Bishop of Lincoln suspended from ministry while complaint to the NST is looked into Bishop of Grantham, Dr Nicholas Chamberlain, will serve as Acting Bishop in his absence

The Archbishop of Canterbury has suspended the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Revd Stephen Conway, from ministry, while a complaint to the National Safeguarding Team is investigated

#Safeguarding #ArchbishopofCanterbury #Lincoln

Bishop Watson bows out from Guildford immediately after ‘sobering’ prognosis THE Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Revd Andrew Watson, who announced earlier this month that he had been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer (News, 13 February), has written to his diocese to say that he is now in the care of the hospice team...

The Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Revd Andrew Watson, who announced earlier this month that he had been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer, has written to his diocese to say that he is now in the care of the hospice team

#DioceseOfGuildford #AndrewWatson #PancreaticCancer

World news in brief Jesse Jackson, US civil-rights champion, dies THE celebrated United States civil-rights campaigner the Revd Jesse Jackson died on Tuesday, aged 84. He often accompanied Martin Luther King, Jr, in the 1960s, and, for more than 50 years, led the Rai...

Among the snippets this week: the #US civil-rights champion, Jesse Jackson, dies; the Archbishop of the West Indies praises Project Spire; and the Vatican promises technological developments 🌍

#worldnews #churchnews

Book review: Rhythms of Faith: A devotional pilgrimage through the church year by Claude Atcho HOW we spend our own time tells us something about our priorities and what we consider to be important. This book is an invitation to give more time and attention to the turning feasts and fasts of the Christian year as laid out in the 2019 Prayer...

Christopher Irvine reviews Rhythms of Faith: A devotional pilgrimage through the church year by Claude Atcho 📚

#BookReview

Christian Pakistani nurses acquitted of blasphemy FOR more than four years, two Christian nurses lived in the shadows in Islamabad, avoiding appearing in public, abandoning their professions, and fearing for their lives. This month, a district court in Pakistan finally acquitted the nurses, Maria...

For more than four years, two Christian nurses lived in the shadows in Islamabad, avoiding appearing in public, abandoning their professions, and fearing for their lives

#Pakistan #Blasphemy #churchnews

Quotes of the week I am most aware of every occasion on which members of the Church, or the Church as a whole, have failed — most especially when the vulnerable have been abused Richard Moth at his installation as Archbishop of Westminster, 14 February In a world...

Striking sayings or writings from the past week 🗯️

#QuotesoftheWeek

Archdeacon of Auckland to become Bishop of Durham DOWNING STREET announced this morning that the new Bishop of Durham is to be the Ven. Rick Simpson, currently Archdeacon of Auckland. He succeeds the Rt Revd Paul Butler, who retired in February 2024 (News, 21 July 2023), and takes the reins from ...

Downing Street announced this morning that the new Bishop of Durham is to be the Ven. Rick Simpson, currently Archdeacon of Auckland 🚨

#Durham #Bishop #Auckland #churchnews

Clergy parents of England rugby player share Six Nations ‘highs and lows’ THE clergy parents of the England rugby player Alex Coles have described experiencing “highs and lows” with each performance in the Six Nations. England lost to Scotland 31-20 on Saturday at Murrayfield, bringing their run of 12 Test victories to ...

The clergy parents of the England rugby player Alex Coles have described experiencing “highs and lows” with each performance in the Six Nations 🏉

#SixNations #Rugby #England

World Council of Churches launches Lent campaign to raise climate change awareness A LENT campaign exploring how extractive industries, such as drilling for oil and gas, and logging and mining, are causing climate breakdown and economic inequality has been launched by the World Council of Churches (WCC). The campaign is part of ...

A Lent campaign exploring how extractive industries, such as drilling for oil and gas, and logging and mining, are causing climate breakdown and economic inequality has been launched by the World Council of Churches (WCC)🌍

#climatechange #WCC #churchnews

SMMIB grant awarded to get more children singing in church choirs A £400,000 grant to increase children’s participation in church choirs was announced by the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (SMMIB) on Sunday. The “Choir Project” — a partnership with the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) — aims ...

🎼 A £400,000 grant to increase children’s participation in church choirs was announced by the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (#SMMIB) on Sunday 🎶

#churchtimes #churchnews #music

Radio review: Sunday Morning, The Interview, and Sunday LURED to Sunday Morning (Radio Scotland) by promises of conversation about growing up Roman Catholic in 1980s Derry, I found that Zara Janjua’s interview with the Derry Girls screenwriter Lisa McGee was, instead, largely an opportunity for Ms McGe...

