Church Publishing Inc. $24.95 When I saw “The Hip Hop Prayer Book” was up for review I jumped at the chance to take a look at this resource. Having grown up rap dancing through school discos, and listening to rappers I thought this would be up my alley. I have to confess I have previously preached a sermon as a ...

US Democratic Party presidential hopeful Barack Obama has resigned his long-standing membership in Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, a move that came just months after Obama distanced himself from the retiring pastor of the church, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. "I have no idea how it will impact my presidential campaign but I know it was the right thing ...

The Methodist Church in Zimbabwe has condemned mounting post-election violence which has left at least 50 people dead and displaced thousands of villagers, according to rights groups and the main opposition political party. At the same time police tried to prevent worshipers entering Harare’s Christ Church in the suburb of Borrowdale despite them being granted a court order to pray ...

A group of Russian Orthodox entrepreneurs has found a way to ease the continuing post-Soviet shortage of places of worship by devising a plan to provide instant prefabricated churches that can be assembled in 24 hours. A prototype temporary wooden church is already in place at Kemerovo in Siberia, a vast part of the world’s biggest country that constitutes most ...

An Anglican leader in Zimbabwe says members of his church fear persecution, as police in Harare barred worshippers from attending church services at the city’s Anglican cathedral. The action by armed police came after former Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga filed a claim in Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court claiming control of church property. Witnesses told Ecumenical News International that police officers barred ...

Bartholomeos I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, has joined the Dalai Lama as one of two international religious figures named in the “Time 100” list, the people deemed by Time magazine to be the world’s most influential people. In a tribute to the 68-year-old Bartholomeos, appearing in the 12 May issue of the US-based news weekly, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop ...

A Hong Kong Christian leader who works in a sports ministry says Chinese authorities should allow foreign Protestant clergy and faithful to serve as volunteer chaplains at the Olympic Village, to ensure the quality of the August games in Beijing. "We have applied to send [Protestant] foreigners to serve as chaplains at the Olympic Village, but until now there has ...

Church Publishing RRP: $24.95 Asking, “What would Jesus sing?” is a bit like how often Jesus brushed his teeth, or whether he was left or right-handed! Seriously though, this book does offer some helpful pointers to congregations giving greater priority to music ministry. It’s subtitle is “Experimentation and Tradition in Church Music” – that sums up the general context found ...

Members of the clergy are being bullied by parishioners while the Church is doing little to prevent it, a trade union has claimed. Unite says vicars are experiencing psychological, emotional, verbal and physical abuse, whilst bishops are not doing enough to protect them – often ‘hiding’ instead of acting. The Church of England acknowledged bullying did happen but said it ...

Continuum RRP Val Webb is a writer, teacher, artist, theologian and scientist who weaves knowledge and experience together as she encourages the reader to open themselves to a myriad of metaphors, symbols and images that reveal the Divine across cultures, religions and centuries. But this is far more than an historical journey. Like catching water in a net invites each ...