Hundreds of U.K. Christians pray for Egypt

Hundreds of U.K. Christians gathered together in a day of prayer for Egypt on Saturday as protests against President Hosni Mubarak reached crisis point.

The prayer day was the brainchild of Christian Solidarity Worldwide and United Action for Egyptian Christians and as a direct result of the well-publicised increasing marginalization and persecution of Christians there. There have been 53 incidents of sectarian violence from 2008 to 2010 in Egypt.

Approximately 500 Christians from various denominations and traditions attended the event, including Bishop Angaelos, the general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Britain.

Speaking on Egypt’s present political, social and religious crisis, Bishop Angaelos urged Christians to focus their prayers on healing the brokenness of humanity.

“We pray for God’s healing. We pray for strength. We pray for guidance for everyone in Egypt at the moment, those who are protesting, the security forces, the army the President as he stands today, and whatever happens after that. We are sure that we’re in God’s hands,” he stated.

The bishop said Christians should strive to fill Egypt with light, and spoke at length about their determination to stay in Egypt.

“As a church we’ve been there for 2,000 years. We’re a resilient bunch. We’re not going anywhere. We’re the indigenous people of Egypt and we’re staying in Egypt and people need to realize that. I do not mean that provocatively but defiantly,” he said.

“So we pray for the continuity of the church. We know we will stay. We know we will be there. We are just praying that our brother and sisters are able to worship and express themselves peacefully without persecution without marginalization.”

Southern Sudan Referendum: Almost 100% vote to secede

In the first official preliminary result announcement, a referendum official stated on Sunday that over 99 percent of Southern Sudanese voted to secede from the north.

"The vote for separation was 99.57 percent," Chan Reek Madut announced in a speech to a crowd in the South’s capital of Juba, as reported by Reuters. Madut is the deputy head of the referendum commission that organized the referendum.

Voter turnout in the South was 99 percent. Madut also said that over 60 percent of Southern Sudanese living in the north turned out to vote, with 58 percent of them voting to secede.

The chairman of the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission, Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, said 99 percent of the Southern Sudanese diaspora in eight nations also voted to secede.

This means that after decades of civil war and ongoing tension between the northern and southern governments, it seems as if the south will finally become its own country, although there will be plenty of details to iron out including the fact that the South is rich with oil, whilst the North possesses the oil refineries.

It was greatly feared that further tension would break out between the mainly Arab Muslim North and African Christian and animist South during the week long referendum, but thankfully none occurred.

Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir is expected to lead the independent South, and has already urged all Southern Sudanese to forgive the North for the years of violence during the civil war. Over 1.9 million people died during the war between the North and South and more than 500 churches were destroyed in the South.

"For our deceased brothers and sisters, particularly those who have fallen during the time of struggle, may God bless them with eternal peace,” said Kiir in a speech he made at the Catholic Cathedral in Juba on in January.

"And,” he continued, "may we, like Jesus Christ on the cross, forgive those who have forcefully caused their deaths."

The final official referendum results will be announced in early February.

Kim Kardashian says she tithes to charity and church

While being interviewed on "Piers Morgan Tonight," Kim Kardashian was asked by Morgan how much she was worth.

Kim responded by saying, "Whatever it is, I give 10% away to the church and that's what I was taught. Every year, absolutely."

Kim also said that the had given millions of her money to the Dream Foundation, as well as tithing to a church her mother was involved in at Calabasas, CA.

Kourtney Kardashian who was also part of the interview was then asked whether she follows the same practices.

"I'm going to now," Kourtney said. "I was taught that too but I forgot about it."

Brian McLaren: Christians living in ‘deep denial’

Renowned emergent church leader Brian McLaren stated recently that Christians are in "deep denial" over the continuous evolution of the Christian faith that allows the work of Charles Darwin to be celebrated, not feared.

McLaren has long argued that Christianity has lost touch with the original spirit, words and teaching of Jesus and with this in mind argued for an overhaul of the Christian faith in his 2010 book ‘A New Kind of Christianity.’

McLaren was part of a panel discussion that addressed the evolution of the church and Christian identity in postmodern or "post-postmodern" times.

The telecast discussion was part of "The Advent of Evolutionary Christianity," a project that seeks to bring together a diverse panel of "evolution-celebrating" Christians who don't believe one has to settle on either Jesus or Darwin.

"Evolutionary Christianity is a fact of history about which a lot of Christians are in deep denial," said McLaren. "The fact is the church has constantly been evolving. So many Roman Catholics are shocked to learn that priestly celibacy wasn't required for quite a while. It was several centuries ago that it became a universal requirement."

"I think of lot of Protestants assume that when the Apostle Paul was establishing house churches they had Sunday School, bulletins and hymnals," he continued. "So many of things, even doctrines that are very precious to a lot of people, particularly doctrines of atonement, for example, have evolved greatly over history."

The pastor and author also praised faith perspectives that permit the discussion of Darwin and evolutionary theory as opposed to some conservative views that refuse to even dialogue around the possibility.

"[I]t enables us to do theological reflection on the theory of evolution and on evolution as a beautiful ark of history and ark of creation," explained McLaren. "Personally, that has freed me in so many ways. It's raised my vision of who and what God would be. It has certainly raised my excitement on what it means to be a Christian."

McLaren also said that refusing to see the possibilities in “Evolutionary Christianity” would restrict Christians from moving confidently into the future.

"The call to be a Christian and a follower of God and of Jesus, that call is a call to the future and not a call to the past," said McLaren.

