St Nicholas’s, Kittisford, in Somerset, has won the Patronal Festival Award 2025, for the service and reception that it held with funding from the #ChoralEvensongTrust #somerset #patronalfestivals #patronalfestivalawards

#Bulgaria has become the first #EuropeanUnion member state to include #Christiansaints on its #Euro coins, after joining the EU’s single currency at the #NewYear #Euro #Eurozone #churchnews #churchtimes

Jayne Manfredi forgoes her annual New Year’s hate-watch to tune into a Gaelic-language programme from the banks of the River Clyde, and a review of the year in satellite imagery 🌌🛰️ #CeilidhnaBliadhuUire #newyeartv #tvreview

"For Ignatius . . . gold, frankincense, and myrrh were not so much precious gifts for an infant king as a surrender to Christ of the occult arts that enabled the tyranny of the imperial powers" #IgnatiusofAntioch #Epiphany

"Irrespective of where we have come from . . . we are confronted with a vulnerable and defenceless infant who is at once like us and at the same time in every way different." In a new book, Nicholas Taylor asks how the #Epiphany challenges Christians

Without “swift action” and an end to “global silence”, Christian “martyrdoms” in #nigeria may double in 2026, the charity Release International warns #christianpersecution #nigeria #Persecution #churchnews #churchtimes

The Episcopal Church in the #UnitedStates has called on the US Congress to investigate the #Trump administration’s night-time military raid on the capital of #Venezuela and the capture of the country’s President #NicolasMaduro #CiliaFlores #FranklinGraham #churchnews #churchtimes

Paul Avis shares an extract from his forthcoming book in this week's @churchtimes.bsky.social: www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/202... Shaping A Church of Ethical Integrity is published at the end of February - you can pre-order it here: scmpress.hymnsam.co.uk/books/978033...

"Reynolds argues that both the form and content of the Qur’an were profoundly shaped by the Christian culture of its immediate environment." Read Fitzroy Morrissey's review of Christianity and the Qur’an: The rise of Islam in Christian Arabia ⬇️ 📖

📚Stephen Brown on Dorothy L. Sayers's choice as a film mentor #DorothyLSayers #films

"The invitation from the Church Times was absurd, but irresistible: to go to the V&A East Storehouse in Hackney Wick, use the magnificent new scheme that lets you order up five objects, which will be got out for you to look at, and arrange them into a tiny museum of Christianity." #NeilMacGregor

"Music serves as a universal form of communication beyond cultural and language differences, created to intentionally stir emotions, create shared experiences, and even influence social change.” #music #Handel #HandelsMessiah #FoundlingMuseum

📚 Lawrence Braschi reviews 'Chinese Heritage in British Christianity: More than foreigners', edited by Alexander Chow

"We are now living in an upside-down, topsy-turvy, Church. Turning things the right way up again needs us to begin with the ethical imperative. What needs to affirmed, above all, is the priority of the ethical for thinking and acting" #ChurchofEngland #CofE

“It’s not always clear from what candidates say about themselves what their actual position is on some quite hot-potato issues like human sexuality and women’s ministry." #GeneralSynod #Synod

📖 This intercultural vision needs a wider frame, Michael Doe suggests #books #bookreviews #InterculturalTheology

Photo stories of #Christmas 📸 📷 Nativity lights 📷 Bishops’ Christmas joy 📷 Rembrandt’s Flight into Egypt sold

An award-winning documentary about the underground charnel house adjacent to @worcestercathedral.bsky.social — a film previously seen only by film-festival judges — is now available for anyone to watch online. #WorcesterCathedral #films #documentaries

The V&A's newest site, V&A East Storehouse, offers visitors the opportunity to interact with their choice of artefacts from the museum’s collection. Neil MacGregor makes his selection #NeilMacGregor #museums

✉️ Letters of the week Topics this week include: proposed changes to trial by jury; Live Aid; and the forgotten Church Lads’ and Church Girls’ Brigade

Our cartoon this week is from @nakedpastor.bsky.social - find it in the latest issue of the Church Times, out now! 👇 #churchtimes #churchnews #comment #features #arts #reviews #clergy #cofe #ChurchOfEngland #church

In a new book, Nicholas Taylor asks how the #Epiphany challenges Christians

Are trans and women’s rights opposed? The debate is not primarily about truth and falsehood, argues Paul Vallely

“We hold you and your nation in our prayers as you mourn the dead. We also remember in particular all those who are offering care and support to the many people affected by this tragedy, including victims and families of different nationalities.”

