A recent Lausanne Movement asked, ‘What can we do to accelerate the impact of Christianity in our cities?’ For the first time in history, there are more people in cities than in the countryside. 1.5 million people move into cities weekly. The church is not moving into cities as fast as the world. For the gospel to transform and flourish in cities, we need global alliances not just of Church leaders, but Christian leaders in the marketplace. Recently a UK news article reported the CofE planting churches in urban areas in a bid to renew itself. The article went on to tell the story of a young man who used drugs and alcohol. His chaotic lifestyle led to prison. Today he is sober, well dressed, studying business management and attending church on Tuesday evenings after he gave his life to the Lord. See also

Democrat managers began their opening arguments on 22 January in an impeachment trial of President Trump, laying out their case as to why they think the President should be removed from office. Onlookers notice that House Democrats could not wait for the courts to decide on witnesses, as they said impeachment was urgent. Many now believe the senators are admitting their case is weak, so they are demanding more witnesses. The latest Politico / Morning Consult poll reveals that 47% are in favour of Trump's removal from office, with 45% opposed. President Trump's lawyers now have three days to make their case that the commander-in-chief did not commit a crime. But first up are Democrat prosecutors who get the same amount of time to prove that he did. The crux of their case is the allegation that Trump withheld military aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate former vice-president Joe Biden, a political rival, and his son Hunter Biden.

In 1912, medical missionary Dr William Leslie went to live and minister to tribal people in a remote corner of the Congo. After 17 years he returned to the USA discouraged, believing he had failed to make an impact for Christ. He died nine years later. In 2010, a team from World Ministries made a shocking and sensational discovery. They found a network of reproducing churches hidden like glittering diamonds in the dense jungle across the Kwilu River from Vanga, where Dr Leslie had been stationed. Each village had its own gospel choir, although they wouldn’t call it that. They wrote their own songs and would have sing-offs from village to village. There were eight churches, scattered across 34 miles - even a 1,000-seat stone ‘cathedral’ in one village, which got so crowded that a church-planting movement began in the surrounding villages.

On 12 January Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, attended the Coptic Christmas service. Against a background of rising tensions in the Middle East, he held up the importance of tolerance and unity at a time when those tensions could spill over into conflict and violence - especially between religious groups. ‘If we love God, we must love each other,’ was his simple, powerful message. In 2019, at the opening of a new cathedral, he expressed his support for Christians, saying, ‘You are our family’. As Christians, we know that there is a model for this kind of love. For tense times and hard hearts, the Lord Jesus has already offered the perfect solution. Jesus’ greatest commands to us are to love God with all our heart and, out of this, to love our neighbour as ourselves. God, who is Love, wants us to love our neighbours who live alongside us - whether next door or across a distant border - with the same agape love He has for us.