Egypt's Christian martyrs are witnessing to the nation
Undaunted by the slaughter of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya, the director of the Bible Society of Egypt saw a golden gospel opportunity. ‘We must have a Scripture tract ready to distribute to the nation as soon as possible,’ Ramez Atallah told his staff the evening an IS-linked group released its gruesome propaganda video. The world stopped for a moment on hearing the news of 21 Coptic Christians, murdered by IS on the shores of a beach in Tripoli. Coptic Christians don’t get much attention on the world stage, but this was different. The pictures of those orange-clad men on the beach surfaced everywhere, the stories of their lives gaining more attention every day. Less than 36 hours later, the booklet ‘Two Rows by the Sea’ was sent to the printer. One week later, 1.65 million copies have been distributed in the Bible Society’s largest campaign ever.
M&S backtracks on banning ‘Christ’
The words ‘Christ’ and ‘Jesus Christ’ have been removed from a list of banned offensive terms by Marks & Spencer. The u-turn follows an online barrage of comments after it emerged, Sunday 1 March that the terms had been banned. Customers who had previously tried to include them in greetings with online purchases of flowers were prevented from completing their orders, with an on-screen notification, reading: 'Sorry, there's something in your message we can't write.' The policy emerged this weekend when Geraldine Stockford, a pastor’s wife from Christ Church Teddington, was blocked from ordering a £35 bouquet of spring flowers as a gift. The message Geraldine had tried to enter ran: ‘Thank you for your care and practical help for Margaret in her last days. With love from her church family, Christ Church Teddington. ‘
Oxfordshire grooming victims may have totaled 373 children
As many as 373 children may have been targeted for sex by gangs of men in Oxfordshire in the last 16 years, a serious case review found. The investigation came after a sadistic sex gang of seven men were jailed in 2013 for abusing six girls in Oxford, between 2004 and 2012. Thames Valley Police and Oxfordshire County Council made ‘many errors’ in that case and could have acted sooner. A victim of the gang said the issue had been ‘swept under the carpet’. Of the 373 cases, the council said about 50 victims were boys. Speaking at a press conference, the chair of Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB) Maggie Blyth said: ‘What happened to the victims is deeply disturbing. It is shocking that these children were subjected to such appalling sexual exploitation for so long.’
Churches urged to get tech-savvy to tackle self-harming
Churches and youth workers are being encouraged to get up to speed with social media and the internet to support those who are self-harming. A new poll, commissioned in the run up to Self-Harm Awareness Day, has shed light on the number of 11-21 year olds exposed to online self-harm images. Organised by ChildLine, SelfharmUK, YoungMinds and YouthNet, the research found that over half of 11-14 year olds have either self-harmed themselves or know someone who has self-harmed, whilst eight out of every ten 18-21 year olds say they have self-harmed or know someone who has self-harmed. Speaking on Premier's News Hour, Rachel Welch called on those in churches to do more to understand what's happening so they can make a difference. She said: ‘They're all engaging with social media so it's critically important that youth workers and other people from within the church are using those same places. It's important we go to where the young people are.‘