Read the latest UK news in brief ⬇️

As parties plan for the summer's #GeneralSynod elections, campaigners on various issues talk to Madeleine Davies about strategy #Synod

"When nationalism is joined to unrealistic expectations, continued disappointment with national performance looks set to continue" Read this week's Leader ⬇️

🎭 @petergraystone.bsky.social sees Most Favoured by David Ireland, a revived play about a modern-day ‘Mary’ @sohotheatre.bsky.social #theatre #SohoTheatre #MostFavoured #DavidIreland

An institution that is marred by scandal and division needs to prioritise ethical thinking and acting, argues Paul Avis #ChurchofEngland #CofE

Charles Moseley reflects on the joy of sacred encounters #faith #spirituality

The King and Queen have expressed their “deepest possible sympathy” to the President of #Switzerland, Guy Parmelin, after about 40 people died and 115 were injured in a fire in Crans-Montana, a ski resort in the Alps, in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

Among the news snippets this week: Nigerian schoolchildren freed, Cardinal prevented from leaving Venezuela, and Primate resists Quebec move on hate legislation

In this week's Notebook, @revmichaelcoren.bsky.social ✍️ on the gift of grandparenting, the expectation of Advent, the dedication of care workers, and fast news

Handel’s chorus has the ability to cross cultures, says Jonathan Evens Read his review of the exhibition "A Grand Chorus: The Power of Music" at the #FoundlingMuseum 👇 #music #Handel #HandelsMessiah

The number of Americans who say that they are religious has remained about the same in the United States over the past five years, after years of sharp decline, a new study by @pewresearch.org says. #religion #unitedstates

Wishing all our readers and followers a very Happy New Year 🎉 The first issue of the Church Times in 2026 is out today 🗞️ A round-up of bishops’ sermons and Christmas messages ✝️ And the #King emphasised finding common ground across faiths in his Christmas broadcast from #WestminsterAbbey

After stepping down from the business he built over 40 years, Gary Grant is turning his attention to charity, he tells Rebecca Paveley #theentertainer #entertainershops #christmas

The Archbishop of Canterbury-elect, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, has paid tribute to overworked NHS staff in a New Year message which celebrates the connections between the #NHS and Christian #faith #happynewyear #churchnews #churchtimes

📖 Leslie J. Francis reviews 'Growing up Godless: Non-religious childhoods in contemporary England', which "offers an interesting and well-documented window into the world of non-religion among primary-school students in England" #education #nonreligion #schools

Welby’s duties dispatched, war, ceasefire, Synod, failed Bishops’ appointments, political wranglings, and a new Pope. What made the headlines in the Church Times? #churchtimesyearinreview #yearinreview #newsreview #churchtimes

Welby’s duties dispatched, war, ceasefire, Synod, failed Bishops’ appointments, political wranglings, and a new Pope. What made the headlines in the Church Times? #churchtimesyearinreview #yearinreview #newsreview #churchtimes

"Millions play, watch, and enjoy #sport around the world. This book is full of good stories and appropriate Bible verses and will help anyone to develop a wise Christian perspective on sport." 📚Henry Corbett looks at a right attitude to sport ⚽

Cally Hammond reflects on the lectionary readings for Sunday 4 January, if the #Epiphany (Tuesday 6 January) is transferred #Bible #readings

The national director of the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), Canon John Dunnett, said that the statement issued by Church House on Tuesday “reads like an admission of ‘Groundhog Day’.” #llf #sexuality #samesexmarriage #churchnews #churchtimes

"His aim in this nicely illustrated book is to consider how it came about that 'a window of optimism perhaps unequalled in the history of the world began to falter,' and to reflect on its consequences for our lives today." #bookreviews #beingvictorian

The Archbishop of York opted to accept a new witness statement from a male complainant, known as Survivor N, in a Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) case against the Bishop of London in a preliminary judgment, dated 22 December #bishopoflondon

Ukrainian church leaders have appealed for just measures to end the invasion of their country. It was under heavy bombardment from #Russia over the #Christmas period while #PresidentZelensky was in the #UnitedStates for talks #ukraine #ukrainerussia #peacetalks

#Faith: Richard Coles reflect on his favourite church in the diocese of Lincoln: St George’s, Goltho ✍️ #features #churchtimes

Exhibitions, albums, film, and performances reviewed in the Church Times in #2025 🎨 🎭📽️ #reviewoftheyear #grenfell #stainedglass #churchtimes #Louvre #HerbertHowells

"It is all too rare to hear a sermon based on the Hebrew Scriptures. So, any book encouraging such preaching is to be welcomed." 📖 Anthony Phillips reads an #OldTestament aid #Bible #books #bookreviews