𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗗𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 — 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴!
Part of my sabbatical focused on research into Christianity, migration and secularisation in Britain.
We often hear that Britain is becoming increasingly secular. Empty church buildings, declining attendance and growing religious indifference can easily lead Christians to despair. But another story is also unfolding quietly across Britain. Across London and many of our cities, migrant Christian communities from Africa, Asia and Latin America are bringing new life, prayerfulness, evangelistic confidence and vibrant worship into the life of the Church. The Anglican Igbo Church of the Holy Trinity London — a diocesan-wide Bishop’s Mission Order meeting at St Mark and St Stephen Bush Hill Park — reflects part of this wider story. Christianity in Britain is not simply disappearing. It is being reshaped.
It is becoming more global, more intercultural and, perhaps in many places, rediscovering the deep spiritual hunger that modern society cannot satisfy.
As St Augustine once wrote: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You. ”The words of the prophet Isaiah feel especially relevant: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19)
Even in a secular age, the human soul still longs for God.
Different views. Different experiences. Different stories.
We’re all seeing the world from different perspectives. The question is how we respond to each other.
The Difference course equips you to make your faith count, right where you are. Find out more: https://t.co/nZDOwG3LqL
Cláudio Julaia, UNICEF Emergency Specialist: with > 1 million people affected, 1/2 children, Moz faces a large-scale humanitarian crisis with a profoundly child-centred dimension. When average age is 17, a crisis of this magnitude compromises the future of an entire generation.
Climate change is no longer a distant threat, warned Mozambican President Daniel Chapo on Monday.
Speaking in the flood stricken district of Guija, in the southern province of Gaza, Chapo said climate change “is a reality worsening the vulnerability of our rural communities”.
Gaza Province (Maciene Diocese) recorded 400-500 millimetres of rain in 7 days at end of March which corresponds to the accumulated average of the entire rainy season during normal years. Please remember our appeal to assist if you possibly can https://t.co/bqrU6OlFGQ
UK Government "inaction has contributed to a culture of impunity which the Israeli Government has used to accelerate its de facto annexation of the West Bank" - Bishops of Chelmsford, Gloucester, Norwich
https://t.co/59Jwdc1mp1
🌧️ Severe Flooding in Southern Mozambique: Rising Human TollHomes have been completely submerged by floodwaters in Chókwè, Gaza Province 🏠🌊, following days of intense rainfall. Today, one person lost their life in Manhiça ⚠️, bringing the number of fatalities since Friday to nine. Since the start of the rainy season in October, at least 104 people have died nationwide due to floods and related incidents 🕊️Lives, homes, and livelihoods are at risk — sustained attention and action are needed as the rainy season continues. @daddyhope
Please will you remember our @dioceseoflondon partners in Mozambique in your prayers as the current flooding has significantly worsened.
@IAMA_Anglicana
The Mozambican President, 18 December ‘at least 313 people had died, 1,255 were injured, and more than 1.8 million were affected by Cyclones Chido, Dikeledi and Jude, which struck Mozambique during the 2024–2025 rainy season’ #praying4ourpartners@dioceseoflondon@IAMA_Anglicana
Powerful and prophetic of Matt Lockwood to speak out for residents in his Blackpool parish. Let’s hope it leads to better consultation and change. https://t.co/RiuFhQfAY8
Sixty-nine years ago today, the Montgomery Bus Boycott ended—but its legacy endures.
It remains a masterclass in disciplined, strategic, nonviolent action, reminding us that real change requires collective sacrifice, clarity, and moral courage.
#MontgomeryBusBoycott #Nonviolence365 #BelovedCommunity #MLK
Today I had the chance to visit Christmas Lutheran Church, where I served for more than ten years—eight of them as the main pastor. Returning to a place that shaped so much of my life and ministry is never an easy experience. It carries memory, prayer and appreciation.
Under the faithful and courageous leadership of my dear friend Rev. Ashraf Tannous, the church made a deliberate and meaningful decision: to keep Christ in the Rubble—but to place it under the Christmas tree. This old-new crib spoke to me again.
The rubble remains. The broken stones are still there. The Christ child still lies among the rubble, reminding us that God chose not safety, not power, not palaces—but vulnerability and solidarity with the crushed of the earth. And yet now, rising from that rubble, stands a tree - a living tree.
For me, this is a profoundly Palestinian image—and a profoundly Christian one.
The tree is declaration. It is the tree of life. It is defiance in the face of death. It is hope planted where despair is expected to rule.
The tree appears almost as if it grows out of the rubble itself. Not beside it. Not after it is cleared away. But from within it. This is our story.
This is the story of Palestinians—and of the Palestinian Church.
We live amid ruins, yet we insist on life.
We bury our dead, yet we plant trees.
We endure siege, displacement, and erasure, yet we keep saying: we want to live. And we will continue.
We will continue, in defiance, to preach peace.
We will continue to proclaim life.
We will continue to hope—stubbornly, faithfully—in the promise that comes from this child, the child of Bethlehem.
The Christ who was born under empire.
The Christ who became a refugee.
The Christ who still lies today in the rubble of Gaza, in the ruins of homes, churches, hospitals, and lives torn apart.
Oh come, let us adore Him—as Emmanuel, God-with-us, God-with-the-wounded, God-with-the-oppressed.
As I stood there, I felt again what this symbol was always meant to say:
Rubble does not have the final word.
Death does not have the final word.
Empire does not have the final word.
Life does. God does.
Please: Pray for Gaza, wounded and buried under relentless destruction, and today in severe weather conditions.
Pray for Palestinians under siege in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Pray for the church, which faces a constant and real threat of displacement, silencing, and disappearance.
And pray for all victims of violence, including state violence, everywhere in the world.
And may this child continue to disturb us, challenge us, and call us—not only to prayer, but to faithfulness.