Whom have I in heaven but thee?
    And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.

For lo, those who are far from thee shall perish;
    thou dost put an end to those who are false to thee.
But for me it is good to be near God;
    I have made the Lord God my refuge,
    that I may tell of all thy works.

–Psalm 73:25-28

Good morning. It’s Friday! All those lovely colours of Autumn. View towards the city centre from Epping Walk Bridge 🍂 #Manchester https://t.co/prAPiqZ7JT

— Monica NAUGHTON Crimmins (@MonicaCrimmins) November 6, 2026

The national elections, just completed, added five states that will be completely controlled by Democrats next year, i.e., legislature and governor. They are, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Every one of these is ripe for legalizing assisted suicide, as that policy is now part of the liberal/progressive issue agenda. Most have already seen serious efforts to legalize doctor-prescribed death — even when Republicans held some power. Indeed, the electorally late (defeated for reelection) Governor Joe Lombardo of Nevada vetoed a legalization bill a few years ago.

Every one of these is ripe for legalizing assisted suicide, as that policy is now part of the liberal/progressive issue agenda. Most have already seen serious efforts to legalize doctor-prescribed death — even when Republicans held some power. Indeed, the electorally late (defeated for reelection) Governor Joe Lombardo of Nevada vetoed a legalization bill a few years ago.

Other states that are already governed by a so-called Democratic trifecta, but which have not yet legalized assisted suicide, are Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Efforts have been made to legalize assisted suicide in all of these as well, with Massachusetts voters rejecting assisted suicide in 2012 — thanks in large part to the opposition by Ted Kennedy’s widow.

I think all of these states will see renewed legalization attempts in the next two years. 

Read it all.

The other Democratic trifecta states have already legalized assisted suicide. But that is never the end of it. The first laws passed are not meant to be ceilings but launching pads. https://t.co/w842Yov8xR

— Wesley J. Smith (@theWesleyJSmith) November 5, 2026

For thou, O Lord, art my hope,
    my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon thee I have leaned from my birth;
    thou art he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of thee.

–Psalm 71:5-6

Reparations for slavery would amount to a “vast fine on the entire British people for a crime they did not commit”, the former Archbishop of Canterbury the Rt Revd Justin Welby said this week.

“You may be able to fine individual people for their conduct, but not everyone for their nationality,” he wrote in The Independent on Tuesday. “Group punishment is a moral evil. It mixes up the guilty and the innocent even when it is about contemporary times, let alone two centuries past.”

The article was published on the same day as a speech made by the King at the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in St John’s, Antigua. The transatlantic trade in enslaved persons was a “shameful chapter of history” that “fills my heart with horror and my soul with the most profound personal sorrow”, the King said.

The UK Government has so far resisted calls for reparations, although the Prime Minister has indicated that a formal apology may be forthcoming.

Read it all.

💷 Reparations for slavery ⛓️‍💥 would amount to a “vast fine on the entire British people for a crime they did not commit”, the former Archbishop of Canterbury the Rt Revd Justin Welby said this week. #ChurchTimes #ChurchNews https://t.co/BeWPsnLZMk

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 4, 2026

‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.
Blessed be his glorious name for ever; may his glory fill the whole earth!
Amen and Amen!’

–Psalm 72:18-19

Autumn at its best here in Yorkshire. One for @CanalRiverTrust @Yorkshire_Life @willcarling @GingerWildheart @RealDeniseWelch @1pcornwell @hwinkler4real @Bradford_TandA https://t.co/3Z4EKEn8oB

— David (@Disc_light) November 4, 2026

But I am besides my purpose when I fall to bewail the cold affection which we bear towards that whereby we should be saved, my purpose being only to set down what the ground of salvation is. The doctrine of the Gospel proposeth salvation as the end, and doth it not teach the way of attaining thereunto? Yes, the damsel possessed with a spirit of divination spake the truth: “These men are the servants of the most high God who show unto us the way of salvation” [Acts 16:17] — “a new and living way which Christ hath prepared for us through the veil, that is, his flesh,” [Heb 10:20] salvation purchased by the death of Christ.

