Displaying items by tag: Church of England

Thursday, 16 February 2023 23:29

Gender-neutral substitutes for God?

The Church of England is considering alternatives to referring to God as ‘he’ after some priests asked to be allowed to use gender-neutral terms instead. The Church is launching a new project on the matter in the spring to decide whether to propose changes or not. Any alterations would mark a departure from traditional Jewish and Christian teachings dating back millennia. The Rt Rev Dr Michael Ipgrave, vice-chair of the liturgical commission responsible for this, said the Church had been exploring the use of gendered language in relation to God for several years. In common with other potential changes to authorised liturgical provision, changing the wording and number of authorised forms of absolution would require a full Synodical process for approval. It is unclear what would replace the term ‘Our Father’ in the Lord’s Prayer, the central Christian prayer which Jesus instructed his followers to say together down through the generations.

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 09 February 2023 23:57

CofE to bless same-sex couples

The Church of England has backed proposals to allow prayers of blessing for same sex couples. Its position on gay marriage will not change, and same-sex couples will still be unable to marry in church. The plans, set out by bishops last month, have been criticised both by those who think they go too far and those who think they don’t go far enough: but the motion was passed in all three of synod's 'houses'. Priests will be allowed to bless gay couples, but can opt out: the first blessings could be in the summer. The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said the Church was ‘in a better place’ as a result of the vote. However, he and the Archbishop of Canterbury acknowledged that ‘deep differences’ remained. The CofE Evangelical Council said it was ‘deeply saddened and profoundly grieved’ by the move. A spokesman said, ‘The Church of England now appears set on a course of action that rejects our historic and biblical understanding of sex and marriage. This seems to us to be a lose-lose position for everyone.’

Published in British Isles
Friday, 25 November 2022 10:37

Christian climate activists

Christian climate activists have been protesting at Church House, Westminster, to highlight the Church of England's strategy of continuing to invest in fossil fuels. They also left handprints of fake blood and oil on the walls of offices of BAE Systems, Britain's arms manufacturer, to protest against their policy of supplying weaponry to conflicts; this increases the vulnerability of people living on the front lines of climate change. These actions follow the conclusion of COP27, which is being widely criticised for the presence of representatives from oil and gas companies. The activists believe the Church should show moral leadership in rejecting profits from investments in companies that continue to fuel climate suffering. Also, behind government decisions to double down on fossil fuel development (sign off new oil exploration licences and allow big energy companies to rake in record profits) lies a network of companies and organisations which are profiting from this destructive path.

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 24 November 2022 21:42

Bank fraud victims

Police are texting 70,000 people, warning them that they may have been victims of a banking scam in the UK's biggest anti-fraud operation. The Met have charged a Londoner with running an international service of fake phone calls to victims, who have lost thousands of pounds. Detectives only have victims' phone numbers and are asking people to act if they receive their messages. Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the proactive counter-fraud investigations involved ‘industrialised fraud’. There could be 200,000 UK victims of fraudsters pretending to be a bank and warning of suspicious activity on their accounts. A London address is the centre of fraud on a global scale. Police have the numbers of victims but not their names and addresses. Genuine messages from police were sent on 24 or 25 November, directing victims to register at the Police Action Fraud website. Texts on any other day should be regarded as fraudulent.

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 10 November 2022 22:08

CofE bishops discuss gay marriage

A recent meeting of the College of Bishops discussed the next steps of the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) discernment process. LLF entails churches discussing whether to allow same-sex marriage in the CofE. One bishop, Steven Croft, published a 52-page essay on 3 November, detailing why he is calling for the Church to back same-sex marriage. It was suggested that when bishops engage with the media, they honour their pledge to be open about their diversity of perspectives. Some want the Church to be more inclusive with regards to same-sex marriage: others believe allowing gay marriage in Church would depart from Biblical teaching. Their debates will be brought to February’s General Synod for decision-making.

Published in British Isles

The Church of England has joined forces with Christian charity Youthscape to help parishes connect with young people. The £1.29m project is being rolled out to 450 churches across the country after being trialled in Blackburn, London and St Albans. ‘It's really a hopeful approach to engaging with young people in a parish, looking into strategies and confidence building,’ the Church of England's Vision and Strategy team said, ‘It's about working with the church leaders to help them develop what might be the right next steps in their context.’ Churches will have access to a five-session Youthscape training course to help volunteers and youth workers formulate plans to work with young people in their parishes. Sometimes it's the simplest things that don't require a lot of money but require you to look and have insight into how young people are living in the parish and look at where they might be able to engage with them.

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 01 September 2022 21:58

Young people far more likely to pray

A survey by the Church of England has found that younger people are far more likely to pray than older generations. The rising interest in meditation, spirituality and mindfulness has increased the numbers of those who connect with faith. 1/3rd of 18- to 34-year-olds have prayed in the last month, compared to just 25% of people aged over 55. The younger generation is also more likely to have said a prayer at any time. The Archbishop of York said, ‘As Christians, prayer is the bedrock of our faith and deepens our relationship and understanding with God.’ The survey shows that many people still long for that connection with something and someone beyond themselves. At this time of uncertainty when we face many pressing issues, reaching out in prayer to the God who loves us and longs to be known to us can bring peace and transform lives.

Published in Praise Reports

The Church of England has urged the Government to ensure age verification systems are put in place to protect under-18s from online pornography. The widespread availability of porn to children means they are growing up in a culture where violent, degrading and harmful sexual activity is being normalised. In 2017, porn checks were approved by Parliament under the Digital Economy Act but plans to implement them were abandoned in 2019 when the Government claimed they would be covered by future legislation. The abandoned Online Safety Bill stated, ‘pornographic websites could face large fines and risk being blocked if they do not have age verification systems in place to prevent children from accessing content.’ But now the Government announced, ‘further parliamentary consideration of the Bill is delayed until after the summer recess.’

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 26 May 2022 23:48

Resources for the Platinum Jubilee

For the jubilee celebrations, the Church of England has produced a range of liturgical resources for churches to use. The resources produced by HOPE Together include ‘Our Faithful Queen’, a gift book using rarely-seen prayers the Queen prayed as she prepared for the Coronation; a Happylands book ‘The Girl Who Grew Up To Be Queen’ for under-5s;' a YouTube video, from the team that brought together ‘The UK Blessing’ during lockdown, featuring choirs from around the Commonwealth singing the new anthem; and ‘70 Acts of Service’, an invitation to communities to celebrate by serving others.

Published in British Isles
Friday, 03 December 2021 10:04

CofE’s Christmas single

The Church of England has released a Christmas single as part of a campaign to encourage more people to hear the real Christmas story through their local church. The single, a new carol version of In the Bleak Midwinter by one of the country’s top young composers, Rebecca Dale, will form the soundtrack to this year’s CofE Christmas campaign. It was released on all streaming platforms on Wednesday 1 December and can be downloaded online. All royalties from the digital streams and downloads of the track will be donated to charity, helping people experiencing homelessness in the UK. The Archbishop of Canterbury said that we often dress Christmas up with trimmings, but they are not the heart of Christmas. The only thing that makes Christmas perfect is Jesus, and the only thing we need to give him and each other is our hearts.

Published in British Isles
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