These articles were first published in our July edition of the newspaper, click here for more.
Bethel Presbyterian Church (EPCEW) in Cardiff have extended a call to Mark Johnston to become their next minister.
Mark and his wife Fiona had to leave a pastorate in America due to the US authorities being unwilling to allow their daughter to stay with them.
Mark said: ‘It has been a long and often perplexing eight months since our departure, but we are glad that we now know where we are going next and are looking forward to a new challenge’.
Children in Church of England schools could be given sex education materials provided by gay rights groups, according to new guidance launched by the Archbishop of Canterbury, it was reported in mid-May.
Critics have raised concerns that within the 72-page guidance, produced by the CofE, Stonewall is mentioned more than Jesus Christ. The guidance is entitled ‘Valuing All God’s Children’. The Archbishop said: ‘No sense of something being right or wrong justifies another wrong’.
On June 4, the Board of Trustees of Barnabas Aid International released a statement expressing its full support for its International Director, Dr Patrick Sookhdeo.
The statement said: ‘The allegations brought against him in February 2014 have been thoroughly investigated by an internal grievance procedure of Barnabas Fund UK, whose final findings, dated May 29 2014, did not uphold any of the allegations of sexual harassment. As a result, Dr Sookhdeo has returned from his sabbatical and we welcome him as he resumes his post as International Director full-time.
Grace Edinburgh are thanking God for his help and favour during their week of evangelism during the Spring.
10,000 homes were reached in tract distribution. 600 gospels were distributed by hand. Hundreds of homes were visited and around 100 people had lengthy gospel conversations. Over 20 visitors came to church services and some have continued to stay in touch.
The Telegraph has reported that the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is to issue new guidance which makes it clear that sex-selective abortion is unacceptable and illegal, it was reported in late May.
The guidance will close a loophole in the Abortion Act which has made it difficult to bring charges against doctors who have carried out abortions based on gender and pre-signed abortion forms without consulting with the patients.
An online petition asking people to resist the legalisation of assisted suicide in the UK was launched in May by Not Dead Yet UK, a network of disabled people in the UK opposing the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Signing up to the online petition will help fight against Lord Falconer's forthcoming Private Members Bill which Not Dead Yet fear will begin to open the door to state sanctioned assisted dying.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Association has published a report on the progress toward three-parent babies saying that in 18 – 24 months they should be ready to start trials.
The New Scientist, in reviewing the news, argued that, since the evidence for safety is lacking and women trialling the techniques could be put at risk, the only clear motive for hurriedly changing the law would be to position the UK at the frontier of scientific research on mitochondrial disease.
A network which plans to provide safe refuge for those who face ostracism or danger as a result of converting from Islam to the Christian faith is to be launched in the Autumn.
The network, provisionally named ‘Converts to Jesus’, will be chaired by Nissar Hussain who himself is a convert from Islam. He has been shunned by his family and been labelled a ‘Christian Jew dog’. His car has been torched and an empty property next to his home set alight.