Displaying items by tag: Praise

Only four years ago, PAK7 international had a staff of three people, one in the UK and two in Pakistan. It is incredible to see what God has done. In 2022, through partners in Pakistan, they had 30 people working with them; by 6 October there were 19 more. While three of last year’s interns moved on to new pastures, all 22 of the media school graduates are starting their internship programme and joining eight small production teams, ready to learn and grow. Internship is excellent training for young Christian media professionals, and is now giving a voice to young Christians in Pakistan. They have an incredible opportunity to make great programmes which will change the lives of generations of young viewers. Today’s growth is vital for them as they step up production of high-quality Christian shows for their channel.

Kintsugi Hope is a Christian charity making a difference to people’s mental wellbeing. 'Kintsugi' is a Japanese technique for repairing pottery with seams of gold. The word means 'golden joinery'. This repair makes the object more beautiful, unique indeed: Instead of hiding scars it makes a feature of them. Kintsugi Hope wants mental and emotional health to be understood in supportive communities where people grow and flourish,  and is warning churches and Christian organisations about the danger of employee burnout. Faith groups are especially susceptible to burnout: because people are highly motivated working for God, more pressure is put on them. Kintsugi Hope is offering employers training on the problem. Also the World Health Organisation has published its first ever mental health guidance to employers to help them avoid employee burnout, and a new NHS scheme will provide therapists for the workplace.

‘Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.’ (Isaiah 1:17) In Colombia, churches are playing a key role in welcoming and supporting the millions of refugees who have fled political and economic turmoil in Venezuela. Churches are able to reach out to remote communities where local authorities and humanitarian organisations are not working and build trusting relationships with refugees. With support from Tearfund, churches are providing quality services and activities, including trauma healing groups for women who have experienced violence. ‘It is the first support that I found here in Colombia for migrants like us’, says Julie, a Venezuelan refugee who attends a trauma healing group. ‘When I arrived at the church, I found peace that I previously did not have. When I got to the church, I saw that it was like my family.’

A huge consignment of life-saving personal protective equipment (PPE), shipped to Tanzania through medical.gives, is being deployed to protect health workers from a deadly new Ebola threat. The consignment was welcomed by health minister Ummy Mwalimu and presented by Mags Gaynor, a representative of the Irish government, which donated the equipment. The handover came days after Tanzania was put on alert and health surveillance was stepped up when neighbouring Uganda confirmed 35 infections and seven deaths from a strain of Ebola for which there is no vaccine or drug treatment. Medical masks, gloves, scrubs and other items are being issued to health staff working in areas of Tanzania deemed at the highest risk of an Ebola outbreak. PPE is also being issued to staff helping to combat Covid-19. Fifty million PPE pieces, worth £25 million, have been donated to Christian hospitals in east and southern Africa by the Irish government.

Nigel and Sally Rowe took legal action against the Department for Education after they and their six-year-old son were labelled ‘transphobic’ by a CofE primary school for refusing to ‘believe’ in transgender-affirming policies. The Rowes had raised concerns after two boys aged six were allowed to come to school identifying as girls. The school said it did not ‘require formal medical / psychological assessment and reporting when a pupil seeks to be treated as transgendered’ and was working with Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust (TPHT). TPHT has now been shut down over safety concerns for thousands of children who have been referred there. The Government has settled the case after the Rowes won High Court permission for a judicial review of government transgender policies. They believe that ‘a child of primary school age does not have the mental ability to work out what it is to be transgender.’

A Gloucestershire town is preparing to host the UK’s first-ever free Christian book festival. It will include special guest Sophie Neville, who starred in ‘Swallows and Amazons’ as a young girl before finding her Christian faith. Stroud will welcome 15 different Christian authors to its new event Book Blest. The authors hail from all corners of the UK, but it was a local man who thought of the idea: Brendan Conboy, author of ‘One God, Many Names’. The event, to be held at Stroud Baptist Church on 4 and 5 November, will include sessions for children, teens and young adults, and more mature readers. Mr Conboy said, ‘We hear so much nowadays that the Church is dead and irrelevant. This festival is an example of how the Church is alive and forward-thinking.’

Her Majesty wanted to communicate love and hope through the hymns and Bible verses she chose for her funeral. Every word and song had been planned by Queen Elizabeth before her death. The ceremony resonated with the many millions around the world who watched and heard it. Ruth Bushyager, Bishop of Horsham, said, ‘Our late Queen knew what she was doing when she chose the Bible readings for her funeral. An evangelist to the nation. Thank you, Ma’am.’ Telegraph columnist Tim Stanley remarked, ‘In an age of atheism and suppression of faith, perhaps the largest TV audience in history went to an unafraid statement of Christian belief. The Queen’s gift.’ The Archbishop of Canterbury’s six-minute sermon quickly became evangelistic. ‘Christian hope means certain expectation of something not yet seen. Christ rose from the dead and offers life to all, abundant life now and life with God in eternity. We will all face the merciful judgement of God: we can all share the Queen’s hope which in life and death inspired her servant leadership.’

Five British nationals captured by Russian-backed forces in Ukraine have returned to the UK. Aiden Aslin, John Harding, Dylan Healy, Andrew Hill, and Shaun Pinner have been reunited with their families after landing at Heathrow Airport. Ten detainees, including the five Britons, were released after Saudi Arabia brokered an exchange between Russia and Ukraine. The Praesidium Network confirmed the five men are now safely home. Mr Pinner's sister Cassandra told the BBC: ‘We are just so happy he's home, safe and sound. He's in good spirits - just as funny as always!’ She thanked those involved in organising his return and said she was ‘just amazed this day has come’. In a video recorded on the plane, Mr Pinner said they had escaped ‘by the skin of our teeth’.

Pope Francis, who has met King Charles on numerous occasions, has sent this message to him: ‘I assure Your Majesty of my prayers that Almighty God will sustain you with His unfailing grace as you now take up your high responsibilities as King. I invoke an abundance of divine blessings upon you as a pledge of comfort and strength in the Lord’. The Welsh Church’s bishops said, ‘We invite God’s blessing on our new monarch, asking God to uphold him in the spirit of wisdom, service and faith for the years to come. The King has always been a good friend to our nation; we will hold him and the whole royal family in our prayers’.  The Archbishop of Canterbury said, ‘Both Her late Majesty and His Majesty treat others as special because, for both, their faith is built on the same rock - the rock of Christ.’

Most of us cannot imagine not having a Bible in the language we speak. But that reality for millions is pushing Bible translators to find new and faster ways to get scripture to every corner of the world. Wycliffe Associates is partnering with churches in distant countries and seeing an explosion of life-changing activity as a result. There are over 5,000 people working in Zambia right now, translating the Bible into 20 native languages. Bishop Henry Mumba‘s first memory of the Bible was hearing the gospel verse John 3:16. When CBN News visited, churchgoers in Mansa, Zambia, were reading and hearing the New Testament in Aushi, their mother tongue, for the very first time. After the Bible reading, there was dancing. ‘It's like God is speaking our language.’ Mumba said.