Assisted dying bill passes by 23 votes
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 20 Jun 2025
MPs have narrowly voted in favour of the assisted dying bill, paving the way for the terminally ill in England and Wales to choose assisted dying. But a Labour peer has reportedly claimed some MPs admitted that while unhappy with the bill, they would vote it through and leave it to the Lords for thorough scrutiny.
The bill was passed with a majority of just 23, slashing the majority of 55 at the first vote last November by almost half. Since then, several amendments that would have increased safeguards within the bill have been rejected.
St Ebbe’s safeguarding review commissioned
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 20 Jun 2025
An independent review into past and present safeguarding culture and practice at St Ebbe’s Church, Oxford has been commissioned following allegations against the late David Fletcher.
Fletcher was rector from 1986 until 1998, after which he remained at the church until he died in 2022. The allegations, including sexual assault and coercion, first came to light in February this year and more women have come forward since.
Belfast school students see God move
Milla Ling-Davies
Date posted: 19 Jun 2025
A high school in Belfast has seen a wave of students start exploring Christianity and come to faith – their Christian Union (CU) growing by over 100 people in the last year alone.
Belfast High CU (BHCU) has existed for over 30 years, and nine years ago there were just over 20 attendees. There has been steady growth and encouragements in the years since, until this year the CU jumped from 60 people meeting weekly in a lecture theatre to over 160 in the larger assembly hall.
Landmark win for Darlington Nurses
en staff
Date posted: 19 Jun 2025
Eight pioneering nurses who formed their own union to defend the rights of women “have won a landmark battle for a female-only changing room,” website dailymail.co.uk reports.
“The Darlington nurses launched a legal action saying transgender policies put them at risk, deprived them of dignity and breached their human rights,” according to the Daily Mail.
400 women gather to celebrate God’s mercy
Jenny Rees
Date posted: 18 Jun 2025
This June, 400 women from different churches across the South East came together to consider how there is "None greater" than God in a world full of injustice.
Taking place on Saturday 7 June at All Saints Church, Crowborough, and organised by the Southern Women’s Convention, the women who came enjoyed a wonderful day of teaching, seminars, praise, and prayer.
Home Office accused of ‘pro-Islam’ bias
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 18 Jun 2025
The Home Office has been accused of pro-Islam bias after a Christian woman was granted asylum following a lengthy legal battle.
The Christian Legal Centre said ‘Maria’ fled Islamic persecution to seek asylum in the UK but faced Home Office resistance. According to the CLC, she risked abduction, forced conversion to Islam and possible death if she returned to her country of origin.
Final vote looms on Assisted Suicide
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 16 Jun 2025
A final vote on the assisted dying bill has been delayed until at least 20 June.
Pro-assisted dying MP Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) accused other parliamentarians of “deliberately hanging about in the lobbies to delay the process” as the latest day of debate closed.
Students re-envisioned for evangelism through The Send
Thomas McBride
Date posted: 14 Jun 2025
UCCF recently partnered with The Send, a campaign that seeks to "activate believers to live a missional lifestyle by adopting and reaching real mission fields at home and abroad".
Through evenings of worship, prayer and praise, The Send encourages young people to pray for revival in our nation, something that is also deeply rooted within the ethos of UCCF.
Decriminalising abortion ‘profoundly irresponsible’
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 13 Jun 2025
Decriminalising abortion would be “profoundly irresponsible”, an MP warns, days before Parliament are expected to vote on the issue.
Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi has tabled the amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill completely removing women from the criminal law relating to the abortion of their own pregnancies.
'Heartfelt plea' for an Archbishop who upholds Anglican faith
Helen Catt
Date posted: 13 Jun 2025
The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) has urged the Church of England to appoint someone who upholds the orthodox Anglican faith and not to marginalise orthodox voices in the Anglican Communion in the process, as it seeks to appoint the next Archbishop of Canterbury.
The GSFA has sent an open letter to Lord Evans, chair of the Crown Nominations Commission for the next Archbishop of Canterbury, urging that the next Archbishop of Canterbury should be someone who will uphold the orthodox Anglican faith "shared by the great majority of global Anglicans".
letter from Dublin
Republic of Ireland housing crisis impacts churches
Lois McCrea
Date posted: 9 Jun 2025
The housing crisis in the Republic of Ireland is worsening. There are currently 15,378 people (including 4,653 children) living in emergency homeless accommodation, which is the highest number on record. There are also many people unaccounted for in the homeless figures including single men sleeping rough, who are often the last group prioritised for emergency accommodation. Christian charities and food banks are doing phenomenal work across the country, especially in the main cities.
For those in a position to buy a house, the number of homes available for sale is at a record low and the shortage of properties available to buy, and also to rent, means that those who are able to secure a property have high mortgage repayments or are paying large amounts in rent.
‘But for here, I’d be dying of a broken heart’: help for rough sleepers
Rebekah Carter
Date posted: 6 Jun 2025
A Christian beacon of hope for rough sleepers and homeless people which helps more than 10,000 people a year has a fresh lease of life after renovation work.
Webber Street, London City Mission’s (LCM) Day Centre has been at the forefront of offering practical care and compassion with gospel hope for more than 60 years.
Evangelical leaders face CofE discipline
en staff
Date posted: 5 Jun 2025
Prominent evangelical church leaders are among those facing disciplinary action after the Makin Review, the Church of England says.
Makin's report looked into abuse carried out by late QC John Smyth, and examined questions of who knew about it at different times, and what action they did or did not take.
Popular sermon website censored by Facebook
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 4 Jun 2025
Popular website SermonAudio, which hosts broadcasters, speakers and sermons from conservative Bible-believing Christians, has effectively been censored by Facebook.
Thousands of links to the website were purged from individual and church accounts across the UK, US and elsewhere in early May.
Dismay over John Knox successor
Luke Randall
Date posted: 3 Jun 2025
Evangelicals in Scotland have expressed disappointment following the Church of Scotland’s (CofS) “tragic” appointment of Scott Rennie as the minister of St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.
Rennie, who is married to a man, will now preach from Scotland’s most famous pulpit, once occupied by John Knox, who spearheaded the Scottish Reformation.
'All Together Catechism': Q&As for the whole church
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 2 Jun 2025
Since the early days of Christianity, churches have used catechisms to teach and recall foundational truths from Scripture.
Now, following this tradition, Tim Hayward of Deeside Christian Fellowship Church in Aberdeen, has created the inclusive “All Together Catechism” to support churches in teaching and enjoying God’s truth “all together.”
Four churches planted and another in the works
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 2 Jun 2025
Since 2007, Reach South has planted four churches in the south of England, and now another is planned to launch in Chichester this summer.
Reach South, a collection of Fellowship of Independent Evangelical (FIEC) churches, is committed to reaching Hampshire and its surrounding counties with the gospel by strengthening, equipping and planting evangelical churches in the region.
Jewish roots attract growing interest
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 2 Jun 2025
A growing number of Christians are signing up to a programme committed to helping its students learn more about the Jewish roots of their faith.
The Church’s Ministry among Jewish People (CMJ) has launched “Torah Plus” – a programme focused on teaching how what is written in the first five books of the Bible (the Torah, or Pentateuch) is perfectly fulfilled in Jesus (or Yeshua), and exploring the Hebraic roots of Christianity.
