The Week Ahead

Songs of Praise
Palm Sunday

Sunday 25 March
BBC One, 4.40pm
Sean Fletcher visits St Albans Cathedral, the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Britain, and where the original hot cross bun comes from.

Reggie Yates: Searching for Grenfell’s Lost Lives
Sunday 25 March
BBC Two, 9.00pm
Reggie Yates meets families and friends of people who died in the Grenfell Tower fire. He gains a greater understanding of the disaster’s victims as people and as members of a community that is still recovering.

Tiredness, Tears and Tantrums: Diary of a New Mum
Tuesday 27 March
BBC One, 11.15pm

Annie Price discusses the trials and tribulations of the first six weeks of motherhood including meeting a professional breastfeeding counsellor and learning infant first aid.

A Normal Family
Friday 23 March

BBC Radio 4, 11.30pm
Poet and writer Henry Normal describes the experience of raising his autistic son. Through stand-up comedy and poetry, Henry explores what this means for his son Johnny, his wife Angela and for himself.

Good Morning Sunday

Sunday 25 March

BBC Radio 2, 6.00am  

The Revd Kate Bottley and Jason Mohammad mark Palm Sunday with author Stefan Buczacki and Christian rapper Guvna B.

Screens and Teens
Sunday 25 March
BBC Radio 4, 9.30pm

David Baker examines claims that something needs to be done about smartphones and their negative effects on the nation’s teenagers, looking at the pros and cons of their uses.

Singing the Faith Plus – Easter

Singing the Faith Plus has added new resources to help celebrate Easter and to widen understanding of the dawn of creation with fresh imagery for the Resurrection.

One Friday

If you are engaging with your community this Good Friday you can find some great resources to help tell the Easter story here.

Lent reflections

You can read Sue Palmer’s Lent Reflection for Palm Sunday here. This is part of the MWiB Easter Offering service – Seek Peace and Pursue it. To support the wider mission of the Church, you can make a donation during your Easter Offering 2018 service.

Social activism

Designed for those interested in making the world a better place, Cliff College has launched a Certificate in Social Activism. The week-long course takes place from 12 to 16 November and explores what social activism is and how to do it. Click here to find out more.

Poetry festival

Early bird tickets are now available for the first Church Times Festival of Poetry taking place at Sarum College, Sailsbury on 5 and 6 May. Talks include the value of poetry, poetry and prayer and the war poets. Click here to find out more and to book.

One Mission Matters

The latest edition of One Mission Matters is out now, sharing the good news of how grants from the Methodist Church are being used. Click here to read.

Poetry festival

Early bird tickets are now available for the first Church Times Festival of Poetry taking place at Sarum College, Sailsbury on 5 and 6 May. Talks include the value of poetry, poetry and prayer and the war poets. Click here to find out more and to book.

The Methodist Research Conference

The annual Methodist Research Conference takes place at John Rylands Library, Deansgate, Manchester on Thursday 19 April. To take part, click here.

Martin Luther King

Rediscovering Justice: A Service of Hope on the 50th Anniversary of the death of Dr Martin Luther King Jr will take place at Westminster Abbey, London on Wednesday 4 April. Click here for more information.

Action for Children

Action for Children want you to Clear Your Clutter. Taking place on 13 and 14 April, Clear Your Clutter Day will encourage homes, churches and communities to raise some cash by holding Swap ‘n’ Shop events. Click here to read more.

This week in Parliament

You can find this week’s parliamentary business online here. If you want to find out about the Scottish Parliamentary calendar, click here and the timetable for the National Assembly for Wales click here.

Reflections

In the coming week the Prayer Handbook will be encouraging us to pray with Christians in East Asia, the Pacific and Europe, Britain and Ireland. The theme for next week’s A Word in Time Bible studies is the Call to Righteousness written by the Revd Jonathan Hustler.

Video Thursday: JPIT Conference

This video is from last weekend’s JPIT Conference that took place in Manchester. Click here to get a flavour of this excellent event that explored how we can live faithfully in this time of change.