–Learned Discourse on Justification (my emphasis)

2nd November 1600 – Death of Richard Hooker 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿On this day in 1600, Richard Hooker, one of England’s most influential Anglican theologians, died in Kent, aged 46.Born in Devon in 1554, Hooker defended the Protestant Church of England, the authority of Scripture, the Book of Common Prayer and historic Christian traditions.His writings helped establish the foundations of traditional Anglicanism, defending the Church against radical Puritan demands to abandon longstanding practice 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

— The English Remnant (@Englishremnant) November 2, 2026

For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.

–Psalm 62:5-8

A calm and peaceful sunrise today here in Glastonbury and I even had some company today. https://t.co/hsCB5lHddg

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) November 3, 2026

Professors John Craven and Robin Gill are to be thanked for bringing to our attention in their report, Wasted Money in a Diminishing Church (News, 23 October), the serious financial issues that will face the Church of England over the next few years, and the unsustainable deficits faced by many diocesan boards of finance (DBFs). This is why the church economy will be the subject of a major debate early in the new General Synod.

So much of their report is inaccurate or unrealistic, however, that I fear that it will skew that debate in unhelpful directions. I, therefore, want to push back in three areas.

First, the report reaches a strange conclusion. The authors decide that the way to address what they diagnose as fundamentally a financial problem is to make the deanery the heart of the Church’s administrative life.

Most area deans, however, want to be pastors, not middle managers, and I can readily see why. With an eviscerated diocesan structure, area deans would have to take on, alongside their parochial responsibilities, duties now fulfilled by archdeacons and bishops.

Read it all.

📉 Philip North takes issue with three aspects of a new report that warns that the C of E is heading for financial disaster #ChurchTimes #Comment #Opinion https://t.co/gdFJMCZqAD

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 30, 2026

Almighty and merciful God, we remember before you all the faithful departed, those we have loved and all who have died in the hope of the resurrection. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Comfort those who mourn, and fill us with the hope of your promises. May they rest in your peace and rise in glory. Unite us with them in your love, that we may join together in the joy of your eternal kingdom. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the resurrection and the life. Amen.

All Souls’ Day (Hedwig Cemetery), 1896 by Franz Skarbina #AllSoulsDay #zaduszki https://t.co/59E7J9ghs8

— Marysia (@marysia_cc) November 2, 2026

Almighty God,
you have knit together your elect
in one communion and fellowship    
in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord:
grant us grace so to follow your blessed saints
in all virtuous and godly living
that we may come to those inexpressible joys
that you have prepared for those who truly love you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

All the saints.From the Hours of Louis de Laval, France ca. 1480. https://t.co/uN9q6lMPKF

— The Public Domain Review (@PublicDomainRev) November 1, 2026

The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the Lord, upon many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful,
    the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,
    the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
    and Sir′ion like a young wild ox.

The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness,
    the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

–Psalm 29:3-8

November! Halfway through the ’ber months. Look out for: • Owls (especially listen for tawny owls) • Starling murmurations at dusk • The last of the autumn colour • Fungi, including colourful waxcaps Take a moment to notice November 🍂📸: Sam Moore https://t.co/5hHlVW4T7Y

— South Downs National Park (@sdnpa) November 1, 2026

Then I saw another beast which rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It works great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of men; and by the signs which it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on earth, bidding them make an image for the beast which was wounded by the sword and yet lived; and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast should even speak, and to cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six.

–Revelation 13:11-18

Statuesque and Golden… the rich gold Autumn colours of the tall weeping Silver Birch tree 💛🍂🍂💛🍂🍂💛 https://t.co/wrqsvU9YoZ

— Cloudymamma (@cloudymamma) October 31, 2026

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems upon its horns and a blasphemous name upon its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth followed the beast with wonder. Men worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months; it opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain. If any one has an ear, let him hear:

If any one is to be taken captive,
    to captivity he goes;
if any one slays with the sword,
    with the sword must he be slain.

Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

–Revelation 13:1-10

Morning everyone I hope you are well. After all the rain, but still with the grey weather, it’s the best time to explore the valleys to enjoy the flowing becks and autumnal colours. Have a great day.#LakeDistrict https://t.co/oTpZ7lMwBi

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) October 30, 2026

American spy agencies had gathered striking intelligence.

A top executive at a Singapore-based data center company was under scrutiny for possibly steering advanced Nvidia A.I. chips to China. And now American officials had concluded that she was a Chinese intelligence asset, funneling information to Beijing.

But what came next was even more alarming. Surveillance of the executive, Alice Huang or Huang Le, a Chinese citizen, revealed that she had developed a close relationship with Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive.

For years, Washington has worked to deny China the technology needed to match or surpass the United States in the intense global competition for superiority in artificial intelligence. The discovery that Beijing was getting reports from someone with direct access to Mr. Huang, one of the most powerful figures in the A.I. revolution as well as an influential ally of President Trump’s, set off alarms at the White House.

Read it all.

Wow.https://t.co/ovzrTKn4CR https://t.co/VlJTst2k4X

— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) October 29, 2026

We are reminded of Proverbs 21:1: The king’s heart is like “a stream of water” in YHWH’s hand, and he turns it this way and that. That’s why the early Christians, living under hostile Roman rule, were instructed to pray for those in authority. Now, the prophet is telling the exiles to trust that YHWH knows what he’s doing. We all need that message now and then, not in order to justify or excuse wickedness but in order to inculcate humility.

The conclusion acknowledges that all this is a shock: “Truly, you are a God who hides himself” (45:15, NRSV). God is operating behind the scenes in ways for which nothing in Israel’s earlier history has prepared them. The idea of the world’s greatest monarch using his military power to rescue the Judaeans from exile, and telling them to rebuild the temple, was way beyond any precedent.

In a different register, think how the story of Cyrus finds some shadowy first-century equivalents.

Emperor Augustus in Rome lifts his little finger and there’s a worldwide census … and a young couple make their way to the royal town of Bethlehem.

Thirty or so years later, Tiberius Caesar appoints Pontius Pilate as governor, and Jesus tells him, to our dark astonishment, that God has indeed given him the power of life and death.

Read it all.

I’d like to introduce you to my next book, Into the Heart of Isaiah. In this book I ask: What does Isaiah have to do with Jesus, Paul, the resurrection, and the first century Christians? Quite a lot, it turns out. I encourage you to pre-order here: https://t.co/5yz1s6D7xL https://t.co/jm4Dx5HcTN

— Tom Wright (@profntwright) October 8, 2026

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world–he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Rejoice then, O heaven and you that dwell therein! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

Revelation 12:7-12

Catching the last rays of autumn sunshine in Cunningsburgh, Shetland- happy Thursday, friends#ScotlandisNow #StormHour #photography #photooftheday #sunset #OutAndAboutScotland #landscapephotography @VisitScotland @ScotsMagazine #STVSnaps #ThePhotoHour https://t.co/RqEotl0LDI

— Mike Wood (@MikeMikwd) October 29, 2026

Demands for a redirection of the Church Commissioners’ largesse to parish ministry will be widely and strongly voiced in the next quinquennium of the General Synod, election statements from successful candidates suggest.

Save the Parish (STP) reported this week that 77 candidates who had signed up to its manifesto had been elected, and about 20 others had told the group that they supported it. In addition to those advertising STP support, election statements calling for reform of church finances in support of parishes, read by the Church Times, transcended churchmanship, age, geography, and support for other causes and campaigns.

“We do not need any more top-down vision statements and shiny new diocesan led projects,” Paul Ronson (Blackburn), the treasurer of Together For the Church of England, wrote. “What we need is more full-time, parish-based clergy and staff to serve as the core critical resources in the local communities in which they are physically present.”

