Displaying items by tag: online

‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ (Acts 1.8, ESV) Believers today have the same gift of the Holy Spirit that was given in Acts 2, and no matter how stony the ground might appear to be, we have the power to witness to others about ‘the mighty works of God’. This is a gift we have as individuals and as a body of believers, the Church. Pentecost is often described as the birthday of the Church. This year, via the internet, over 46,000 Christians united from different church traditions, different languages and races, standing together as God's people to celebrate Pentecost and asking for a fresh outpouring of His Spirit upon the church, our families, our communities and Nations. The event was saved on YouTube; click the ‘More’ button to view and engage with what God is doing today.

As the cold lockdown season comes to an end, the church will have opportunities to attend online conferences to connect with God and each other as well as hear from encouraging speakers. New Wine has created a digital journal to accompany its programme, and from 1 March is releasing a thought for the day from different New Wine leaders, to help delegates to come together prepared, hungry, and ready to encourage each other. See Meanwhile the usual huge Spring Harvest events at Minehead and Skegness have been cancelled to make way for a safe socially distanced and online event that delivers what it should in a new way. These are just two of a new season of Easter celebrations that are about to break out across the nation.

This month a US court sentenced Anthony Schultz to 84 years in prison for filming rape and sharing the abuse online. The case dated back to 2016, when he was arrested for multiple counts of child pornography he created in the Philippines. US-based FBI investigators discovered Schultz would film himself abusing children and then sell the materials online. He also convinced a Filipino mother to sexually abuse her own daughter and sell the videos to him. Throughout 2017 the International Justice Mission (IJM) supported Philippine authorities as they used this intelligence to rescue three girls aged 10, 15 and 17 from Schultz’s videos. While we can praise and thank God for the success of this investigation, please pray for the release of thousands of other children in similar circumstances across the nations. Pray for the work of IJM as they work to end slavery in our lifetime.