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The story of Christmas is political and not sentimental, according to Dr Stephen Holmes from St Andrews University. In a new Theos report, The Politics of Christmas, the theology lecturer claims that the gospel writers actually focused on imperial oppression, economic exploitation and social stigma. He argues that our modern sentimental view of Christ's birth was largely invented by the Victorians.

We believe that faithfulness between people in committed relationships matters. It matters for individuals, for families, for children and for our communities. We believe that commitment, trust and honesty are key cornerstones of a healthy society. Because of this, FaithfulnessMatters calls upon the companies engaged in running websites which encourage people to have affairs to withdraw from the partnerships involved and close these websites.

Hope for Creation is being organised in response to the desperate need for urgent action to tackle climate change. Christians from across the world will be getting down on their knees to pray and speak out for action to protect creation and our global neighbours who are dried up and drowned out.

The Bible Gateway is a tool for reading and researching scripture online -- all in the language or translation of your choice! Other features include Verse of the Day, Bible commentaries, audio Bibles, and more.

1 million acts of kindness Birmingham: to share, map and inspire people and community groups with the great stories and acts of kindness that are happening right across our city. You can get involved by visiting the website, logging your act of kindness, reading what others are doing

Climate change is happening now and it's hitting the world's poorest people hardest as droughts, floods and sea-level rise destroying homes, livelihoods and harvests. Discover more about the issue and its impacts on poor communities across the world and find out how you and your church can help tackle the problem by reducing your emissions, campaigning and praying .

Recent BMS financial statement here.

In the Valuable Resources Hub, from Our Stewardship Community, there are many treasures online.

Praxis is the blog of members of the Joint Public Issues Team: Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Churches working together to live out the gospel of Christ in Church and Society.

RadioTimes's faith award: don't
miss your chance to choose the best
programme of the year tackling spiritual issues in the annual
Sandford St Martin Trust awards.
2 May is the 400th anniversary of when the King James Bible was first published. Word clouds assign size to demonstrate the frequency of word use in text. 66Clouds.com have done this for the entire Bible. 'Kitab' is the word used in Islam to denote the four books they regard as divinely inspired: the Qur'an; the Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy); Zabur (Psalms); and Injil (Gospel/New Testament). It is also a ministry of Interserve England and Wales, providing literature in more than 35 languages to help serve Christians locally in their outreach to peoples of other faiths.
Transforming Lives: join BMS World Mission's day of prayer with these slides.

For the first time, Christians have a
one-stop source of approved conversation-starting video clips to easily share
on Facebook (or other social media), embed in a blog, or download to a
smartphone to share one-to-one: yes He is.

Joppa is the Baptist interfaith network for christian witness in a multi-faith society. It has written a study guide Good Neighbours for small groups which gives biblical examples and practical suggestions on how we as Christians can build relationships with people from other faiths, and be able to discuss what we both believe in a non-threatening way.

Discover the Bible in a new and exciting way through the Bible Society's new FREE listening programme You’ve Got the Time. You will be enriched and inspired as you listen to the whole of the New Testament for just 28 minutes a day over 40 days.

If you think our new entrance is impressive, have a look at plans for a new plaza fountain for a church in Dallas, Texas.

YouVersion has 20+ bible reading plans, with options for customization and support to help you stay on track. See what God reveals to you when you spend time in Scripture each day.

Across the world millions of Christians are denied their basic right to religious liberty. The Open Doors Right to Believe campaign is designed to support and strengthen these believers: to walk with them through informed and committed prayer, campaigning action to petition the powerful on their behalf, and gifts that will bring new hope through practical help that meets their needs.

There are around 75,000 South Asian Christians in the UK, representing a range of languages and ethnic backgrounds. The South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance provides a forum to encourage, support and equip each other for mission, and to represent their concerns to Government, media and the wider Church.

The purpose of a newly reconstructed Tabernacle is to enable people to encounter God in a deeper way by using it as a visual aid. We are told in scripture to come boldly before His Throne and to meet with God - He has always desired relationship with us.

To mark the launch of equip, the new website from IVP that puts thousands of gospel-centred resources at your fingertips, they'll give you a book completely free with any order over £10.