“I share much of the frustration of the Save the Parish movement with the frontline cuts, the creation of mega-parishes and the abandonment of the poor,” the Revd Jago Wynne (Southwark), one of the five directors of The Alliance elected, wrote. “There needs to be a reduction in centralised costs to allow for a focus on frontline ministry in parishes up and down the country.”

Read it all.

➡️ Demands for a redirection of the Church Commissioners’ largesse to parish ministry will be widely and strongly voiced in the next quinquennium of the General Synod, election statements from successful candidates suggest #GeneralSynod #ChurchNews https://t.co/zj9qvoEsJ5

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 23, 2026

And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

–Revelation 12:1-6

Glorious cloud formations at sunrise this morning seen from Teddington Footbridge. 28.10.26 @TW11Harbour @Teddington_Town @SallyWeather @itvlondon @Tidal_Thames95 @Visit_Richmond1 @LBRUT @rnli_teddington @ThamesPathNT https://t.co/w3Mux0HHey

— Sue Lindenberg (@patlinberg) October 28, 2026

I have witnessed – and, sadly, continue to witness – that every time a serious case of sexual immorality or abuse committed by a Christian leader comes to light, a familiar scene seems to repeat itself.

First comes the scandal. Then come the explanations, the statements and the requests for forgiveness. After a while, a question begins to be heard: when will he be able to return to ministry?

But whilst we discuss his future, there is another question that is asked far less frequently:

Who is restoring the victims? Who has listened to them? Who has protected their dignity? Who has taken an interest in the emotional, family and spiritual consequences that may accompany them for years to come?

I am concerned that, at times, we are extraordinarily quick to proclaim the restoration of the leader and extraordinarily slow to care for the people who were hurt.

Read it all.

First comes the scandal. Then come the explanations, the statements and the requests for forgiveness. After a while, a question begins to be heard: when will he be able to return to ministry? By Marcos Zapata in Spain: https://t.co/kzVflvk4ZS

— Evangelical Focus (@Evan_Focus) October 26, 2026

The Church of England’s Deputy Lead Bishop for Housing has spoken of the ‘ambition and determination’ needed to break the cycle of homelessness as she attended a special summit on tackling rough sleeping.

The Bishop of Hull, Eleanor Sanderson, joined the Chief Executive of Church Urban Fund, the Rt Rev Rob Wickham, (pictured with Bishop Eleanor, above) and other faith representatives at the Rough Sleeping Summit hosted in Downing Street.

The event brought together businesses, charities, civil society organisations and local leaders, to commit to local and national action to end rough sleeping through the provision of homes, jobs and practical support. 

Ending rough sleeping was the Prime Minister’s first pledge when he entered Downing Street, and he announced a further £432 million yesterday to be set out in the Budget later this week, towards this goal.

Read it all.

“This ministry fosters hope, dignity and a sense of belonging for everyone in our communities.”The Bishop of Hull joined the Chief Executive of Church Urban Fund, the Rt Rev Rob Wickham, at the Rough Sleeping Summit hosted in Downing Street.📰 https://t.co/GxBdeVapv5. https://t.co/k7LUiBns29

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) October 27, 2026

The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying,

“We give thanks to thee, Lord God Almighty, who art and who wast,
that thou hast taken thy great power and begun to reign.
The nations raged, but thy wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
for rewarding thy servants, the prophets and saints,
and those who fear thy name, both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

–Revelation 11:14-19

Guten Morgen zusammen ☕☕☕ https://t.co/GPi6FFnKnl

— Die Kellner’s (@andreas_kellner) October 27, 2026

For Christianity Today to publish such a speculative piece, boosting material that was initially made public with a clear political agenda, seems in tension with the magazine’s own editorial philosophy as of 1970 that it is wrong “to gossip about things of which we are not certain.” According to a new report from Ruth Graham at the New York Times, the erstwhile flagship journal of American evangelicalism has been declining in more ways than one. To its critics, “Elliotgate” is one more sign that the magazine has lost its way, against the chaotic backdrop of mass layoffs and a waning subscriber base. But former deputy editor Bonnie Kristian, who edited Austen’s piece, has defended it as important and conversation-driving. Whatever the article’s merits, the magazine handled the backlash unprofessionally, leaving Austen unaware of the temporary choice to pull it.

