These articles were first published in our August edition of the newspaper, click here for more.
Christian Witness to Israel, the international mission to the Jewish people, which was founded in 1842, has appointed Joseph Steinberg as its new Chief Executive Officer from July 1.
Joseph grew up in a Jewish home in the USA and as a teenager, after searching the Old Testament scriptures, became convinced that Jesus was the promised Messiah.
In late June, the UK’s highest court dismissed an appeal to allow doctors to assist in suicides.
The case involved the family of Tony Nicklinson – who died in 2012 and could only communicate by blinking and nodding – and Paul Lamb, who is paralysed, and another man who wanted to travel abroad to die in a Dignitas clinic. Judges ruled 7-2 to reject their appeal, with Lord Sumption noting that legalising assisted suicide ‘would be followed by its progressive normalisation, among the very old or very ill’.
It was announced at the end of June that the first Church of England clergyman to enter a same sex marriage has been told he can no longer conduct services.
Canon Jeremy Pemberton, a divorced father of five, and his partner Laurence Cunnington had a same sex wedding ceremony in April against official Church of England guidance. Canon Pemberton can no longer officiate at services in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, but he continues to be a chaplain to hospitals in Lincoln.
Marie Stopes International is due to receive £41.5 million in non-core funding over 2014 /15, it was revealed in answer to a question by Baroness Tonge to the Government in late June.
Other pro-choice organisations across the world receive smaller amounts, but the Department For International Development (DFID) provided £100m to the United Nations Population Fund in the previous financial year.
Wycliffe Bible Translators announced in June the appointment of the Revd James Poole as the next Executive Director of the organisation in the UK.
Poole has worked in cross-cultural mission for the past 10 years, and is currently on the staff of St Andrew the Great in Cambridge, where he is Associate Vicar for Internationals. He previously served as a mission partner in
In response to a written parliamentary question in June, it was revealed that the number of women who have died within one month following a legal abortion has risen from just one woman in 1985, to 20 women in 2006-08.
Public Health Minister, Jane Ellison MP stated that the cause of death recorded on death certificates for women who died after an abortion is not reviewed by the Department of Health.
July saw the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Farnham-based Cleaford Christian Trust.
Since starting to work in Romania, the Trust has raised over £1 million from its supporters. Support has come from local churches, schools and many individual donors. Some supporters heard about the work when the Trust’s chairman, Angus Cleaver, was a broadcaster on Southern Counties Radio on Sunday mornings.