British Religion in Numbers is an online religious data resource where they draw religious data sources together, explaining how data can be used, and presenting some examples intuitively to a wide audience.

FOCUS presents the scientific evidence for God
through video and webpages- with no religious
language.

Listen to the Bible like you’ve never heard it before. Download – for free – the Gospel of Luke in Jamaican Patois, the street language of millions across the world.

Praxis is the blog of members of the Joint Public Issues Team: Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Churches working together to live out the gospel of Christ in Church and Society.

CARE's Make the Cross Count website is specially devoted to the forthcoming UK General Election. The resources and information here will be of use to you as you think about the issues and questions raised in the months ahead.
SUSA from Bible Society aims to encourage and equip Christians in the UK to become more extensively and effectively engaged in politics
and government. Click for their excellent introduction, individual guide and church guide.

Election special: Pray for this election, and choose wisely between the parties' manifestos when you vote on May 6.
Faith in Politics aims to help Christians engage with a range of important issues facing our country however they may decide to vote. [It does not represent a ‘Church’ view or support a party line.] Since 2001 the recognised Christian groups in the three main political parties came together to set up Christians in Politics.

BMS World Mission have been asking the hard questions. Where have we come from? How far? What resources do we have? And where is God guiding us in the future? For God: the booklet and the presentation.

Global Connections regularly collects prayer information from member agencies working around the world. These prayer points are now available through our new interactive map - click on individual countries to view prayer points for that region.

Coact is a project of the Christian Police Association aimed at reaching out and building bridges between Christian communities and the Police across the United Kingdom. They invite you to Talk to Your Police, Pray 4 Your Police, Set up a prayer group in your area, and read Case Studies of the Christian Community impacting Crime Reduction.

day of prayer A wave of prayer: the 2010 BMS Day of Prayer will be on Monday 1 March when BMS staff in the UK and mission personnel and partners around the world will be joining together to pray for the work of world mission.

Debt knows no social or economic boundaries.
Poverty and Homelessness Action week (January 30- February 7) will demonstrate what can
happen when people share what we have.
Red2Black is a good place to get an outline of the issue. There is Enough for all. Let’s use what we have.

Haiti BMS relief appeal: from its World Mission partner, click here for pictures and prayer requests from the front line. Donate here.

Experiencing sea-level rise faster than any other place on Earth, the Sundarbans are disappearing quickly. In last 20 years four islands have been submerged leaving 6,000 families displaced. Increased frequency and strength of tropical storms and higher tides are making the people of the Sundarbans victims of climate change. This is their story.

Our nation has a proud history of providing sanctuary. Help us to preserve this tradition. Supported by the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Sanctuary Pledge asks us to use ‘sanctuary’ instead of ‘asylum’, end the detention of children & families (click here to see how this was abused this Christmas), promote tolerance & neighbourliness, and safeguard the long-term future of sanctuary.

The Public Issues Calendar gives details of dates, Sundays and weeks on which churches might focus on social justice issues, with worship and other resources via web-links, from the Joint Public Issues Team (Baptist Union of Great Britain, Methodist Church and United Reformed Church).

Search the Bible, see how the
Bible is changing lives and
find out about the Bible...

Find out how much CO2 you create and get a simple personalised action plan to reduce your carbon footprint using this calculator.

Responsible stewardship of God's creation requires us to tackle the causes of change in the climate, minimise the harm associated with these changes and call for climate justice for the poor. Micah Network joined with church and NGO leaders from around the world to enhance and further develop advocacy efforts of the Christian community on climate change.

The Baptist Church is celebrating its 400th birthday this year.

Are you behind with your mortgage repayments? Save Your Home, from Care for the Family, will explain what you need to know, and how to take action.

Climate change, over-consumption and threats to biodiversity are all emerging as serious issues for governments and activists. But do these issues have any serious connection with the Christian faith? check out FutureShape?

Square MILE is an Evangelical Alliance initiative which aims to catalyse and equip Christians to take a truly integrated approach to mission, expressed in four dimensions:
Mercy: demonstrating God's compassion to the poor.
Influence: being salt and light in the public life of the community.
Life Discipleship: equipping Christians for missional living as workers & neighbours.
Evangelism: faithful and relevant communication of the gospel.

