Sadly, much of this wildlife is at risk from climate change and associated biodiversity loss. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. 15% of all our species are threatened with extinction, 97% of our wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s, and we have lost 492 animal and plant species in England since the 1800s. This can be even more pronounced on a local level – since 1900, one species of plant has been lost every two years on average on a county level.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, biodiversity loss and degradation, and damages to and transformation of ecosystems are already key risks for every region of the world due to past global warming, and will continue to escalate with every increment of temperature. This crisis of nature is now being recognised alongside the climate crisis as a serious threat to the future of the people and other creatures living on the planet.

Part of our Christian discipleship, as we care for creation, is to notice what we’re interconnected with, so that we can wonder at God’s creation and then take action to safeguard it on this island we call home.

Read it all.

Do you care about nature? We thought so. Please do contribute to this conversation about the "People's Plan for Nature" before 30th October to have your say on how we can and should go about protecting the natural world. https://t.co/VvhjJaGEKs

— @StJohnsSE8 (@stjohnsse8) October 12, 2022

Countless pastoral leaders worldwide are eager to faithfully lead their churches, but they lack access to training. This is especially the case in majority world contexts in Latin America, Africa, and Asia where the gospel continues to rapidly grow—with hundreds of new congregations birthed daily.

Founded in 1846, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) now represents churches in over 130 countries and estimates there are 50,000 new baptized believers each day. These believers need pastoral leaders who are trained to effectively lead their congregations.

The challenge is highlighted when we draw a contrast with the United States, where there is one trained pastor for every 230 people. By comparison, majority world churches have one trained pastor for every 450,000 people.

This colossal leadership imbalance will only expand as the majority world church continues to surge and spread. Already, theological education is struggling to keep up, and unless something changes, the gap will only increase in the future.

If we are to meet the training needs of thousands of pastors like Roy, the worldwide trajectory must be reset. Theological education, no matter the form, has a long history of being fragmented, with most programs operating in silos, lacking a sense of collegiality. Regrettably, this inward posture makes training even less accessible to local ministries, weakening the collective capacity to prepare leaders for the Lord’s church.

A new theological education posture is needed.

Read it all.

Love it: "Standards to measure effective spiritual formation training are being developed in Nigeria and India. Oral pastoral leadership programs have started in South Sudan, Uganda, and Ethiopia—and will soon in Tanzania and Senegal." https://t.co/PvanxuRkCI

— W. David O. Taylor (@wdavidotaylor) June 5, 2023

It felt as if he had always been there, a steady sight on a busy corner in a college town.

Hovering above 6 feet tall with hazel eyes and hair streaked with gray, David Breaux was a graduate of Stanford University and had been an aspiring screenwriter. But such details belonged to a past he rarely spoke of. He had reimagined his purpose, becoming a fixture at the intersection of Third and C Streets in Davis, Calif.

It was there that he held a notebook and offered passers-by a question: Would you care to share your definition of compassion? You, charmed by the interaction, most likely jotted something down. And then maybe you stuck around to talk a little more.

Over the years, Mr. Breaux made countless connections and grew a reputation as a communal therapist of sorts. Business owners revealed their anxieties. Students spoke of finals week. Unhappy mothers divulged marital problems.

“If you’ve ever been through a divorce, you feel like the rug has been pulled out from under you and that you might not make it. I sat down there with him, and he really saved me,” said Kristin Stansby, 54, a shift manager at a local CVS Pharmacy. “You just really felt you could pour your heart out to him.”

Read it all.

After graduating from Stanford in 2009, David Breaux struggled to find his path — until he dove into the idea of selflessness and found his calling as “the Compassion Guy.” But in late April, he was found stabbed to death on a park bench at 50 years old. https://t.co/EYpivrx5Q8

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 5, 2023

On the surface, Iraq appears to have achieved a measure of stability. The country finally has a functioning government after a yearlong political vacuum. Terrorist violence has fallen to its lowest rate since the 2003 U.S. invasion. Even the country’s Iran-backed militias—long a source of tension with Washington—have significantly reduced their attacks on U.S. diplomatic and military sites. In a May 4 speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan credited a U.S strategy built on the “twin pillars of deterrence and diplomacy” for the decrease in attacks on U.S. interests.

As Sullivan’s speech illustrates, President Joe Biden’s national security team sees a quiet Middle East as an end unto itself—including in Iraq. Although Sullivan was quick to add that he was “not pulling out the victory flag on Iraq” and that the United States still has “a broad agenda” to strengthen Baghdad’s independence from Tehran, his real metric of success was clearly the de-escalation of tensions between the United States and the Iran-backed militias that dominate the Iraqi government. The White House believes that regional de-escalation is necessary to allow the United States to focus on its competition with China. But in Iraq, this approach promises to have long-term costs: the U.S. desire for calm is being exploited by Tehran’s allies to destabilize its politics.

Iraq may look calm, but looks can be deceiving. The country is actually entering a uniquely dangerous period: Iran’s allies have achieved unprecedented control of Iraq’s parliament, judiciary, and executive branch, and they are rapidly rigging the political system in their favor and looting the state of its resources. Washington’s complacent attitude toward these events is only setting it up for costly involvement later. Iraq is the world’s third-largest oil producer and a country whose collapse could destabilize the entire Middle East through the spread of refugees and terrorism. Great-power competition has never been an excuse to tune out the threats facing the country—and it shouldn’t be one now.

Read it all.

.@Mikeknightsiraq discusses the Iran-backed militias standing behind Iraq’s current government—and how Washington can help give Iraq’s youth, reformers, and anticorruption investigators the opportunity to defend the country’s fragile democracy. https://t.co/V5VSWBzH75

— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) June 5, 2023

Almighty God, who didst call thy faithful servant Boniface to be a witness and martyr in the lands of Germany and Friesland, and by his labor and suffering didst raise up a people for thine own possession: Pour forth thy Holy Spirit upon thy Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many thy holy Name may be glorified and thy kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Monday’s #ImageOfTheDay.

St Boniface (Wynfrith) of Crediton, born c675, “Apostle to the Germans”, played a leading part in the mission of the Anglo-Saxon church to northern continental Europe. This is his statue at Mainz where he was bishop. He was martyred on this day in 754. pic.twitter.com/f3jD0MHURk

— Michael Sadgrove 🇪🇺 (@MichaelSadgrove) June 5, 2023

Almighty God, most blessed and most holy, before the brightness of whose presence the angels veil their faces: With lowly reverence and adoring love we acknowledge thine infinite glory, and worship thee, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternal Trinity. Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto our God, for ever and ever.

🌿Sommer..🌸😍🌺🌿 pic.twitter.com/rlsgy3PccS

— 💫Stein_harmonie🍀🧚‍♀️ (@SteinHarmonie) June 5, 2023

Blessed is he who considers the poor!
The Lord delivers him in the day of trouble;
the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
he is called blessed in the land;
thou dost not give him up to the will of his enemies.
The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;
in his illness thou healest all his infirmities.

–Psalm 41:1-3

Beautiful start – Skye Bridge, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 05/06/23 @angie_weather @StormHour @ThePhotoHour @VisitScotland pic.twitter.com/JwdoTx0O6l

— James MacInnes (@Macinnesplant) June 5, 2023