These articles were first published in our June edition of the newspaper, click here for more.
WEST teamed up with the North West Partnership in April so that students will be able to study together for the Graduate Diploma and Masters-level degree programmes at the centre in Liverpool.
Jonathan Stephen, principal of WEST, said: ‘This is a highly significant development for WEST, as we continue to fulfil our commitment to “bringing the academy into missional church”’.
Married couples should be able to get ‘over the counter’ divorces at register offices and avoid judicial supervision, the most senior family judge in England and Wales suggested in early May.
Sir James Munby also called for cohabiting couples to have similar legal protections to those who are married. Speaking to judges and lawyers in London, Munby also called for divorces to be fault-free, essentially meaning that neither party takes responsibility for ending the marriage.
Christians are afforded less protection for their beliefs by the state compared to those who practise other religions, suggests a late April survey.
Of the 2000 people surveyed exclusively for The Telegraph, nearly half thought British believers had less protection. This figure rises to 62% among those who identify as non-practising Christians. The poll also reveals that 56% see Britain as a Christian country.
The Northern Ireland Assembly rejected gay marriage by an outright majority for the third time on April 29.
Assembly members voted 51 to 43 against redefining marriage at Stormont. Pro-traditional marriage campaigners say those pushing for a change should ‘take the hint’. The private member’s motion in support of same sex marriage was tabled by six members from the Alliance, Sinn Fein and the Green parties, and called on the Minister of Finance and Personnel to introduce gay marriage legislation.
On April 12, a Church of England clergyman became the first to enter a same sex marriage, going against official guidance which says clergy need to ‘model the Church’s teaching in their lives’.
Canon Jeremy Pemberton, a father of five, and his partner Laurence Cunnington had the ceremony in a hotel. Reform called for ‘clear discipline’ on the issue, saying anything else would make the CofE’s official position look hollow.
Monthly evangelistic outreach newspaper Good News sold almost 1,000,000 copies in the UK last year, showing this evangelistic tool is bucking the trend for digital media, it was reported in mid-April.
Used by all denominations across the country, the full-colour tabloid-style paper features the testimonies of both celebrity and ‘ordinary’ Christians.
It was announced in mid-April that Paul Yeulett has accepted the call to the pastorate of Grove Chapel, Camberwell, London.
Currently at Shrewsbury Evangelical Church, formerly a teacher in the North East, Paul plans is due to take up the role in September. The church has been without a minister for three and a half years.
A study reported in mid-April has shown that smoking cannabis can alter the brain.
Young people who smoke the drug at least once a week were found to have changes in parts of the brain involved in emotion and motivation. Older studies looking at heavier use link cannabis and schizophrenia. In Britain, some 10 million people have used illegal drugs of which cannabis is the most popular.