In the 2009 Prayer Guide each month there will be updates online on many of the stories featured to help your prayers be as relevant as possible.

The blog of the Birmingham Jubilee Debt Campaign group is demanding an end to the scandal of poor countries paying money to the rich world, calling for 100% cancellation of unpayable and unfair poor country debts.

"Don't be a stranger." But Jesus doesn't ask us just to love those we know well or naturally spend most of our time with – instead, he challenges us to re-evaluate who our neighbours are and to welcome those we consider to be strangers.

Click here for bible readings suitable for Lent and Easter.

In these hard financial times, do you know where to go for help with budgeting? What about neighbours in your community? Red2Black is a national campaign led by Stewardship, the national Christian financial services charity. More information here.
Need a financial advisor? ACFA, whose members are all committed Christians, provides you with some basic information about biblical principles of financial planning.

Engage Today: To make a contribution to seeing each local church in the UK engage with its community in credible and relevant ways, and increase the amount of effective family ministry in the British Isles.

Use your freedom to speak up on behalf of Christians in India, China and Korea who are persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and even killed for their faith in Jesus, with Open Doors.

Seeing the bigger picture: video from BMS about fighting HIV AIDS in Congo.

The aim of Linda Faber's Wellspring of Life is to share with women practical ways to grow in their Christian faith that will increasingly affect them everyday.

Bringing Hope is a Christian charitable organisation working to transform and reform lives and communities influenced and impacted by the evils of anti-social behaviour resulting in negative lifestyles and outcomes.

Safer places of worship is a general guide on safety and protection issues relating to places of worship.

Follow the life of a missionary family in France over the next two years in a ‘reality TV’ series for churches. L’Eglise features BMS World Mission workers Katie and Reuben Martin and their three young children, currently working in a second-generation church plant in Rouen.

Catch up with talks from this year's Baptist Mens Mission conference in Coventry here.

Foundations, based in Sutton Coldfield, offers education and support to couples or individuals who want to enrich, repair or restore their relationships. It also provides the opportunity for people who have suffered the breakdown of a marriage or long-term relationship to commence or continue their recovery.

Bringing Hope is working to transform and reform lives and communities influenced and impacted by the evils of anti-social behaviour resulting in negative lifestyles and outcomes.

A Time for Creation: a period to be dedicated to prayer for the protection of Creation and the promotion of sustainable lifestyles that reverse our contribution to climate change.

A treasure trove of materials to help us rediscover the Bible’s rich treasures for this year’s Bible Sunday theme Buried Treasure.

Bite the Bullet has been organised jointly by the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the Street Pastors initiative which sends out teams of volunteer Christians to be a pacifying presence on city streets across the UK.

After the Beijing Olympics, don't forget China: One Dream: Freedom calls for a nationwide network of prayer, and for China to recognise that Christian believers simply want freedom to practise their faith, in accordance with international guarantees.

FaithAction: the voice of faith and community organisations delivering public services.

Produced to resource the mission community, Encounters Mission Ezine is a topical mission magazine / mission journal published online every two months.

The Government's Climate Change Bill will create a new framework for tackling climate change, which is to be welcomed. However the proposals have several weaknesses. If you agree that climate change is too urgent to take this risk, please consider writing to your MP urgently. See this briefing from the Baptist Union's Joint Public Issues Team.

How can your church get engaged with its community? Change the outlook of your church forever...

Tell Gordon Brown it's time to Get Fair! Call on the Government to provide the investment and commitment that's needed to really tackle poverty and inequality.

BUGB's Wale Hudson-Roberts sheds some light on the scale of the challenge facing the church in helping young people find a redemptive alternative to a life of violence.

The Baptist Union of Great Britain, the
Methodist Church and the United Reformed
Church have welcomed the Government's
support for a complete ban on cluster bombs.

www.alternativeworship.org aims to provide you with a point of contact for alternative worship and emerging church sites worldwide.

Labyrinth is an interactive installation for spiritual journeys. It's for anyone who wants a break from surfing the surface of culture to contemplate the deeper things of life.

Join GodTube, the world's largest online Christian community. Watch an example here, then share, upload Christian videos and join the social network.

WordLive allows you to step into a multi-media Bible reading experience and deepen your relationship with God.

