Displaying items by tag: Praise

A church that was formed from a WhatsApp group during lockdown now meets every fortnight. Lay pioneer minister Venessa Pinto distributed postcards during lockdown to her neighbours, inviting them to join the group as a way of staying in touch during the restrictions. ‘Within a couple of days we received many messages, mostly from young adults.’ Venessa said. ‘We started engaging on questions of spirituality and faith and out of that we began meeting on Zoom for social activities and to talk about faith. Gradually that transformed into something more formal and into an intercultural worshipping community that we call Roots.’

A mother in Singapore has shared her ‘unspeakable joy’ after rejecting her doctor’s advice to abort her son because he has Down’s syndrome. In an open letter to the Straits Times, Koh Sui Tin recalled how she was told there was a ‘very high chance of my baby having a chromosomal abnormality’. The doctor advised her to abort because of ‘all the challenges that my child would potentially have’, but Sui Tin refused and said her son Daniel - now three - is ‘thriving’. Sui Tin added, ‘Daniel is slow in learning but he is smart in his own way, and I do not see him any differently from other children, who all have unique learning paths. I shudder to think of how many babies like Daniel were aborted because of the unbalanced information on Down’s syndrome that doctors often relay to parents.’

New legislation set to replace EU rules will grant the Government and councils greater freedom to support businesses. The Subsidy Control Bill will replace EU-wide state aid rules which require member states to seek approval for government assistance to firms. Ministers said the rules will allow the Government to help companies with grants or loans faster. It has been dubbed ‘the most important bit of post-Brexit legislation yet’.

On 24 June a court in Kano State acquitted Professor Solomon Tarfa on charges of ‘running an illegal orphanage’ and ‘criminal conspiracy and abduction of minors’. He has faced a series of false charges, including child abduction and forgery, and appears to have been targeted simply for running a Christian orphanage. On Christmas Day 2019, over 60 plain-clothes policemen raided his orphanage and arrested him. Later, 27 children were removed from the orphanage and placed in a government-run home, where they have been harassed, prevented from attending church, and reportedly assaulted. Five of the youngest children were forcibly relocated to an orphanage in a remote area. A source said that three of these children looked ‘ill and emaciated’ and had had their names changed to Muslim ones. The ordeal is not over. Sixteen children are still waiting to be returned home, and Professor Tarfa will appear in court again on 27 July to defend the forgery charge.

The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is thanking supporters after they increased their giving enabling it to step up its response to the pandemic. Benefactors donated £14 million more last year than in 2019 as the charity rushed out emergency Covid projects amid growing persecution globally. The pandemic dramatically worsened the plight of Christians who found themselves literally, almost overnight, without work, pay or food. ACN's benefactors remain true to the charity with great generosity, for which the charity and those in need are profoundly grateful.

A Hungarian children's book promoting minority rights drew criticism last year. Now Hungary's ruling nationalist party has submitted legislation to ban content which it sees as promoting homosexuality and gender change to minors. The draft law would ban LGBT literature for under-18s, including educational material, and advertisements deemed to be promoting gay rights. Several human rights groups denounced it, saying it was similar to Russian restrictions on LGBT activities. Hungary's constitution states that marriage is for heterosexual couples and proposes a same-sex adoption ban.

A Jesus Film team begin their day by praying, ‘Holy Spirit, where should we go today?’ One day as they walked and prayed, they heard children’s voices. Following the sound, they entered a compound of 672 children and began talking to them about Jesus. The team had no idea the risk they were taking. The police heard about them and arrested them. Before being hauled away a team member turned on a NewLifeBox in his backpack and left it behind. The police beat them and then let them go. The team returned to the compound to retrieve the backpack. To their amazement hundreds of children were quiet, sitting in groups, eyes fixed on their smartphones, watching the Jesus Film. The battery-powered NewLifeBox they left behind creates a Wi-Fi hotspot, inviting anyone looking for a hotspot, and within 150 feet, to watch a film about Jesus. The children asked them questions about what they had watched and heard, saying ‘Can you help us tell our parents about Jesus?’

11-year-old Chan-Rey always wondered who created the whole world. Her mother didn’t know, so she kept searching for an answer. One Sunday a girl invited her to church. The Sunday school class was watching the Superbook episode ‘In the beginning’, about the creation of the world. ‘The story was AMAZING!’ she declared. ‘I saw the Spirit of God flying around. He said, “Let there be light”, and there was light! Then He made the world. It looked so beautiful. Then He created a man from dust and let them take care of everything!’ After watching the episode, Chan-Rey prayed with the teacher to become a Christian. She couldn’t wait to tell her family about what happened. ‘I shared the gospel with my parents and sisters. Then I brought them to church. Now they believe in Jesus too!’

The Queen was ‘delighted’ after Harry and Meghan announced the birth of their second child, Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. Lilibet is a very intimate name that the Queen has used since she was very little and her sister could not pronounce her name properly. Many believe this is a diplomatic olive branch offered to the royal family after what has been a fractious year between Harry and Meghan and the rest of the royals. Lilibet was born in a California hospital, weighing 7 lbs 11oz.

Israel: God’s chosen people in Scripture, the very bloodline of Jesus Christ: yet most Jews in Israel still wait for the Messiah, not realising or recognising that Jesus already came to save them. But the Holy Spirit is moving. A growing number of Jews are recognising Jesus as their Saviour, and Arabs in Israel are also turning to Christ. In fact, following the recent violence, Arab and Jewish Christians gathered at the Gaza fence to pray together!