#Radio: Gerry Lynch reviews Sunday Morning, The Interview, and Sunday 📻

#churchtimes #churchnews #LisaMcgee #Iran #mentalhealth

Chris Packham and Deborah Meaden support campaign for better protection for nature on Church Commissioners’ holdings THE conservationist Chris Packham, and the businesswoman and Dragons’ Den investor Deborah Meaden, joined a fringe event to the meeting of the General Synod last week, adding their voices to growing pressure on the Church Commissioners to commit t...

The conservationist Chris Packham, and Dragons’ Den investor Deborah Meaden, joined a fringe event to the meeting of the General Synod last week, adding their voices to growing pressure on the Church Commissioners to commit to protecting nature on 30 per cent of their estate by 2030 🌳

#churchnews

Professor James Orr appointed head of policy for Reform UK PROFESSOR James Orr, associate professor of philosophy of religion in the divinity faculty at the University of Cambridge, has been appointed head of policy for Reform UK. He was named on Tuesday this week at an event in Church House, Westminster,...

Professor James Orr, associate professor of philosophy of religion in the divinity faculty at the University of Cambridge, has been appointed head of policy for Reform UK

#Cambridge #ReformUK #churchnews #churchtimes

David Tudor prohibited for life - for the second time A SECOND lifetime prohibition for David Tudor, a former Rector of Canvey Island, has been handed down by a tribunal, following a ruling that found he had groomed and sexually abused a 15-year-old girl in the 1980s (News, 25 November 2025). Tudor w...

A second lifetime prohibition for David Tudor, a former Rector of Canvey Island, has been handed down by a tribunal, following a ruling that found he had groomed and sexually abused a 15-year-old girl in the 1980s.

Read more below 👇 #churchnews

TV review: Michael Jackson: The trial and Lord of the Flies MICHAEL JACKSON: The trial (Channel 4, all episodes streaming now) is a four-part documentary exploring the background to the singer’s 2005 trial for child molestation. Jackson, who died in 2009, was acquitted on all charges, but this series conta...

📺 #TvReview: "Michael Jackson: The trial is well researched and manages to avoid much of the sensationalism that often surrounds the megastar, painting a picture that is sobering and sordid," writes Jayne Manfredi ✍️

#MichaelJackson #LordoftheFlies #churchtimes #churchnews

Film review: The House of Mirth (Blu-ray re-release) THE 25th Anniversary Blu-ray re-release of Terence Davies’s The House Of Mirth gladdened my heart. He was one of Britain’s finest directors. His adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel is truly filmic, wasting not a word when gesture, lighting, or sho...

"His adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel is truly filmic, wasting not a word when gesture, lighting, or shot tells us all we need to know about the machinations of New York’s Belle Époque nouveau riche"

#Film Stephen Brown enjoys a modern classic again 🎬

#TerenceDavies #TheHouseOfMirth

Campaigners react to Synod decision on future of LLF CAMPAIGNERS with contrasting views of Living in Love and Faith (LLF) have responded to the General Synod’s decision on the process after last week’s five-hour debate on a motion from the Archbishop of York (News, 13 February). The LLF process is e...

Campaigners with contrasting views of Living in Love and Faith (LLF) have responded to the General Synod’s decision on the process after last week’s five-hour debate on a motion from the Archbishop of York

#LLF #GeneralSynod #churchnews

Synod overwhelmingly rejects £1000 rise in burial fees THE General Synod voted overwhelmingly against a proposed increase of £1000 in burial fees, after a debate of nearly three hours on Friday morning. There were 20 pages of amendments to the Fees Order. Speaker after speaker referred to the strength...

The General Synod voted overwhelmingly against a proposed increase of £1000 in burial fees, after a debate of nearly three hours on Friday morning 💰

#GneralSynod #churchnews #churchtimes

Bishop of Huntingdon translated to Edinburgh THE diocese of Edinburgh on Sunday elected a new bishop, Dr Dagmar Winter, who is currently the Bishop of Huntingdon. She will take up her new post later this year. Dr Winter was elected following the retirement of the Dr John Armes, who served th...

The diocese of #Edinburgh on Sunday elected a new bishop, Dr Dagmar Winter, who is currently the Bishop of #Huntingdon. She will take up her new post later this year

#churchtimes #churchnews

SMMIB grant awarded to get more children singing in church choirs A £400,000 grant to increase children’s participation in church choirs was announced by the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (SMMIB) on Sunday. The “Choir Project” — a partnership with the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) — aims ...