Inspire is one of the UK's biggest reach monthly magazines going FREE to churches.

Reel Issues gives you stimulating group materials to discuss the latest talked-about films in the light of the Bible.

SecretBelievers.org is an open doorway into the lives of actual Christians living in hiding because they have been disowned, attacked, and threatened by family and friends. These Secret Believers live in the Muslim world. They are real people with hurts, desires, and hopes just like you.

Integral mission, Jesus style: theological reflection from Justin Thacker of Evangelical Alliance.

i-church is an online Christian community under the pastoral care of the Bishop of Oxford. It is part of the Church of England.

Click here for recent edition of Ecocongregation newsletter.

The Christian Council on Ageing is a Christian voice calling for action on issues that matter to older people in church and society.

Breathe is a Christian Network for Simpler Living.

Just Church is a free programme for use by churches, Christian groups and ecumenical bodies. It's designed to help you embed a concern for poverty and social justice issues in the life of your community.

A Word in Time:daily Bible study linked to the Methodist Prayer Handbook.

Churches urge leadership against 'unequal' trade
Planned European Union economic agreements with developing nations could ‘undermine recent progress towards making poverty history’, senior denominational and development agency leaders believe. Saying they were ‘compelled’ to act by ‘a biblical understanding of justice’, the group used The Times letters page to urge the Government to lead a change in EU thinking on economic partnership agreements (EPAs). Launched five years ago, the EPAs have failed to be ‘development-friendly’, the group says. Instead, they are forcing ‘free-trade agreements between very unequal partners’, the letter says. The group, which includes the UK leaders of the Methodist, United Reformed and Baptist Union churches, urges the Government to find alternatives to forcing developing countries to open their markets prematurely.

The Money Revolution helps you apply Christian principles to handling your money. Whether we are comfortable, broke, or somewhere in between, we all have questions about money.

As the church continues to work towards Ecocongregation status, check out our green page. Then please send an email or letter telling the Secretary of State for the Environment what you want the new Climate Change law to include.

RESTORE is a project of Birmingham Churches Together seeking to welcome and support refugees and asylum seekers.

Don't go grim this Halloween: welcome to the campaign that is reclaiming Halloween from the supermarkets. There is a choice for parents, teachers and children.

Support Net gently approaches various issues through real-life stories and insights from people who’ve experienced these situations themselves.

DIY, Chocolate and the Resurrection - Statistics on the Knowledge and Celebration of Easter from EA.

The message of Blow the Whistle focuses on the fact that 2007 is midway towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. In the year 2000 the UK and other world leaders made a commitment to achieving these goals and through blowing the whistle at half-time, we are urging government to play its part, holding it to account and saying we care about the poor and want to see justice done for them.

Celebrating Marriage is a project of CARE for Education to equip schools to deliver marriage education for pupils and teachers, parents and their children.

Meaning and value for believer and unbeliever alike - quotes on Easter from inside and outside the faith.

Don't be Derek: come on down......to Tearfund’s Church climate change challenge.

The Commission on the Future of Volunteering is developing a long-term vision for volunteering in England as a legacy of the Year of the Volunteer 2005.

Did you make a new year's resolution to read your Bible more? Use this guide from oneyearbibleonline.com to enjoy it right through in a year.

A 'tiny drop in the ocean' (BBC News) About 4,000 trafficked women are working as prostitutes. A safe house for trafficked sex workers has opened its doors to victims set up by a Catholic nun.

Crucial questions for evangelicals: an interview with John Stott.

West Midlands School of Christian Ministry
10 month - part time bible course

Rediscovering Palestine is a group of charities and organisations working in a variety of ways towards peace with justice in Palestine and Israel.

Faithful Cities commission on urban life and faith.

New Life online news

Play the Climate Change Pentathlon to find out how to clean up your lifestyle.

The Climate of Poverty: facts, fears and hope, new Christian Aid report

Crucible will run three intensive training weekends each year to equip Christians to create church on the margins, at the Baptist International Mission Centre in Selly Oak.

Workshop is an exciting Christian learning experience designed to encourage and strengthen you on your spiritual journey in today’s fast-paced, constantly changing, ever demanding world, based at St George’s School, Edgbaston