Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

Check here each week to keep up with the latest from John MacArthur's pulpit at Grace Community Church.

The Ondo State Police Command, on Tuesday, said it had arrested one prophetess, Mrs Folashade Adekola, over the death of a woman, Jumoke Adesuwa and her newborn baby inside the church. Our correspondent gathered on Tuesday that the deceased bled to death from complications after childbirth inside the suspect’s church located in the Oke-Aro area

wellington, new zealand — New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made a “formal and unreserved” apology in Parliament on Tuesday for the widespread abuse, torture and neglect of hundreds of thousands of children and vulnerable adults in care. “It was horrific. It was heartbreaking. It was wrong. And it should never have happened,” Luxon said, as he spoke to lawmakers and a public gallery packed with survivors of the abuse. An estimated 200,000 people in state, foster and faith-based care suffered “unimaginable” abuse over a period of seven decades, a blistering report released in July said at the end of the largest inquiry ever undertaken in New Zealand. They were disproportionately Māori, New Zealand’s Indigenous people. “For many of you it changed the course of your life, and for that, the government must take responsibility,” Luxon said. He said he was apologizing for previous governments too. In foster and church care — as well as in state-run institutions, including hospitals and residential schools — vulnerable people “should have been safe and treated with respect, dignity and compassion," he added. “But instead, you were subjected to horrific abuse and neglect and, in some cases, torture.” The findings of the six-year investigation believed to be the widest-ranging of comparable probes worldwide were a “national disgrace,” the inquiry's report said. New Zealand's investigation followed two decades of such inquiries around the globe as nations struggle to reckon with authorities’ transgressions against children removed from their families and placed in care. Of 650,000 children and vulnerable adults in New Zealand's state, foster, and church care between 1950 and 2019 — in a country that today has a population of 5 million — nearly a third endured physical, sexual, verbal or psychological abuse. Many more were exploited or neglected. “We will never know that true number,” Chris Hipkins, the leader of the opposition, told Parliament. “Many people entering into state and faith-based institutions were undocumented. Records were incomplete, they've gone missing, and in some cases, yes, they were deliberately destroyed.” In response to the findings, New Zealand’s government agreed for the first time that historical treatment of some children in a notorious state-run hospital amounted to torture — a claim successive administrations had rejected. “I am deeply sorry that New Zealand did not do better by you. I am sorry you were not believed when you came forward to report your abuse,” Luxon said. “I am sorry that many abusers were not made to face justice which meant that other people experienced abuse that could have been prevented.” His government was working on 28 of the inquiry's 138 recommendations, Luxon said, although he did not yet have concrete details on financial redress, which the inquiry had exhorted since 2021 and said could run to billions of dollars. Luxon was decried by some survivors and advocates earlier Tuesday for not divulging compensation plans alongside the apology. He told Parliament a single redress system would be established in 2025. He did not, however, suggest a figure for the amount the government expected to pay. “There will be a big bill, but it's nothing compared to the debt we owe those survivors and it must not be the reason for any further delay,” said Hipkins, the opposition leader. Survivors began to arrive at Parliament hours before the apology, having won spots in the public gallery — which only seats about 200 people — by ballot. Some were reluctant to accept the state's words, because they said the scale of the horror was not yet fully understood by lawmakers and public servants. Jeering was so loud during an apology from the country's solicitor-general that her speech was inaudible. Others called out or left the room in tears while senior public servants from relevant health and welfare agencies spoke before Luxon's remarks. Survivors invited to give speeches were required to do so before Luxon's apology — rather than in response to it, said Tu Chapman, one of those asked to speak. “Right now I feel alone and in utter despair at the way in which this government has undertaken the task of acknowledging all survivors,” she told a crowd at Parliament. The abuse "ripped families and communities apart, trapping many into a life of prison, incarceration, leaving many uneducated,” said Keith Wiffin — a survivor of abuse in a notorious state-run boys' home. “It has tarred our international reputation as an upholder of human rights, something this nation likes to dine out on.” The inquiry's recommendations included seeking apologies from state and church leaders, among them Pope Francis. It also endorsed creating offices to prosecute abusers and enact redress, renaming streets and monuments dedicated to abusers, reforming civil and criminal law, rewriting the child welfare system and searching for unmarked graves at psychiatric facilities. Its writers were scathing about how widely the abuse — and the identities of many abusers — were known about for years, with nothing done to stop it. “This has meant you have had to re-live your trauma over and over again,” said Luxon. “Agencies should have done better and must commit to doing so in the future.” He did not concede that public servants or ministers in his government who had denied state abuse was widespread when they served in previous administrations should lose their jobs. Luxon has also rejected suggestions by survivors that policies he has enacted which disproportionately target Māori — such as crackdowns on gangs and the establishment of military-style boot camps for young offenders — undermine his government's regret about the abuse. Māori are over-represented in prisons and gangs. In 2023, 68% of children in state care were Māori, although they are less than 20% of New Zealand's population. “It's not enough to say sorry,” said Fa’afete Taito, a survivor of violent abuse at another state-run home, and a former gang member. “It's what you do to heal the wounds of your actions and make sure it never happens again that really counts.”

