UK & Ireland in Brief

The Severe Foetal Impairment Abortion (Amendment) Bill has passed its second stage at the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Disability rights campaigner, Heidi Crowter, who has Down’s syndrome, had told the Health Committee of the assembly: ‘The law … tells me and other people with Down’s syndrome that we are worth less than those without disabilities. That is why I want … the laws to be fairer.’

As en went to press the Bill was progressing to its next stage.

Urban Saints – formerly the Crusader movement – has announced that Anthony Horton (Ant) has been appointed as new Chief Mission Officer.

Urban Saints says its mission is ‘to make young disciples for Jesus’. The organisation currently serves over 1,500 youth and children’s groups – as well as running camps and overseas discipleship programmes.

A coalition of Christians has urged the Secretary of State for Education to postpone this year’s planned implementation of Relationships and Sex Education.

The plea came in a letter by Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali on behalf of the constituent bodies of the Christian Coalition For Education (CCFE).

FIEC National Director John Stevens and other church leaders have held another meeting with Lord Greenhalgh, the government minister responsible for regulations regarding churches meeting in the post-lockdown period.

Afterwards, Stevens stated: ‘The minister has raised the issue of congregational singing with Public Health England, which remains very cautious due to the risk of aerosol transmission where large numbers sing together in an enclosed space. The guidance strongly advising against congregational singing is not going to change in the immediate future. The goal is that the guidance might be removed when Step 4 of the roadmap is implemented (21 June), but that is not guaranteed.’

Complainants who assert that Anglican evangelical group Church Society (CS) has been involved in bullying and anti-Semitism say they are dissatisfied with an inquiry being offered to investigate their concerns.

Responding to a CS statement (see en March), Kate Andreyev, Nick Howard and James Mendelsohn say that ‘the format proposed by Church Society fails to meet some of the most basic criteria of genuinely independent investigations’. Their concerns are set out in a letter to Evangelicals Now which can be read on page 7.

The Evangelical Alliance has released Lament, which it describes as ‘a spoken-word film addressing the grief caused by Covid-19’. The video is written and performed by author and evangelist Phil Knox.

The EA says the film has been ‘produced with the aim of supporting the UK church in addressing the grief and challenges caused by the pandemic, and in sharing the message of hope found in Jesus Christ’.

Knox, who is also EA head of mission to young adults, said: ‘This last year has been so tough. On a personal level, two close family members have died’.

Evangelical leaders are involved in a new initiative to help bring hope through local churches to some of the UK’s most deprived communities.

The ‘YourNeighbour’ initiative seeks to channel funds and resources to areas with the most need, and is an initiative of the Good Faith Foundation. Its advisory board includes Peter Lynas, UK director of the Evangelical Alliance, Dr Shola Adeaga of the Jesus House, and Stuart McCulloch of Stewardship. ‘Together with local churches we can transform our communities with the hope of Jesus,’ the organisers say.

The Evangelical Movement of Wales (EMW) has held a week-long ‘call to prayer’.

It stated: ‘Our only hope in this life, and the next, is our great and glorious God – the Father who loved us in eternity and who gave His Son to die for us, the Son who humbled Himself to death on the cross and who now reigns victorious, and the Spirit who is with us constantly guiding, disciplining, and loving us. ‘This is the basis of our call to prayer this year. There are so many needs in Wales both within and outside the church, but what we need more than anything is to be reminded of our God.’