News

Before our Saviour Jesus Christ left us to return to heaven, He gave His holy apostles His final orders. “Go out therefore and make disciples in every nation, baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (St. Matthew 28, vv. 19-20) It is worth pondering over these words far more closely.

Before our Saviour Jesus Christ left us to return to heaven, He gave His holy apostles His final orders. “Go out therefore and make disciples in every nation, baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (St. Matthew 28, vv. 19-20) It is worth pondering over these words far more closely.

Even a cursory glance at the jobs page of the Church Times will show that single church benefices are increasingly difficult to find.  Most parishes in the countryside, and increasingly in the inner-city too, are being clustered into groups, which may look very appealing on a map, but turn out to be pastoral nightmares. 

Are ecclesiastical robes a valuable element in our Anglican tradition or are they just expensive trappings that appeal to a particular class of people and can be safely discarded in this busy modern world?

The phoney War is finally over. General Synod have made their decision. There can no longer be any doubt about the direction of travel. By a large majority in the House of Bishops and by the slimmest of majorities in the Houses of Clergy and Laity, the Church of England has voted to continue its journey away from Scripture – and therefore, by implication, away from our heavenly King and the establishment of His Kingdom.

The coming General Election will be a tricky one for us Christians.  The general public will probably do what it seems to have done most often in modern times – vote for change, without knowing precisely where change will lead them, either as individuals or as a society. 

It is getting increasingly difficult to be a real Christian in today’s unbelieving world. Everywhere, even within the Church of God, there are constant temptations to sit lightly to what the Lord has taught us in His holy Word, and especially what He has taught us by the words and example of the Son of God Himself and by His holy Apostles in the years immediately following His resurrection.

There has been much public comment recently about the Church of England’s willingness to accept the bona fides of immigrants who claim to have become Christians after arriving in the UK. Many journalists have assumed that they have done so to expedite their claim to asylum.

The negative reaction to the gay blessings decision by the English House of Bishops on the part of orthodox Evangelical Anglicans has been entirely predictable...