Jen Edwards

Associate Minister Bridge Church Chepstow. School Improvement Advisor South West Region.

[Jen Edwards @jenedwards72]

@bradandest Mate did you do Jonathan giving David his clothes… looking for something for my sermon 👍

[Aaron Bastani @AaronBastani]

The facts, put plainly, sound utterly monstrous - and a genuine low for British politics.

It’s over.

[Oli Dugmore @OliDugmore]

The combined tuition fees of the entire Question Time panel would not cover my cost for 1 year of uni.

Is that fair?

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

Lady in blue, "Will student loans be the next misselling scandal?" #BBCQT

Oli Dugmore, "My three year course, £9,000 a year for the tuition, on top of that a maintenance loan, I left uni with £37,500 of debt"

"From the day I was charged RPI interest"

"Since I went to uni in 2012, the amount of interest I have accrued is £32,000"

"Was it missold to me when I was told it would cost me £9,000 a year? Yes"

"On top of that its a regressive system"

"If you're wealthy enough to pay the fees up front, you don't get charged interest - if you're rich enough you don't pay the same as me"

"The government changed the terms of the agreement, I call that loan sharking"

Fiona Bruce, "How else would you pay for university?"

Oli Dugmore, "How did you guys pay for it?"

"The state paid for it, didn't they?"

Fiona Bruce, "They did"

Oli Dugmore, "Good enough for you, good enough for me?"

[Kemi Badenoch @KemiBadenoch]

You are not defeated, Fiona…and you are not alone. You are one of the bravest women I’ve ever met and I’m saying this publicly because everyone should know.

You stood tall in the face of vitriolic abuse and nasty smears. Without women like you waiving your anonymity and speaking the truth:
🔵We would never have uncovered the sheer scale of what had happened.
🔵We would never have seen the inadequacy of previous inquiries which didn’t dig deep enough.
🔵We would never have heard HOW badly state institutions from councils, police to social services failed you.

I know you are disappointed not to have a judge leading the inquiry. And I know appointing a lead from the social services sphere in Bradford makes this feel worse.

BUT
You must not feel despondent. You have come so far and achieved so much.

Without you, no one would have known exactly how the safeguarding minister was faffing about.

A year ago, those of us asking for an inquiry were dismissed as jumping on a far-right bandwagon. Now we’ve got a national inquiry.

It wasn’t going to be time-limited, now it is. Yes three years is longer than two, but not much longer.

The govt did not want to look at religious, ethnic and cultural factors -these are now in the terms of reference.

These wins would NOT have happened without your courage and remarkable feistiness.

With complex issues, covering so many people, over a long period of time across the entire country it is unlikely anyone gets everything they want.
But you must look back and see how far you’ve come.

There is still much that must be done…and it should probably start with meeting Anne Longfield. Parliament and MPs from all parties can help you with that.

Keep an open mind. The battle is not over and we are with you.

[Open Doors UK @OpenDoorsUK]

“We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.” (Psalm 78:4) #VerseOfTheDay

[Open Doors UK @OpenDoorsUK]

“When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm for ever.” (Proverbs 10:25) #VerseOfTheDay

[Jen Edwards @jenedwards72]

@Victoria00025 yes

[Pastor Rich Bitterman @w_bitterman]

The Cross Still Offends

The bullet tore the air in half.

A folding chair rattled. A Bible dropped. A young man slumped sideways beneath a white event tent, eyes wide with the weight of eternity.

It was supposed to be a conversation. A “prove me wrong” segment. But this time, rebuttal came not with words, but with a rifle.

Charlie Kirk didn’t get to finish his sentence.

I got the news just before prayer meeting. I contemplated this death as I prepared to lead the saints in prayer. But I didn’t feel like praying. Not tonight. My hands were still. My mouth was ready. But my soul was pacing. Angry. Grieving. Tempted.

Tempted to grow quiet.
Tempted to sit this one out.
Tempted to wonder if any of this, faith, boldness, public gospel witness, is still worth it.

