Massive rise in church volunteering
14 Mar 2015
Volunteering through UK churches has increased by nearly 17% over the past two years, according to the third biennial National Church and Social Action Survey. Figures indicate that 1.1 to 1.4 million volunteers participated in church-based social action in the UK in 2014, benefiting 'millions' of people through various initiatives. The survey’s revealed that UK churches have increased the average number of volunteer hours on social action to 114.8m per annum. This is an increase of 16.8% compared with two years earlier and 59.4% compared with four years ago. The research found UK churches have also increased the average number of staff hours on social action by 18.8% in two years. In addition to volunteering, church members also finance the vast majority of initiatives, according to the study, with UK churches increasing their spending on social action to approximately £393m in 2014
Couples who get married before having children are over 70 per cent more likely to stay together than those who do so after marriage new research claims. Meanwhile those who start a family but never marry are almost three times as likely to split up before their children are in their mid-teens, the study by the Marriage Foundation think-tank concludes. It claims that other factors often linked to family stability, such as parents’ ages when they have children or their level of education, have only a ‘marginal’, if any, effect on their chances of staying together. Sir Paul Coleridge, the former High Court family judge who set up the foundation in 2012, said the study showed that it is a ‘myth’ that cohabitation is as stable as marriage. The group is pressing for political parties to adopt policies specifically promoting marriage in their manifestos ahead of the General Election in May.
A Christian printing company in the Republic of Ireland has become the latest business to take a stand for traditional marriage, based on firmly-held religious convictions. Beulah Print & Design declined to print invitations for a gay couple’s civil partnership ceremony. The incident comes after calls by the Council of Europe for member states to support the principle of reasonable accommodation. The owners of Beulah Print said that because of their Christian faith they could not print material for John Keirans and Jonathon Brennan’s civil partnership ceremony. A statement released by the company stressed that their decision was not a personal attack on the customers, whom they had happily served for four years, but was due to their opposition to same-sex marriage. It reads: ‘We, at Beulah Print, are Bible-believing Christians who are committed to standing by our conscience and God’s Word.’
Children in care failed by government, say MPs
14 Mar 2015
Children in care ‘get a raw deal’ and the government is not doing enough to help them, MPs have said in a report. In particular the Department for Education shows ‘alarming reluctance to play an active role’ in improving the lot of these children, say the MPs. Poor local services are too often left to ‘fester’, says the report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee. A DfE spokesman said the report ‘purposefully’ ignored ‘very real progress’ made by government. The life chances of children in care were being transformed, said the spokesman. ‘It is a fact that vulnerable children are doing better than ever’. The Department for Education is best placed to lead improvements in the quality of care but is reluctant to take on this role, only intervening after Ofsted has failed a local authority service, say the MPs. ‘The department focussed on limiting its responsibility rather than maximising opportunities for children in care,’ said the committee's chairman, Margaret Hodge.
A dress which went viral after viewers were split on its colours has become the focal point of the Salvation Army's campaign against domestic violence in South Africa. A photo was in the media last month in which some saw the colours white and gold and others saw blue and black. The Salvation Army's new poster features a similar dress worn by a bruised woman with the strapline 'Why is it so hard to see black and blue?'. Speaking about the advert, a spokesperson for the Salvation Army said: ‘The Salvation Army sees the devastating effects of domestic violence on women, men and children every day. We know that one in four women are victims of domestic violence in the UK: this innovative and powerful campaign by the Salvation Army highlights that domestic violence is often overlooked by society. We hope this image helps people to see the true impact of this crime.’
The Bishop of London is planning to revive a century-old episcopal see to create a new 'Bishop for Church Plants'. The Right Rev Richard Chartres plans to bring back the See of Islington, which existed briefly from 1898 to 1923. There was only ever one Bishop of Islington, the Right Rev Charles Henry Turner, who was at the same time Rector of St Andrew Undershaft. The Church Times reports that the proposal is to be considered by the Dioceses Commission. The aim is to provide additional support for the burgeoning church planting movement. The London diocese is one of the most successful in the western world in terms of growth and diversity. Besides the leadership of Bishop Chartres, this can also be attributed to the phenomenally successful Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) group of churches and the Alpha evangelisation course that originated at HTB.
As many as 373 children may have been targeted for sex by gangs of men in Oxfordshire in the last 16 years, a serious case review found. The investigation came after a sadistic sex gang of seven men were jailed in 2013 for abusing six girls in Oxford, between 2004 and 2012. Thames Valley Police and Oxfordshire County Council made ‘many errors’ in that case and could have acted sooner. A victim of the gang said the issue had been ‘swept under the carpet’. Of the 373 cases, the council said about 50 victims were boys. Speaking at a press conference, the chair of Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB) Maggie Blyth said: ‘What happened to the victims is deeply disturbing. It is shocking that these children were subjected to such appalling sexual exploitation for so long.’
Churches and youth workers are being encouraged to get up to speed with social media and the internet to support those who are self-harming. A new poll, commissioned in the run up to Self-Harm Awareness Day, has shed light on the number of 11-21 year olds exposed to online self-harm images. Organised by ChildLine, SelfharmUK, YoungMinds and YouthNet, the research found that over half of 11-14 year olds have either self-harmed themselves or know someone who has self-harmed, whilst eight out of every ten 18-21 year olds say they have self-harmed or know someone who has self-harmed. Speaking on Premier's News Hour, Rachel Welch called on those in churches to do more to understand what's happening so they can make a difference. She said: ‘They're all engaging with social media so it's critically important that youth workers and other people from within the church are using those same places. It's important we go to where the young people are.‘