The Week Ahead

Britain’s Great Cathedrals
Friday, 27 April
Channel 5, 8.00pm
Actor and presenter Tony Robinson visits Durham cathedral, one of Britain’s first Unesco World Heritage sites and a leading tourist attraction.

Young Choir of the Year
Sunday, 29 April
BBC 1, 4.15pm

The first semi-final of a new singing competiton, The Young Choir of the Year 2018, from the Pontio Centre in Bangor. Five junior choirs, including one from Kent College, a Methodist school in Canterbury, sing to win a place in the final.

Story of the Jews

Tuesday, 1 May
BBC 4, 9.00pm
Simon Schama examines how the Holocaust and the subsequent creation of the state of Israel in 1948 fundamentally changed what it means to be Jewish. 

Humiliation

Friday, 27 April
BBC Radio 4, 11.00am
Psychotherapist Philippa Perry examines the role that humiliation plays at personal, economic and political levels. 

Something Understood
Brides of God
Sunday, 29 April
BBC Radio 4, 6.05am

Musician Jahnavi Harrison with music, prose and poetry in a celebration of the women who choose to dedicate their lives entirely to God.

Too Young to Veil
Sunday, 29 April
BBC Radio 4, 5.00pm

An investigation into the growing number of young girls wearing the hijab in the UK, and the impact it has had on parents, teachers, religious leaders, campaigners and authorities.

Benefits driving food bank demand

The Trussell Trust has released a report revealing that the roll out of Universal Credit is driving more families to use food banks. You can read the Joint Public Issues Team press release on the report here.

Church Action for Tax Justice

Christian leaders have launched Church Action for Tax Justice (CAT) to challenge government inactivity on tax reforms and demand immediate action on corporate tax evasion, increased transparency and a change to the negative narrative around tax.

Religion Media Centre

A new independent and impartial body has been established to help journalists and media professionals cover religion in the news. You can read about the work of the new Religion Media Centre here. It is headed up by Michael Wakelin, a local preacher. 

Connecting Disciples

There is still time to book tickets for this year’s Connecting Disciples conference, taking place from Friday 1 to Sunday 3 June at Cliff College, Derbyshire. Organised by the Discipleship and Ministries Learning Network, this conference is for Methodist lay employees and children and youth workers to explore this year’s theme of ‘Faith:Life:Work’.

Windrush support

A new dedicated Home Office web page to help Commonwealth citizens confirm their status in the UK can be found here. A freephone number, 0800 678 1925, is open Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 10am-4pm. You can read a letter from the Home Office to the Caribbean High Commissioners here detailing the action the government is taking on the issue.

Internships

Applications for internships close soon. Apply here before noon on Tuesday 1 May to work full time with the Joint Public Issues Team. Various opportunities for those aged 21-26 are also available with the One Intern scheme and applications for these also close shortly.  

Thinking Lunch

Marlborough Road Methodist Church, St Albans, is holding a Thinking Lunch on Thursday 3 May, where Dr Richard Webster, Lawes Trust Senior Fellow at Rothamsted Research, will be speaking on genetically modified crops.

Media volunteers at the Conference

The Methodist Conference takes place from Thursday 28 June to Thursday 5 July in Nottingham. The Media Team is looking for people to volunteer and help with social media, the website and video content during the event. To find out more, please email here.

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 for 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 Africa, Britain and Ireland and with all creation. The theme for next week’s A Word in Time Bible studies is Saving Grace, written by the Revd Dr Adrian Burdon.  

Video Thursday: Arusha and beyond

This week’s film features young Christians at the World Council of Churches and the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism. It sees the future of the Church and its mission through the eyes of its young participants.