Because hatred in this country isn’t simmering anymore. It is boiling.

Europe is trembling. Israel is burning. Rockets lit the sky over Gaza again. And now, here on American soil, the blood of a Christian apologist paints the pavement of a university quad.

What do you do with that?

What do you say when courage gets gunned down in daylight?

Charlie Kirk was no perfect man. None of us are.

But he had backbone where most of us don’t anymore. He was a believer. Unashamed. Unafraid. He understood that real conversations only happen when truth is welcome at the table. And the truth he carried most was Christ.

He brought the gospel into public space on purpose. Because the gospel isn’t supposed to stay in church basements and private Bible studies. It is meant to confront. It is supposed to offend. It was not made for safety.

The Word became flesh and they nailed Him to a tree.

So of course they came for Charlie.

Of course they reached for a gun.

This is what evil does when it runs out of arguments. It doesn’t reason. It kills.

That’s the part that catches in my throat. Not just the sadness, but the strategy of hell behind it.

The Enemy wants us afraid.

He wants us to see what happened to Charlie and backpedal.

He wants the rest of us to whisper, to soften the message, to believe the lie that faith should stay private.

But Christ never whispered.

He preached in temples, on hillsides, in courtrooms, at dinner tables.

And when they told Him to be quiet, He picked up His cross.

Not a symbolic one.
A real one.
Heavy. Bloody. Splintered.

When Jesus said, “Follow Me,” He didn’t hand out maps. He handed out crosses.

That’s what I remembered tonight.

I sat in our prayer space, surrounded by saints who had brought prayer lists and worn Bibles. And I realized I didn’t want to lead them in mourning. I didn’t want to lead them in mourning. I wanted to lead them into battle. Not with banners or fists, but with open Bibles and tear-stained prayers.

The kind of war that kneels in gravel beside the wounded, hands them living water, and refuses to leave. The kind that speaks both mercy and judgment without flinching. The kind Charlie died for.

This world is not a friend to grace. But grace isn’t fragile.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”

Paul didn’t leave that question unanswered.

“Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”
—Romans 8:35

He piles up every fear you and I carry and then sets them on fire.

“No. In all these things we are more than conquerors.”

That means bullets don’t win. Slander doesn’t win. Prison bars don’t win. Death doesn’t win.

You can lose everything in this world and still walk into glory with your head lifted high. Because the love of God in Christ Jesus isn’t suspended by headlines or gunfire.

There are two worlds unfolding right now.

The one you see.
And the one you don’t.
One is filled with chaos. The other is filled with crowns.

I believe that when Charlie Kirk’s body slumped to the concrete, his soul stood upright in heaven. Not limping. Not silenced. Not stunned. But crowned.
He didn’t fall.
He crossed.

The great cloud of witnesses gained another voice.
And I wonder if Stephen met him there.

The first martyr.

The man who got stoned for preaching what the crowd didn’t want to hear.

The man who, in his final breath, saw the heavens open.
The only time in all of Scripture we see Jesus standing at the right hand of God, rising to receive one of His own.

I like to believe He stood again.

Are you afraid?

Do you feel the tremble in your spirit?

Do you wonder if it’s still worth it to speak boldly, to carry your Bible, to preach the gospel in a world that doesn’t just disagree but wants you gone?

You’re not alone.
You’re not weak for feeling that.
But you are called to something stronger than silence.

Don’t let fear become your theology.

The cost is high. But the reward?

The reward is Christ. And He’s not a concept. He’s a King.
Heaven is not empty.

It is filled with scarred saints who refused to bow to fear.
Men who were stoned.
Women who were burned.
Children who sang while the flames climbed.

And every last one of them arrived.

There is no difficulty that can cancel the promise of God.

There is no persecution that can derail your destination.
There is no sniper’s bullet that can separate a soul from Christ.

Your life is not measured by how long you live on earth, but by how much of it was spent pointing to heaven.

Paul said, “I have fought the good fight… I have kept the faith.”

