These articles were first published in our March edition of the newspaper, click here for more.
The Fellowship of Word and Spirit conference took place in late January.
Bible readings were from Johnny Juckes on the opening chapters of 1 Samuel, and from Dave Walker, Jason Ward, and Geoffrey Firth about the missio Dei from the perspectives of God, the world and the church. It was a great encouragement for so many people, patiently and faithfully serving the Lord in the churches where he has placed them, to join together in prayer at many times during the three days.
The Welsh Government’s consultation on proposals to make it a criminal offence for parents to smack their child closes on 2 April.
A former Children’s Minister admitted that such legislation could lead to a prosecution for forcefully lifting a child up, as the parent could be guilty of ‘battery’. This is despite it being said in the Senedd (National Assembly) in June 2016 that the move wasn’t about ‘legislation to crim-inalise parents’. https://consultations.gov. wales/consultations/legislative-proposal-remove-defence-reasonable-punishment
An online platform dedicated to providing mission resources was launched in late January.
The new Resource Hub platform is for church leaders, small groups and individual Christians, and will provide, free of charge, a wide selection of tools and resources designed to inspire and inform Christians about mission and increase the number of people getting involved in mission.
The Moderator-designate for the 2018 General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) is the Revd David Blunt, Minister of the Free Church of
Scotland (Continuing) of North Uist and Grimsay.
Whilst at University in Wales and then Scotland, he found the evolutionary account of man’s origin inadequate, so he read the Bible: he was saved in 1983. He was an evangelist and church planter in Aberdeen before moving to the Western Isles.
The deadline for writing a Hymn of Peace to mark Armistice Day is 6 April.
The winning entry will be sung at Remembrance Services and throughout this centenary year. It can consist of words alone or include music, and should be congregation-ally singable. The competition is open to all UK hymn writers, published or unpublished, and entries will be judged anonymously. The judging panel includes Anne Harrison, Noël Tredinnick and Martin Leckebusch.
The 25th anniversary of the Reach Programme was celebrated with a ‘powerful and moving’ reunion of former Reach volunteers and Reach supervisors, on 13 January at the Hayes Christian Conference Centre in Derbyshire.
Stories, including video messages from around the world, were shared, reminding people of God’s work through the Reach Programme, now and in the past. An organiser said that alumni ‘are shining like stars as they hold out the word of life’ to people.
A Bill designed to afford better protections for medical professionals who conscientiously object to abortion passed its second reading in the House of Lords on 25 January.
The Bill was described as ‘important and timely’. Seeking to ensure rights for all medics, it moved to the Committee Stage in the House of Lords. Since it is a Private Member’s Bill, it is not expected to pass.