Some of that backlash has itself been less than helpful. In a column for WORLD, Denny Burk, president of the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, rightly noted how thin Austen’s evidence is. But he has treated her claim that same-sex attraction isn’t itself a sin as an endorsement of “Side B,” the view that gay Christians should embrace their orientation in various problematic ways while remaining celibate. The two ideas are not the same. One can grant that same-sex attraction is itself not a sin while holding that it is “objectively disordered”: something to be resisted, not adopted as a public “identity” in the manner of modern sexual politics. This conflation has been a persistent blind spot in the evangelical approach to the issue, missing areas of concern for evangelicals and Catholics alike.

Still, Burk’s instinct is not entirely misplaced. Austen says plainly that Elliot’s story “should inform the church’s treatment of Christians who experience same-sex attraction,” and Side B proponent Wesley Hill’s praise for the piece suggests how it is likely to be read. Austen’s remarks seem to gesture beyond simply separating temptation and sin, implying that double standards toward opposite-sex and same-sex attraction are automatically bigoted and normalizing a broader church culture of “coming out of the closet” beyond a close circle of friends and counselors. This is not an especially helpful word for evangelicals, who if anything could benefit from more discretion and less “tell-all” culture when it comes to sexual temptations of any variety.

Read it all.

In The Trouble with Elliotgate, Bethel McGrew examines the controversy surrounding claims about Elisabeth Elliot’s sexuality and Christianity Today’s handling of the resulting article.McGrew critiques the evidence behind the speculation, considers the broader tensions within evangelical debates over same-sex attraction and sexual identity, and questions whether publicizing such uncertain personal claims serves the Church or its readers.To read the piece, visit https://t.co/R5binXKe9Y

— First Things (@firstthingsmag) October 25, 2026

But I am like a green olive tree
    in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
    for ever and ever.
 I will thank thee for ever,
    because thou hast done it.
I will proclaim thy name, for it is good,
    in the presence of the godly.

–Psalm 52:8-9

Red sky in the morning, all over very quickly then the rain arrived. View over Teddington Weir. 26.10.26 @TW11Harbour @Teddington_Town @SallyWeather @itvweather @Tidal_Thames95 @Visit_Richmond1 @LBRUT @Visit_Richmond1 @rnli_teddington @ThamesPathNT https://t.co/r16AM3EoVf

— Sue Lindenberg (@patlinberg) October 26, 2026

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

–Matthew 18:15-20

The old bridge at Piper’s Hole, Newfoundland.I photographed this a few years ago, when the trail was covered in leaves and the trees were showing off their colours. The old bridge has seen better days, but I think that’s part of what makes it interesting.It’s a simple spot, but the fall colours really bring it to life.

— Gord Follett Photography (@gord_follett) October 24, 2026

Therefore let every one who is godly
    offer prayer to thee;
at a time of distress, in the rush of great waters,
    they shall not reach him.
Thou art a hiding place for me,
    thou preservest me from trouble;
    thou dost encompass me with deliverance.Selah

I will instruct you and teach you
    the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
    which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
    else it will not keep with you.

–Psalm 32:6-9

The larch trees adding some color to a rainy day scene at Lake Alva https://t.co/qm8Y9Xpe6l

— Leon Kauffman (@LeonKauffman) October 24, 2026

Christian charities and campaigners have condemned the Government’s approval of the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea. Tearfund and the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) have called for the decision to be reversed.

They emphasised the consequences for communities already suffering from climate change, and urged government ministers to refuse permission for the much larger Rosebank oilfield.

