Guest writer
Our future hope
1 March 2018Hope is important to human flourishing. We can endure almost anything in the present if we have hope for the future. As long as we are persuaded that our present situation is not our ultimate destination we can endure the present as we hope for the future. Hope is not only important to human flourishing, it is a vital element of Christian understanding. 1 Corinthians 13 ends with this observation: “Now these three things abide, faith, hope and love.” We Christians speak a great deal about…
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Providing refuge for the Iraqi victims of IS
1 March 2018“They looked like me, they dressed like me,” Maran recalls. “They were doctors, nurses, well-educated people, who looked like my uncles, my aunts. They were on the floor, with nothing, traumatised. The kids couldn’t speak – they were in complete shock.” So she began taking beds, food and meeting other needs. These simple gestures have developed into a broad program for humanitarian action through Al-Hadaf, hercharity based in Amman, Jordan. It provides meals, emotional support and clothing to…
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Transforming through the years
1 January 2018Today, Tearfund works in more than 50 countries and is known as one of the UK's top aid agencies. We celebrate its transforming impact to so many, and talk to chief executive Nigel Harris on Tearfund's legacy and what 2018 will bring. Linked with the Alliance over the years, Tearfund started out literally as a fund – through gifts sent to the Alliance in response to the refugee crisis in the 1960s. As the outpouring of donations continued from Christians across the country, the Alliance…
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Stopping chaos and building a future
1 January 2018Estimating that the charity's work with more than 3,000 volunteers could reduce children going into care by 15 per cent*, the DfE report said the work had: "Potential to support several thousand of England's neediest children; to greatly reduce the numbers of children in care, and to demonstrably forge a new relationship between public systems and civil society." Every family experiences times of crisis, but without help at the right time, crisis can quickly turn into chaos meaning children…
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Ruth Awogbade: transforming how women engage with faith
1 January 2018Featured in mainstream national and international press, she is recognised for her work on faith and issues for women of her generation. Under the banner 'Faith-Feminism-Fashion' she runs Magnify magazine and regular Magnify events. We found out what inspires her transformation work. You are known as someone who has transformed the way women engage with their faith and the issues they face. How do you feel your work highlighting them has changed people's lives and the way they approach…
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Resurrection of hope
1 January 2018Fog hung over the city like the sorrow that hung over Leah's heart. As she walked through the city gate, she felt the mist run clammy fingers down her neck. She shivered, and pulled her headscarf tighter. It felt odd to be out of the house. For the past two days she had been shut up in it with all her relatives and friends, trying to celebrate Passover, but failing miserably. They'd gone through the motions of the ceremony, but there was none of the joy that normally accompanied such…
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Making the connection
1 January 2018Mountains figure prominently in the gospel of Matthew. They are the place of drama, of battles between Jesus and Satan, of appearances and transfigurations; of hungry crowds that have gathered around Jesus with their sick for healing and feeding. Mountains are the setting for famous sermons and we are promised that even with a little faith one can move a huge mountain. Mountains are also places of silence, of recluse and prayer. If we follow Jesus' ministry in Matthew's narrative, there is a…
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Joining the movement - what next?
1 January 2018Concluding the day Roger Sutton, director of Movement Day UK gave a challenge: "What could your place look like in 15 years' time if we really got our act together? It's all about unity: working together in strategic and coordinated ways. About prayer and need for God's power in the social, cultural and spiritual transformation of your whole city or town." The Alliance was delighted to be part of planning the event together with other organisations. Movement Day exceeded all expectations, both…
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Belonging: a church for all
1 December 2017Kay Morgan-Gurr is part of churches for All and a member of the Evangelical Alliance's council. International Day of Persons with Disabilities. It’s a mouthful of a title, and one that quite a few disabled people dislike. But this proves a point: out of all the areas of diversity, disability is one of the most diverse. Not just in the type of disability, but in the way those who are disabled think about disability; politically, socially and spiritually. Disability is generally represented with…
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Tithing: how should we do it?
1 November 2017 Israel Olofinjana, a Baptist pastor in London, inspires us with examples of African Church's approach and looks at how financial gifts are seen as giving back to God all He has blessed us with.'Offering time is blessing time!' is one of the strap lines used during the collection of offering and tithing in some African Churches. With Christian roots in African Pentecostalism, I see this statement as giving our offering as a time of worship to God. We worship God with our money because it is…
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The giving gift and gifts of giving
1 November 2017Dr Lucy Peppiatt is principal at Westminster Theological Centre.When I was asked to write a piece on gifts of giving, I immediately thought of a book title by Tom Smail—The Giving Gift. This is a book specifically on the Holy Spirit, but the title makes the point that God is the one who gives generously to generate generous giving. Although I don't want to focus herejust on financial giving, but more on giving in general, the principles of financial giving and giving of our resources or…
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