UK & Ireland in Brief

Storms north of Scotland caused delays to the Logos Hope’s arrival in Cardiff. The ship – a floating bookfair and ministry hub – was touring the UK and has seen around 50,000 visitors so far. “For the safety of the crew members”, the captain decided to postpone the ship’s departure from the Faroe Islands (located between Scotland and Iceland in the Northeast Atlantic).

The UK branch of Operation Mobilisation (OM), the organisation behind the ship, issued an apology, stating that some of the Logos Hope’s onboard events and ship tour programme would be affected by the delay.

Lydia Houghton

Franklin Graham, American missionary and son of renowned evangelist Billy Graham, is bringing his evangelistic “God Loves You” tour to Manchester.

It is expected that 600 churches across the region will prepare for the event in the Co-op Live arena, according to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). “I couldn’t be more excited to preach in Manchester,” Graham said. “This is an incredible city, and it is a privilege to return to the place where my father preached 65 years ago.”

Milla Ling-Davies

A new congregation has just been planted in the town of Burnley by members of Martin Top Chapel near Rimington in the Ribble Valley.

It meets regularly at the CVS Building on Yorkshire Street on Sundays at 3pm. At its inauguration, the Pastor of Martin Top Chapel, Alan Marsden, preached on the first chapter of the book of Nehemiah, concerning the broken walls and ruined gates of Jerusalem. Between 20-30 gather weekly for prayer, worship and the preaching of God’s Word.

Alan Marsden

Big Brother Watch (BBW) has called on the Government to commission an independent review of laws affecting free speech.

According to an investigation by the campaign group, more than 62,000 people were arrested for offences under “vaguely defined” communications legislation between 2021–25, resulting in only 12,292 convictions. In a letter to Andy Burnham, BBW warned that factors including “excessively broad” speech offences and “poorly drafted” online safety laws were leading to thousands of unnecessary arrests and fuelling a “free speech crisis”.

The Christian Institute

An Australian man with pancreatic cancer, given just a few weeks to live four years ago, is now looking forward to married life with his new wife.

Stephanus, 54, and Esthee, 47, celebrated their wedding on 5 September in Victoria, Australia. Following his initial prognosis in 2022, Stephanus would have been eligible to seek medical help to kill himself under the State’s assisted suicide law. Last year, he travelled to the UK to petition MPs to vote against Kim Leadbeater MP’s Bill. He warned them of the uncertainty surrounding terminal diagnoses, and how he would have missed out on years of life had he chosen to die.

The Christian Institute

A 10-year-old boy has completed an amazing fundraising challenge for international aid and development charity Tearfund and raised over £2,500.

Judah Peake, from Macclesfield, set himself a challenge to do 1,000 press ups in the space of a month. So committed was Judah to the challenge that he even did some press-ups when the family reached the summit of Snowdon during a hike. The family were at a Christian festival when they started chatting about ways they could help people in need. They discussed the Venezuela earthquake and Judah decided he wanted to fundraise for Tearfund.

Judah said: “I chose Tearfund because they are helping people in countries with disasters, conflict and extreme poverty. Our church also works with them and I also wanted to help. I chose to do 1,000 push-ups because it sounded really, really hard, I couldn’t really do them at first but each day as I did more it got slightly easier.”

Tearfund

Meta, parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp, has agreed to pay up to $18 billion (over £13 billion) to settle a lawsuit which claimed their social media platforms harmed children.

In a surprise move, Meta agreed to the settlement mid-trial which will be paid to 48 US states, three US territories, and the District of Columbia. It marks the largest payment for a social media company over child safety concerns. Meta denies any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, claiming in testimony for the trial: “We’re always working on teen safety”.

CARE

More than 10,000 pro-lifers marched through Westminster, facing an unusually robust counter-protest.

Marching under the theme “abortion hurts the family”, many evangelicals were among those heading towards Parliament Square, alongside a vocal pro-choice presence. “There was more opposition visible on the day than we have seen previously, but I don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing… It’s an indication abortion is becoming more of a live public issue,” Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, co-CEO of March for Life UK, told en.

Milla Ling-Davies

The Liberal Democrats are launching an “Inclusion and Faith Review”, according to a leaked email reported online.

“As a party, we reject all discrimination and prejudice based on religion or belief and ... respect the right to freedom of conscience,” party leader Sir Ed Davey is reported as writing in the message, published on website Liberalvoices.org. The review, designed to ensure the party lives up to that standard, comes after the party admitted it unlawfully discriminated against committed Christian David Campanale on the basis of his religious beliefs when he was stopped from standing in the Sutton and Cheam constituency in 2024.

en staff