The Government announced on Wednesday that the Energy Secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, had agreed that the regulator could grant consent for gas to be produced at the Jackdaw field. The Labour Party promised in its election manifesto not to issue any licences to explore new oilfields and gas fields, but Jackdaw already held a licence.

Ms Fahnbulleh said on Wednesday: “This decision will support the country’s energy security with home-grown gas this winter and help minimise the UK’s use of imported higher-emission fuels as we continue our transition to renewables and nuclear. The decision is compatible with our legally binding climate commitments, and we remain resolute in ending new licences for oil and gas and achieving net zero by 2050.”

Read it all.

Christian charities and campaigners have condemned the Government’s approval of the Jackdaw gas field 🌊 in the North Sea #ChurchTimes #ChurchNews https://t.co/mcw9bY1Jnn

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 23, 2026

Blessed be the Lord,
    for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
    when I was beset as in a besieged city.
I had said in my alarm,
    “I am driven far from thy sight.”
But thou didst hear my supplications,
    when I cried to thee for help.

Love the Lord, all you his saints!
    The Lord preserves the faithful,
    but abundantly requites him who acts haughtily.
Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
    all you who wait for the Lord!

–Psalm 31:23-24

Der Tag beginnt magisch 🧚🏻‍♂️🔮 Guten Morgen ☕️✨ https://t.co/PSA8wci2gb

— Fusseltroll (@fusseltroll) October 23, 2026

The Bishop of Leicester is seeking to ban election materials containing a picture of a religious building that “suggests a close connection” between a candidate and the place of worship or the religion associated with it. 

Rt Rev Martyn Snow has tabled the amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, which refers to the use of churches or other religious buildings to imply endorsement. The proposals and briefing documents do not single out a particular party.

On the Faith in the Public Square Substack, the bishop and social policy advisor Florence Gildea said in recent years there had been “more leaflets – of all colours: red, yellow, blue and turquoise – with candidates posing in front of church buildings”.

They set out concerns about compliance with charity law, of churches being seen to endorse parties or candidates, as well as how church leaders or congregations will often only know images had been used “when a leaflet drops on the floor, leaving no means of recourse”.

The article highlighted the principle of elected politicians representing all their constituents, akin to the parish priest having a duty of spiritual care to all parishioners; not giving “the impression that they are aligned with a particular religion and that followers of that faith could expect to receive preferential treatment if the candidate were elected”.

Read it all.

An amendment banning the publication of election material containing a picture of a religious building that “suggests a close connection” between the candidate and the building — or the religion associated with it — has been tabled by Bishop of Leicesterhttps://t.co/KXQlWrGsRP

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) October 19, 2026

Last year, leaders of the evangelical publication Christianity Today summoned the entire staff to a hotel ballroom in the Chicago suburbs for a meeting about their future.

The publication’s chief operating officer, Nicole Massie Martin, opened her presentation with a Bible verse from the Old Testament about rejoicing even in dark times, “though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food.” Then Thomas Addington, the interim president, delivered a blunt message: Christianity Today’s reputation as a staid voice of intellectual centrist evangelicalism — embodied by its proximity to Wheaton College in Illinois — had to change.

Christianity Today needed to be less like Wheaton and more like TikTok, Mr. Addington told his staff, according to several people who attended the meeting. Warning that layoffs were coming, he ended his presentation with a prayer. A senior editor left the room in tears.

Fourteen months later, more than half of the 79 employees at that time have either been laid off or resigned, including an editor in chief and four of the company’s longest-tenured journalists.

Read it all.

Christianity Today has seen about half its staff quit or laid off in the last 14 mos. Former employees told me that new business leaders have intervened in editorial decisions & are effectively abandoning the outlet’s commitment to independent journalism. https://t.co/Q4Iy7v5mQB

— Ruth Graham (@publicroad) October 21, 2026

Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so you will dwell in the land, and enjoy security.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.

–Psalm 37:3-5

Pretty Autumn Vibes are in the air! 🍂🍂🍂 https://t.co/VX4o53OLN6

— Cloudymamma (@cloudymamma) October 22, 2026