Infinite Hope

It was a strange, wonderful birthday party. The birthday girl’s name was Hope. Only fifteen or so people came, but the get-together had all the ingredients of an epic event. There were warm, loving words spoken, laughter and tears shared, and some surprise guests. Even Santa Claus showed up, splendid in a rich red coat lined with snow white fur. It was a very emotional evening. At one point I spotted Santa quietly sobbing.
It was the night Hope was baptised, and it ha

Christian Aid Week

11 - 17 May 2008

Christian Aid Week has one aim: to help eradicate global poverty. This year’s Christian Aid Week unites 300,000 people in the UK’s biggest house-to-house collection. Christian Aid inspires hundreds of events, brings together thousands of churches and reaches millions of people with messages about poverty. And most importantly, it helps people in poor communities around the world change their lives.
Christian Aid, the Christian relief, de
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If you’ve got the Blues you may know that 2008 is ‘Duke 2008’ – a celebration of the life of Edward Kennedy ‘Duke’ Ellington.
The main event, ‘Ellington 2008’, comes to London for Spring Bank Holiday weekend [May 22nd-26th]. A 75th anniversary of his first European tour, aiming to ‘bring the spirit of the life and music of Duke Ellington back to London’. It will include a Bank Holiday Monday all-day jazz fest

Christian Charity Crowned UK’s Best Small Company

A Christian charity has been recognised as offering the best working environment of any small company across the UK. Christians Against Poverty (CAP), the national debt counselling charity, was voted The Sunday Times ‘Best Small Company to Work For’. Now in their sixth year, the ‘Best Companies Awards’ have come to be recognised as the benchmark for all that is outstanding in terms of working environment. With e

Our Story: Janet & Eric

When I left work to have my youngest child, things were tight but we thought we could manage. Then, six months later my husband lost his job and he found it really hard to get a new one because of his age. We got really behind with our bills. I managed to ward off being evicted, but only by borrowing £900 from my ex father-in-law. I also got a small loan just to put food on the table for my 5 children. But I knew I couldn’t

Warning: Contains Humour

A piece of string walks into a restaurant. The waiter says to him: ‘Oi, we don’t serve your kind in here!’ So the piece of string walks back out. He twists himself round a bit, and rubs himself on the wall until a few strands are loose, then walks back into the restaurant. ‘Ere,’ says the waiter, ‘are you that piece of string I just kicked out?’ ‘No,’ says the piece of string, ‘I’m a frayed knot.&r

STEP OUT AND CHANGE THE WORLD

Throughout the world, millions of people have to walk miles to find water. And often, at the end of their journey, what water they find is dirty and unhygienic. Samaritan’s Purse wants to change that.

Clowning around for Christ

As a child, Roly Bain would entertain family and friends, and they would laugh with delight every time he declared, ‘When I grow up I want to be a clown’. But he became a vicar in the Church of England instead – though he didn’t forget his first ambition. He served faithfully as a parish priest in London but never lost his love of tomfoolery, practical jokes or juggling. At every opportunity, the respectable vicar and father of two childr

Conquering the dragon

‘I put the gun to my head, closed my eyes and I pulled the trigger.’ For Kim Goh, caught up in a tangle of gang culture and drugs, the danger of Russian roulette was just one of the many life-threatening situations he faced. In prison Kim’s life was turned around when he had a very personal encounter with God. From a triad gangster to a Methodist minister – the contrast in his life then and now couldn’t be more surprisin

Skaters Take a New Leap of Faith

One Eighty – Bath Youth for Christ’s highly successful skate project – has launched the world’s first customised Christianity course exclusively for the skateboarding community.

Called Switch, the 12-week course offers an introduction to Christianity for young skateboarders, which references the skate culture. The course covers questions such as ‘Why Was Jesus Murdered?’, ‘Why Does God Let Bad Stuff Happen?&rsqu

The Communication Generation

Electronic ‘magic’

If my grandparents returned to earth today they would think that magic prevailed. They never even saw colour television. They could hardly see the neighbour’s black and white TV with its ‘snow storms’ of interference. Phone

What’s in a name?

Names are so fascinating; especially if you are from Africa. People in Africa rarely name a child for the beauty of the name or for fashion’s sake. Almost every name tells a story. What about my name? Surely Jane is an innocent name! Or so you think! I am supposedly what they call in the Mambwe language of Zambia a ‘Chiwela’ or, simply put, a reincarnation. I was named after Dad’s dead great Aunt. Her name was Jane Chitupa Mukam

More than a swimmer

To list the achievements of South African swimmer Penny Heyns would take this entire newspaper! She is the only swimmer to win Olympic gold in the 100 and 200 metres breaststroke (1996). She set 14 world records during her career including 4 in 48 hours and 11 in three months! At one stage she held 5 of the 6 world records open to her. However her Olympic career did not get off to the best of starts. In 1992, South Africa was re-admitted to the Olympics after an absen