s been most interesting to me about Shuttlesworth is how he personified the mixture of Christian orthodoxy and freedom fighting that characterized the primary stream of the Black church’s social action tradition. As a pastor and leader, he called himself a biblicist and an actionist, meaning he had a devout faith in the authority of Scripture while believing right doctrine compelled the Christian into social action.

Read it all.

“The American church’s sins regarding race are a product of its failure to follow the Bible’s mandates, not the consequence of following them too closely.”@JustinEGiboney this Juneteenth: https://t.co/2qk8JhX4QW

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) June 19, 2024