"My Christian identity is more about joining God in the healing, restoration and development and evolution of the world moving toward a brighter, richer and deeper future," he said. "Where as the identity of joining the Christianity apart from an evolutionary understanding is joining the ranks and we're holding the lines of something that is 2,000 years old."

During the course of the discussion McLaren also spoke at length about Christianity’s relationship with other religions.

He challenged, "Is it possible to find a strongly Christian identity that is strongly benevolent and hospitable and friendly to people of other faiths?"

Reversing Christianity’s bad image once confession at a time

Changing the Face of Christianity, Inc. is a non-profit that exists to reverse the bad image of Christianity that many have. The group have launched a new campaign in this regard, which encourages Christians to publicly confess their shortcomings by leaving notes in public places and reporting them on a website.

The My Confession campaign hopes that in getting Christians to acknowledge and be real about problems such as hidden hypocrisy, intolerance and homophobia – they will improve Christianity’s standing in the minds and hearts of those non-Christians who carry hurt because of things Christians have said or done.

"We are trying to help Christians actually change for the better. This begins by acknowledging we have a problem through heartfelt confession,” explained the founder of Changing the Face of Christianity, R. Brad White.

White is a previous atheist who now follows Christ and believes his mission in life is to challenge and change Christian intolerance and restore the Jesus Christ message of grace among those who carry his name.

The CFC founder shared his own personal confession about being a “homophobic Christian.”

"My confession is I’ve allowed my religious convictions to make me numb to the human rights of gays and lesbians,” confessed White. “I haven’t consciously fought against gay marriage, but I’ve allowed outspoken Christian political activists to limit the human rights of LGBTs and let them speak for me through my silence.”

“My confession is I've been a homophobic Christian. The gay community deserves love, not discrimination,” he added.

The project encourages participants to put their confessional notes in a public area such as on a public restroom mirror, bank ATM, or gas station pump instead of sending them to him. Once the secret confession has been posted publicly, White asks participants to take a picture and post it to the My Confession website.

White says the ultimate aim of the project is to encourage Christians to find maturity in their faith.

“Through confession, we are inviting God into our hearts and minds and allowing Him to do His transforming work in our lives,” he concluded.

So what do Lily Allen and Lent have in common?

Controversial singer Lily Allen’s song ‘The Fear’ and clips from movies like Lord of the Rings and 2012 are just some of the things a Bishop is encouraging Christians to use as part of their devotionals this Lent.

The newly-appointed Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Steven Croft, has compiled a five-week course entitled Exploring God's Mercy, which suggests Christians play popular songs or DVD clips at the start of each session to set the scene for the week’s theme.

The Lenten resource can be used by small groups, couples or individuals and employs varied communication techniques from YouTube videos, iPod podcasts and the more traditional Scripture readings.

Croft says Lily’s hit song The Fear is the ideal listening material for participants in the course, because he believes it captures a “certain spirit” of modern culture, and thinks it is a “clever” song with interesting puns.

However, the Bishop did stress church groups should only play the radio edit of the 2009 track, instead of the uncensored version which is littered with four-letter words.

“There is the kind of mindset expressed to which I think the Christian gospel has a great deal to say,” Croft said.

“I’m not commending it as a way to think, but the song sums up a particular way of seeing the world which is very common, which is confused and afraid, but also confident.”

The Bishop added: “There is a pretty clear instruction in the book to group leaders to check out the lyrics first and to make sure that they use the radio version.”

Lily Allen’s songs hit the headlines last year when U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said he had banned his six-year-old daughter Nancy from listening to them because some of the lyrics were “inappropriate” for a child of her age.

Croft, who is a father of four grown-up children, agreed that he wouldn’t have allowed his children to listen to uncensored versions of Lily’s songs at primary school age.

Croft also explained the overall vision of his course.

“The depth, strength and constancy of God’s love is of course a lifetime’s journey and Exploring God’s Mercy is designed to take groups or individuals further on that journey," he said. 



The course focuses on five images of salvation: the weekly sessions are entitled Lost and Found: Hungry and Satisfied; In Prison and Set Free; Sick and Made Well; Storm Tossed and Comforted; Living the Fruitful Life.



Each session contains a reading from Psalm 107; a testimony based on Mark’s Gospel focusing on the ministry of Jesus; and a New Testament passage looking at Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.

See yourself in the poor says Tim Keller

New York Times bestselling author Tim Keller says Christians could get to grips with why they should help the poor more easily if they began to see themselves spiritually in those that lack materially.

Keller is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, and the author of many books including his latest ‘Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just’.

In a recent interview, Keller said:
“The more you see yourself as spiritually poor and the recipient of God’s wonderful grace the more your heart is going to go out to the poor. When you look at the materially poor you know that in a sense you are looking in a mirror.”

Keller also applies this technique to common fears regarding sharing with the poor. For example, quite often people wonder whether the poor person will abuse their charity and grace, but then Keller says they should remember that they have also “trampled” on God’s charity and grace by not living the life they should.

The influential leader also pointed to Deuteronomy 15:4 (“However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you”) and Acts 4:34-35 (“that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need”) to illustrate the theological continuity from the Old to New Testament regarding generosity and sharing so that everyone has enough.

“The more you understand the gospel of grace with the mind and experience with the heart, the more likely you are to care about people who are poor, marginalized, [and] hungry,” added Keller. “I think that is a very important biblical theme.”

Keller sees justice as empowered by an experience of grace. He defines justice simply as giving everyone what they deserve according to what God thinks is fair to give to those made in His image.