Then he looked toward the reward.
Not a monument. Not a mention in history books.
But a crown.
Handed to him by the One with nail marks still in His hands.

So let me say this clearly.
We do not mourn like the world mourns.
We do not write eulogies dripping with sentiment.
We sing songs of resurrection.
We carry the banner of a Kingdom that does not tremble.

Charlie Kirk did not die for nothing.

He died carrying the same message you and I must now carry forward.

The cross stands tall.
The tomb is still empty.
And the gospel has not lost one ounce of power.

So pick up your cross.
Wipe your eyes.
And keep going.

The crown is worth it.
The King is coming.
And there’s still time to speak.

Even if they shoot.

Lord, give us courage.
And if not safety, give us joy.
For we carry not just the message, but the marks.
And You are worth every bruise.

[Kemi Badenoch @KemiBadenoch]

There are no words good enough to express the horror of this.

The killing of Charlie Kirk is a blow to everything Western civilization stands for: open discourse, robust debate and peaceful dissent. He lived his life by those very principles, no matter the danger it put him in.

This may have happened far from our shores, but the rising intolerance of opposing views affects us all. We cannot turn a blind eye to it.

My thoughts are with Charlie’s family, his wife Erika, and their children.

[Jen Edwards @jenedwards72]

@notracingpoint Oscar and Max

[Justin Brierley @JusBrierley]

The 2 page spread in The Times newspaper on the Gen Z Christian revival happening in the UK.

[Christian Concern @CConcern]

Is the 'Quiet Revival' no longer staying quiet?

Five churches from Bournemouth gathered for a "celebration of faith" that saw hundreds gather and 92 people baptised.

Praise God for this witness and pray the Church will be a bold beacon of hope to the UK.
https://t.co/GEmlZYDwZi

[Jen Edwards @jenedwards72]

@Miss_Snuffy DC the Jefferson Memorial I think. Full of God. Incredible words.

[Jen Edwards @jenedwards72]

Totally agree.

[Jean Hatchet @JeanHatchet]

It doesn’t matter what you think of Rachel Reeves this is a picture of a woman who has been crying a lot and overnight too to have such swollen eyes. Leave her alone. She’s a politician yes, but she’s a human being in distress. It’s not ok to demand to know why or make her account for it.

[Jen Edwards @jenedwards72]

@GavCalver I feel just the same. Lord intervene.

[Jen Edwards @jenedwards72]

@OfficialPLT I am still waiting for a whatapp response to an error with your system. Please make contact

[Jen Edwards @jenedwards72]

@lucybrettstudio My children started in year 9… they all did 13 GCSEs… totally unnecessary and def limited their experience of MFL and the arts, which they dropped too quickly.

[Glenn Packiam @gpackiam]

I re-read the book of Judges recently. Because of other conversations taking place in our church about women in leadership, I was keenly aware of the trajectory of the treatment of women in the book of Judges.

Early on: a woman is a praise-worthy judge (Deborah!); a woman (Jael) acts courageously to kill a wicked general; then an unnamed woman flings a stone from a tower to kill a bully.

But things get worse. Women play the role of temptress in the Samson story. By the end of the book, an unnamed concubine is given over to a mob of lustful men, and she is killed. Her body is then sliced into pieces and sent throughout the nation to spark outrage.

Think of it: Women go from being a judge to being a prop.

And what's the headline of the book of Judges? "The people did what was right in their own eyes."

Left on its own, the trajectory of a sinful culture results in the degradation of women.

It is the redemptive action of God in the world that elevates and empowers women.

For all the insinuation that women in church leadership is the result of "cultural corruption" , I have become convinced it was the influence of sin that excluded women in the first place.

[Adam Grant @AdamMGrant]

Emotion regulation is not about ignoring or suppressing feelings. It's about reflecting before reacting.

Emotions are clues to values and interests. They should inform decisions, not dictate them.

Choosing not to act on everything you feel is a mark of emotional intelligence.