A £400,000 grant to increase children’s participation in church choirs was announced by the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (#SMMIB) on Sunday 🎶

#churchtimes #churchnews #music

Book review: How Do We Talk About Abortion? A feminist pastoral theology by Emma Percy MUCH of the Christian debate about the ethics of induced/elective (terms vary) abortion has been conducted by men, me included. It is a great relief, at last, to find this well-informed and readable book by a respected Anglican priest and mother, ...

"Having carefully outlined the polarised #abortion debate in the UK and the US, she stands within the Anglican tradition championed by the late Archbishop John Habgood, known as the gradualist position."

📚 Robin Gill considers an Anglican woman priest in treacherous territory

Book review: The New Dark Age: Why liberals must win the culture wars by Nigel Biggar I HAVE been turned down by plenty of publishers before writing a book for them — it hurts, but you get used to it — but never after writing one. That, however, was the fate of Nigel Biggar, at the time Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theolo...

"Those who claim that these wars are confected should read The New Dark Age, which, although short, bristles with examples of academic vices and institutional weaknesses."

📚Nick Spencer reviews the latest book by Nigel Biggar

Book review: The Vision of Ephesians: The task of the Church and the glory of God by Tom Wright ACCORDING to the introductory advertisement, Tom Wright, alias Bishop N. T. Wright, has written 80 influential books, at least one of which features this letter, sent to several of the little Christian Greek-speaking communities of what is now Wes...

"It is a joy to read, full as it is of Wright’s vigorous and muscular style"

📚Henry Wansbrough on a study of #Ephesians by Tom Wright

#books #bookreviews #Bible

Book review: Music of the Night: Religious influences in operetta and musical theatre by Ian Bradley SADLY, the religious dimensions of operetta and musical theatre have attracted practically no interest among theologians. In 2004, however, Ian Bradley’s book You’ve Got to Have a Dream (2004) broke fresh ground in showing not only that musicals a...

📚 "Bradley’s aim is to throw into relief the “religious influences and spiritual resonances” of these two art forms, against those who dismiss them both as lightweight and superficial", ✍️ Jeremy Begbie

#Books #Bookreviews #musicals #Theology #Operetta

Book review: A Bright Cold Day: The wonder of George Orwell by Nathan Waddell WE ASSOCIATE George Orwell with big themes, such as individual liberty, totalitarianism, and the corruption of language. Some of the images and phrases from Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four have become part of our culture. The theme of this bo...

"The book is not primarily about power and who wields it, but about the sense of wonder which can arise in response to the most ordinary details of everyday life."

📚Richard Harries enjoys an appreciation of #GeorgeOrwell alert to detail

#Bookreview

Faith: Wicked — a moral myth for these times I SOMETIMES wonder whether my brain is wired up correctly. Where most people treat Lent as a season for sober and sensible self-examination, a preparation for the joy of Easter, my first thought is: “Which movie shall I watch?” Indeed, since I enj...

"In Jesus Christ lies a call to discover one’s deepest and most flourishing life: to become who you are. Wicked offers its own lively echo of that deep and holy vocation"

@revrachelmann.bsky.social finds unexpected resonances in the musical Wicked
#wickedmusical #Lent

Have a go at the Church Times caption competition Have a go at our next caption competition (above). Send entries by email only to captioncompetition@churchtimes.co.uk by 9 a.m., Monday 23 February. We invite readers’ ideas for photos: please provide a credit and confirm that those pictured are h...

Have a go at the Church Times Caption Competition, and read the latest winner and top entries ⬇️
#captioncompetition

Why is the Church Times Train-A-Priest (TAP) Fund now supporting vocations? THE Church Times Train-A-Priest (TAP) Fund is being re-launched this year amid significant changes to the way in which ordination candidates’ training and maintenance are funded in the Church of England. Currently, the national Ministry Developmen...

The Church Times Train-A-Priest (TAP) Fund is being re-launched this year amid significant changes to the way in which ordination candidates’ training and maintenance are funded in the Church of England.

Read more ⬇️

#vocations #ordination #trainapriest

Car-boot sales: an opportunity for outreach IT IS early on a Sunday morning. Long lines of cars are forming in the towns and cities of the UK, containing thousands of people excited about what the next few hours will hold. This is not the fever dream of the most optimistic church revivalist...

"There are some church leaders who view car-boots not as direct competition to church, but as a community with which to engage."

Car-boot sales are not just a competing activity on Sunday morning: they can offer outreach opportunities, Sarah Lothian finds

Quotes of the week It is time we recognise, as faith leaders, that we play an important role in the health of our communities — spiritual health, of course, but also social, mental, and emotional health Sarah Mullally, Archbishop of Canterbury, speech in the General...

Striking sayings or writings from the past week. Readers’ contributions welcome

#quotesoftheweek #quotes