Samaritan's Purse - Operation Christmas Child

Website - Link

Operation Christmas Child

Operation Christmas Child is the world’s largest children’s Christmas appeal with a heritage of 21 years. Every year Operation Christmas Child is made possible through the amazing support of thousands of children and adults in the UK and Ireland. Last year alone we had the joy of sending nearly 1.12 million shoeboxes bursting with joy from the UK to children living in parts of Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
What's more, Operation Christmas Child can help your church connect with its community, your schoolchildren connect with other children overseas and your workplace connect with a common cause - a child in need.

From you to a child in need

Operation Christmas Child works by taking your gift-filled shoebox - packed, wrapped and taken to one of local drop off points - and hand delivering it to a child in need, asking nothing from them in return.
All shoeboxes are given to children in need, with no regard to their background or beliefs. We work with local partners on the ground to ensure that your gift-filled shoebox is delivered with integrity and with respect to the local culture.
Where culturally appropriate, our overseas partners will make available a booklet of Bible stories, which gives a message of hope and an explanation of the true meaning of Christmas - God's gift of His Son, Jesus.

Get Involved

Come join our Operation Christmas Child campaign this year and bring a smile to the face of a child through a shoebox bursting with joy. Getting involved is as easy as 1-2-3..

• 1. Get hold of your FREE Operation Christmas Child resources
• 2. Check out our new Operation Christmas Child video
• 3. Pray for the children receiving shoeboxes

Find out more by visiting the Operation Christmas Child website. Link

 

Details of where you can drop off your shoeboxes will be available - from October 1st 2012.

The deadline for dropping off shoeboxes is Sunday November 18th.

N.B. If you are part of a group with more than 50 shoeboxes, someone will contact you around mid November to arrange collection.

 

Beyond Belief - Women in Hinduism

Mon 10 Sep - 16:30 BBC Radio 4

Women in Hinduism

Ernie Rea and guests discuss the place of women in Hinduism. First broadcast: 10 Sep 2012 The story of Ram and Sita - told in the Hindu epic, the Ramayan - is known to every Hindu and - more indirectly - to the millions who have seen the film Slumdog Millionaire. The hero of the film, like Ram, takes control and conquers in adversity. The heroine - the love interest - is a passive figure , in need of rescue.

There are around a million Hindus living in Britain and they take many of their values from the story of Ram. But are some of those values demeaning to women? There are many gods and goddesses in Hinduism but do they provide good role models for modern women? What does Hinduism teach about how women are supposed to live their lives?
Joining Ernie Rea to discuss a woman's place in Hindu society are Atreyee Sen, Lecturer in Contemporary Religion and Conflict at Manchester University; Shaunaka Rishi Das, Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies; and Padma Anagol, Senior Lecturer in History at Cardiff University.

Podcast - (click on podcast for direct link)

Beyond Belief - Depression

Depression

Ernie Rea and guests discuss the relationship between religion and depression.

First broadcast: 30 Jul 2012

Ernie Rea explores the relationship between religion and depression with expert guests: Sabnum Dharamsi, a Muslim; Dr John Swinton, a Christian; and Ed Halliwell, a Buddhist. They look at what different religious traditions teach us about the experience of sadness and despair; how having a religious faith can be a source of support for some people suffering from depression; but they also consider how religious communities don't always get it right.

Beyond Belief - 3rd September

BBC Radio 4

Beyond Belief

Debates exploring the place of religion and faith in today's complex world. Ernie Rea is joined every week by a multi-faith panel who discuss how their religious traditions affect their values and perspectives on a variety of topics, often revealing hidden and contradictory truths. In each programme guests listen to a personal story which challenges their point of view and forces them to place their faith and values within the context of real life experiences
Latest episode

Listen now

Egalitarianism


Ernie Rea and guests discuss religious responses to economic inequality.

Harvest Festival Lunch

Sunday 7th October at 10.30

Service led by Mr Michael Littlewood

Catering will be done by;

Longcauseway Youth Group

Back to Church Sunday

Details of the back to Church Sunday website can be found Here

For those new to blogs & blogging, click on the word HERE and the web page should open in a new window or tab (always assuming that I have done the link correctly)

Back to Church Sunday is on 30th September

What is Back to Church Sunday?

Back to Church Sunday has grown beyond all expectations since the first day in Greater Manchester in 2004. It is now the largest single local-church invitational initiative in the world, taking place in churches across denominations worldwide.

Seeking to unlock the potential in personal invitation, Back to Church Sunday is an opportunity to act together each year and take the simplest and shortest step in evangelism; inviting someone we already know to our church.

"Back to Church Sunday is a fantastic opportunity for us to grow the church. We know there are at least 3 million people in England who would come back to church if they had an invitation. And we know there are hundreds of thousands of Christians who want to invite their friends."
Paul Bayes, Bishop of Hertford, St Albans Diocese 

Back to Church Sunday has, and continues to have, a significant impact. Not only does it see tens of thousands of people come back to church on one Sunday in September, but it also sees many becoming regular attenders and active members of their local churches.

Welcome

In addition to the flag counter at the bottom of the home page, I have access to some different statistics through blogger. I'm not sure why there is a difference, maybe it's to do with the location of servers, not that I have any idea what I'm talking about.

However, a warm welcome to our American, Russian, Swiss and German viewers.

I have omitted Spain as this would have been me whilst on holiday, but just in case, welcome to the Spanish