Few of us imagined that the Ukrainian resistance would last long against the feared might of the Russian army. Memories were stirred of the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940 when the vastly outnumbered Dutch army resisted for four days before surrendering on May 14, immediately after Hitler’s ruthless blitzkrieg destroyed the historic heart of Rotterdam.
Two years after Russia invaded Ukraine, families in the country are desperate and looking to the Church for support, putting clergy under huge pressure.
On January 31 in London, a young woman and her child were attacked with acid by an asylum seeker from Afghanistan. He was granted asylum status after a local priest supported his testimony of conversion to the Christian faith. Some British politicians have responded by accusing churches of helping migrants avoid deportation by deliberately fast-tracking conversions.
The Future of Church Safeguarding, by Professor Alexis Jay, former Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), identified "shortcomings" with current safeguarding arrangements, including a lack of independent scrutiny and trust between the Church and victims.
A math teacher banned from teaching by the U.K. Education Secretary for saying, “Well done, girls,” to a group of students that included one who identified as a boy is appealing the ruling at the High Court.
A school employee fired for social media posts opposing LGBTQ+ materials in class has won the right to take her dismissal to the U.K. Court of Appeal.
The bruised body of a Ukrainian priest who was detained by Russian occupation forces turned up on a village street on Thursday (Feb. 15), with an unconfirmed report of a bullet wound to the head, according to watchdog group Forum 18.
An organisation supporting Ukrainians who fled to the UK after the outbreak of war with Russia is appealing to the UK government to give them more ways to stay long-term. The government recently announced a visa extension programme for Ukrainians, but it only offers an extra 18 months.
A campaign has been launched to protect religious programmes from potential cuts in a new Media Bill going through Parliament. The Sandford St Martin Trust has published its #BeliefMatters petition – timed to coincide with the passage of the government's Media Bill to the House of Lords – and has encouraged anyone concerned about the threat to religious broadcasting to sign it.
“The state of orphans and vulnerable children was improving for decades, then suddenly one crisis hit after another,” says Karmen Friesen, principal coordinator of World Without Orphans (WWO), a global movement that seeks to mobilize the Church to respond to the needs of vulnerable children in every nation.
While praying for Ukraine this week in a zoom connection with YWAM colleagues, I remembered a story once told by the late Argentinian-born evangelist Luis Palau.
In an interview with Christian Daily International, Mark Arnold - also known as the additional needs blogfather - shares valuable insights into what it means for churches to provide a welcoming environment for children with special needs. “Jesus spent a disproportionate amount of time with people who today we would say had additional needs, and he teaches us important things in many of these encounters,” he says.