LONDON — The head of the Church of England, spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, is under pressure to resign after an investigation found that he failed to inform police about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he became aware of it. Some members of the General Synod, the church's national assembly, have started a petition calling on Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to step down, saying he had "lost the confidence of his clergy." The petition had garnered more than 1,800 signatures on Change.org by late morning London time on Monday. Compounding the pressure, a senior cleric added her voice to those who believe he should resign. Helen-Ann Hartley, the bishop of Newcastle, told the BBC that Welby's position is "untenable.'' Calls for Welby's resignation have grown since Thursday, when the church released the results of an independent review into John Smyth, who sexually, psychologically and physically abused about 30 boys and young men in the United Kingdom and 85 in Africa over five decades. The 251-page report concluded that Welby failed to report Smyth to authorities when he was informed of the abuse in August 2013, soon after he became Archbishop of Canterbury. Welby last week took responsibility for not ensuring that the allegations were pursued as "energetically" as they should have been after he learned of the abuse but said he had decided not to resign. On Monday, his office issued a statement reiterating Welby's "horror at the scale of John Smyth's egregious abuse." "As he has said, he had no awareness or suspicion of the allegations before he was told in 2013 — and therefore, having reflected, he does not intend to resign," the statement said. "He hopes the Makin Review supports the ongoing work of building a safer church here and around the world." Church officials were first made aware of the abuse in 1982, when they received the results of an internal investigation into Smyth. The recipients of that report "participated in an active cover-up" to prevent its findings from coming to light, the Makin Review found. Between 1984 and 2001, Smyth moved to Zimbabwe and subsequently relocated to South Africa. He continued to abuse boys and young men in Zimbabwe and there is evidence that the abuse continued in South Africa until he died in August 2018. Smyth's abuse wasn't made public until a 2017 investigation by Britain's Channel 4 television, which led Hampshire Police to start an investigation. Police were planning to question Smyth at the time of his death and had been preparing to extradite him. The Makin Review found that if Smyth had been reported to police in 2013, it could have helped to uncover the truth, prevented further abuse and led to a possible criminal conviction. "In effect, three and a half years was lost, a time within which John Smyth could have been brought to justice and any abuse he was committing in South Africa discovered and stopped," the review found. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the Church of England and is seen as the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, which has more than 85 million members in 165 countries. He is considered first among equals with respect to the communion's other primates.

London — Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, resigned Tuesday after an investigation found that he failed to tell police about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he became aware of it.  Pressure on Welby had been building since Thursday, when release of the inquiry's findings kindled anger about a lack of accountability at the highest reaches of the church. Helen-Ann Hartley, the bishop of Newcastle, said Monday that his position was "untenable" after some members of the church's national assembly started a petition calling on Welby to step down because he had "lost the confidence of his clergy."  "I believe that stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honored to serve," Welby said in a statement.  The strongest outcry came from the victims of John Smyth, a prominent attorney who abused teenage boys and young men at Christian summer camps in Britain, Zimbabwe and South Africa over five decades. Andrew Morse, who was repeatedly beaten by Smyth over a period of five years, said that resigning was a chance for Welby to start repairing the damage caused by the church's handling of historical abuse cases more broadly.  "I believe that now is an opportunity for him to resign,'' Morse told the BBC before Welby stepped down. "I say opportunity in the sense that this would be an opportunity for him to stand with the victims of the Smyth abuse and all victims that have not been treated properly by the Church of England in their own abuse cases."  Welby's resignation comes against the backdrop of widespread historical sexual abuse in the Church of England. A 2022 report by the Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse found that deference to the authority of priests, taboos surrounding the discussion of sexuality and a culture that gave more support to alleged perpetrators than their victims helped make the Church of England Church of England "a place where abusers could hide." 

