It’s count down time to the Commonwealth Games and a Christian ministry organisation ‘Flourish Scotland’ has been set up by Auchterarder-based Chris McCrosson, in partnership with the Christian charity More Than Gold. It will facilitate worship and preaching and Christian activity throughout the entire twelve days of the event with the hope of seeing lives and communities transformed through the release of God's blessing. Taking inspiration from the motto ‘Let Glasgow flourish through the preaching of his word and the praising of his name,’ the teams are preparing for a ‘24/12 Encounter’ in which a variety of speakers and worship artists will help form a non-stop 288-hour period of praise, prayer and preaching from the very start of the Games on 23 July through to the closing ceremony twelve days later. More information about how to support  Flourish Scotland at the Games can be found at www.flourishscotland.com.

On Friday 18th July the House of Lords will vote on Lord Falconer's Bill to legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales. The outcome of this vote will carry weight in the Scottish Parlament as the Assisted Suicide Bill is processed there. Previous bills of this nature have been defeated because they were considered dangerous. While the bill is being debated in the Lords people opposed to the bill will gather from 9:30 onwards outside the building armed with placards, banners and wearing black and/or red. The organisers of this protest want people to consider that while we fight for human rights for the disabled, for assistance in life for the disabled, support and independent living for the less able, a bill is being debated for assisted suicide for the same people. At a time when the NHS and social care are being decimated and the ILF is facing closure, is the only assistance we’ll get a suicide bill? (see also World section - item 6 and Europe section - item 1)

The Salvation Army is 149 not out - and is using sport to help vulnerable people suffering from addiction problems and homelessness. The Salvation Army, which last week celebrated 149 years since it was founded by General William Booth, believes sport is a powerful tool in helping people recover from addiction problems and homelessness. The organisation has a number of programmes to get people involved in sport, including Partnership Trophy, a football tournament for homeless men and women, summer camps, weekly football matches, hill walking, badminton, tennis and many more. Captain Nick Coke, a Salvation Army minister, is working with people of all ages and backgrounds in east London, teaching them key life skills though sport. He explained: ‘Sport gives confidence, tackles stress, helps in treatment of people with addiction problems, and brings people into their community as well as keeping them healthy. We support them to get back on their feet and help them stay there; sport is a perfect tool for doing this.’

This week, beginning on Friday 11 July, the Church of England’s General Synod will be meeting in York.  This is always an occasion for the media to highlight debates or decisions which are seen to be controversial or eye-catching.  The main item on the agenda is the legislation to consecrate women bishops, which was narrowly defeated at the last Synod meeting in November 2012.  This time it is expected to be passed, mainly because of a great deal of behind-the-scenes consultation with those who were opposed on principle, to improve the wording.  Tom Sutcliffe (Diocese of Southwark) said, ‘The Measure which is before us this month makes much better provision for most of those who don't believe women can or should be bishops and priests. . . If this Measure were to fail, I think it would be a total disaster.’

Mobile phones or tablets with flat batteries will not be allowed on flights as part of new security restrictions. All air passengers flying into or out of UK airports must ensure their electronic devices are charged, following updated guidance from the Department for Transport (DfT).  Advice issued at the weekend concerned passengers flying to the United States, but on Tuesday that instruction was widened to affect anyone flying into or out of the UK.  No specific routes have been highlighted, and the DfT spokesman said they hope to ‘minimise disruption as far as possible’.  The heightened security comes amid reports that two terror networks are working together on a bomb that could evade existing measures.   Last week Prime Minister David Cameron said decisions had been made based on ‘the evidence in front of us’ and in co-operation with America.  ‘The safety of the travelling public must come first. We mustn't take any risks with that,’ he told the BBC.

Peter Wanless, chief executive of the child protection charity NSPCC, has said people who cover up child sex abuse should be prosecuted, and there should be a duty on institutions like hospitals, children's homes and boarding schools to report abuse. He said, ‘If someone consciously knows that there is a crime committed against a child, and does nothing about it because they put the reputation of the organisation above the safety of that child, that should be a criminal offence.’  Until now the charity has opposed all forms of so-called mandatory reporting, but Mr Wanless said the NSPCC would be open to discussions about what form a new law should take.  He is currently heading an inquiry about whether the Home Office failed to act on allegations of child sex abuse handed over in the 1980s by former Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens. Another independent inquiry, looking at historical sexual abuse and institutions' protection of children, will be led by retired senior judge Elizabeth Butler-Sloss.

The mother of a seven-year-old girl with Down’s Syndrome, who hit the headlines for appearing in Sainsbury’s clothing adverts, has said there had been an ‘assumption’ she would abort her daughter.  Hayley Goleniowska, 43, and her husband Bob, 59, told the Daily Telegraph they have no limits on their expectations for their daughter Natalia (Natty), who swims, rides horses and is in mainstream school.  Hayley said there is a ‘conditioning to fear Down’s syndrome’ and an ‘assumption’ that if the baby tests positive for the condition, you will ‘automatically’ have an abortion. But, she said, ‘we knew who she was - our daughter, not a set of symptoms or predictions for the future’.  Hayley has started a blog offering advice and support for parents of children with Down’s Syndrome, which gets 30,000 hits a month. She said, ‘when a family or a mum tells us ‘Your blog has thrown me a lifeline; now I can see what the future could hold’, then we know we’re doing the right thing’

A Christian-run bakery in Northern Ireland is facing legal action after it declined to produce a pro-gay marriage campaign cake.   The McArthur family, who own Ashers Baking Company in Belfast, said they could not fulfil the order because it conflicts with their Christian beliefs about marriage being between a man and a woman.   Although the Northern Ireland Assembly has voted three times in recent years against redefining marriage, the taxpayer-funded Equality Commission for Northern Ireland claimed that the bakery had breached equality laws.  The bakery’s manager, Daniel McArthur, said: ‘We thought that this order was at odds with our beliefs, and contradicts what the Bible teaches.’  Colin Hart, director of the Christian Institute, which is supporting the company, said ‘This claim, if supported, would establish a dangerous precedent about the power of the state over an individual or business to force them to go against their deeply held beliefs.’

Legislation stating schools must hold a daily ‘broadly Christian’ assembly is at risk of being abolished. The National Governors' Association (NGA) has declared the law, as set out under the 1944 Education Act, to be ‘meaningless’, and has urged the government to put an end to its application in non-faith schools. ‘Few schools can or do meet the current legislative requirement for a daily act of collective worship, partly because there isn't space in most schools to gather students together, and often because staff are unable or unwilling to lead a collective worship session. There is also the added issue that worship implies belief in a particular faith - if the 'act of worship' is not in your faith then it is meaningless as an act of worship,’ a policy statement from the NGA reads.