Amid cuts to statutory services, churches are well placed to serve as early responders to families in need, “before thresholds are met, before trust is broken, and before families reach breaking point”, a new report says.

The report, More than Sundays, was produced by the Children and Families Alliance, comprising three Christian charities working with vulnerable children and families: Safe Families and Home for Good (Features, 27 March 2023); Transforming Lives for Good (News, 27 August 2021); and Kids Matter (Features, 27 September 2019).

It describes the current landscape for early intervention. Local-authority spending on this fell by 46 per cent in real terms between 2010-11 and 2021-22, according to a study by Pro Bono Economics. In contrast, spending on “late intervention”, such as youth justice and children in care rose by 47 per cent over the same period, making up four-fifths of spending on children’s services.

“This shift is not just fiscal,” the report says. “It reflects a fundamental transformation in how the system operates . . . locking councils into a reactive mode that responds only once harm has occurred.”

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The report, More than Sundays, was produced by the Children and Families Alliance, comprising three Christian charities working with vulnerable children and families: #SafeFamilies and #HomeforGood; @Tlg_org; and @KidsMatterUK

Read more 👇https://t.co/lIIHaLqOwl

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 24, 2025

US debt investors have raised the alarm over lax lending standards in credit markets after the unravelling of two companies that just weeks ago were deemed to be in strong health.

The failure of subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings at the start of this month followed by the exploration of bankruptcy proceedings by car parts supplier First Brands Group have wrongfooted investors. Tricolor had won pristine triple-A ratings as it borrowed in credit markets, while First Brands may have amassed as much as $10bn in debt and off-balance sheet financing and was close to raising even more last month.

Investors were ready to dismiss each as one-off incidents, but taken together, the two offer signs of cracks within credit markets, which have become a critical source of funding for consumers and businesses as traditional banks have retreated since the financial crisis.

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US debt investors have raised the alarm over lax lending standards in credit markets after the unravelling of subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings and car parts supplier First Brands Group that just weeks ago were deemed to be in strong health. https://t.co/42lt425W6Y pic.twitter.com/MIgeF7QhsF

— Financial Times (@FT) September 24, 2025

But today conservative Christians are eager to tell a different story, and Charlie Kirk’s memorial service on Sunday — a gathering of political figures where politics was subordinated to preaching, culminating in Erika Kirk’s extraordinarily moving message of forgiveness for her husband’s killer — was a stage for a narrative of revival, recovery, conversion, Christian strength.

Trump was there, of course, and still very much his un-Christian self. (His off-script comments about his inability to feel anything but hatred for his own enemies were funny in the Trumpian way, but also plainly true.) But the idea that the future belongs to a post-Christian right, a subject we’ve considered in this newsletter, seemed not just absent but almost absurd, as the leaders of the Republican Party lined up for a memorial that doubled as an evangelical revival, complete with altar calls.

Religious history invites us to expect the unexpected, and there’s no reason to rule out a future where Kirk’s martyrdom provides the impetus for a genuine revival. The story of the last five years, at least in my reading of the religious tea leaves, is one of secularization arrested, and a culture reconsidering religion — but not yet becoming notably more religious. That’s an equilibrium that could be tipped by dramatic events or examples, and to the extent that Kirk is remembered and emulated primarily for his faith, maybe we’ve just seen a tipping point.

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Christianity After Charlie Kirk:https://t.co/BDyr2lTfW0

— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) September 23, 2025

Loving God, who didst call Anna Alexander as a deaconess in thy church: Grant unto us the wisdom to teach the gospel of Christ to whomever we meet, by word and by example, that all may come to the enlightenment thou dost intend for thy people; through Jesus Christ, our Teacher and Savior. Amen.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Anna Ellison Butler Alexander, Educator and First African-American Deaconess, 1947 https://t.co/inGI4Lb1mB pic.twitter.com/SeGiXEJ5rI

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) September 24, 2021

O Eternal Lord God, without whose aid we cannot do the things that we would: Look mercifully upon the waywardness of our hearts, and strengthen us against evil; that as citizens of thy holy kingdom we may walk henceforth in the power of the Spirit, and bring forth fruit to thy glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Good Morning All…

My Wednesday sunrise over the Moray Firth 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 pic.twitter.com/wmVH9ATJVE

— Cloudymamma (@cloudymamma) September 24, 2025

“You have heard that it was said, ”˜An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you.

“You have heard that it was said, ”˜You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

–Matthew 5:38-48

Exurge, glōria mea, exurge — “Awake, my glory, awake” pic.twitter.com/EcxLQjHu9s

— Learn Latin (@latinedisce) September 23, 2025