Under Article 8 of Law No. 80, which governs the construction and restoration of churches in Egypt, the government continues to support religious institutions by aligning them with legal standards.

Archdiocese of Malta’s Environment Commission says it views the Villa Rosa project as another example where individual interests are prioritised over community wellbeing

Females perform better than males • Malta’s computer literacy score is within international average for computer literacy and substantially below average in computational thinking

Church of England head Justin Welby resigns over handling of sex abuse scandal

I remember listening to a Christian radio station when a caller asked, “What should I look for in a church?” The host responded by saying, “The thing I look for is fellowship. That’s the most important thing in choosing a church.” That may be a good feature of a church—but that is not the right answer.

Title: Measles Outbreak Hits Texas Megachurch
Category: Health News
Created: 8/27/2013 2:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 8/28/2013 12:00:00 AM

The Archbishop of Canterbury's position is now untenable, according to the Bishop of Newcastle who joined the growing calls for Justin Welby to resign.

Justin Welby's resignation as the Archbishop of Canterbury came after days of mounting pressure following a damning report into the cover-up of horrific abuse.

1. Church of England head Justin Welby who married Prince Harry and Meghan Markle resigns over pedophile scandal  Hindustan Times
2. Archbishop of Canterbury, Trump critic Justin Welby resigns. What is the sex abuse scandal?  The Times of India
3. Video | UK Church Abuse Scandal: Head Of Church Of England Steps Down  NDTV
4. ‘Church in crisis’: what the papers say about the archbishop of Canterbury’s resignation  The Guardian
5. World News Today Live Updates on November 13, 2024 : Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigns amid sexual abuse case—Who is he? What's the scandal? All you need to know  Mint

Sheltered under beckoning spires  Prismatic windows spin fire Onto cold stone Taking a pew, he sits alone.  Votives burn and flicker   Incense ghosts’ bicker A monstrance gleams  Nothing is what it seems.  Sacerdotalism misplaced  Prayers gone to waste  Hearing sermons unwritten Gospel footfalls unbidden.  Indelible markings,   Infinity’s shores harkening,  Gathered not in twos and threes […]

The post Thoughts In A Lyonnaise Church appeared first on Waiter Rant.

His resignation comes after a damning report into a prolific child abuser associated with the Church.

Video shows the San Francisco Church in Iquique, Chile engulfed in flames, with smoke rising above it.

At a time when Indian yoga camps are spreading far and wide in Britain, two churches here have banned a group from condu

Manchester : Manchester University Press, [2019]

Turnhout, Belgium : Brepols Publishers, [2020]

Eugene, Oregon : Wipf and Stock, 2018.

Milton Keynes, England : Paternoster, 2013.

Expresses solidarity with the agitating families

Oxford : BAR Publishing, 2024.

London : Bennett & Bloom, 2006.

State government must urgently intervene in the issue, since hundreds of families are facing threat of displacement from the land they had purchased and had been staying in for decades, says Church spokesperson

Protest gatherings were held in over 1,500 parishes of the Syro-Malabar Church across the State

Organ sheet music by Edmondstoune Duncan | Six Church Pieces (Op. 20) (1: Prelude in G; 2: Andante in C; 3: Pastorale in E major; 4: Fughetta in C; 5: Meditation in A flat; 6: Postlude in C minor)

With bad economy and tough lifestyles- we folks have all the more reason to pay God a visit. But people no longer take the pains to dress up for the occasion. Going to church is an itinerary that is squeezed into our hectic schedules. We...

Did last night get away from you? You find the meaning of life in an enlightening grease-soaked bag of fries sometime around 230AM when the bars had finally closed, and your booze-blinded ass somehow made it home? Or did you fail to achieve such lofty goals, and just mindlessly empty whatever bottle was set before you? And now today you're stomaching all the fleeting bliss of last night. Well, sit back, refill that that water glass, prop your feet up, loathe life, and maybe even find yourself laughing at these funny, unintentionally ironic church signs.

Social distancing could mean prayer books cannot be shared and people cannot sing, religious leaders say.

OM teams are supporting Turkish churches as they respond to the changing situation in Turkey.