Jonny shares a childhood memory of experiencing the father heart of God through the pure, sobbing joy of his uncle’s welcome.

The inner critic is the voice that says, ‘Look! You failed again’ or ‘You can’t do that’. It builds on messages that we received in childhood and unconsciously accepted as truth. Then, life’s experiences reinforce these messages, as we see things through our ‘failure glasses’, gathering evidence to confirm the initial message.

The definition of listening is ‘a responsiveness and openness that goes well beyond taking in sound along with an attentiveness to what has been said.’ To listen is to understand.

The definition of listening is ‘a responsiveness and openness that goes well beyond taking in sound along with an attentiveness to what has been said.’ To listen is to understand.

Three years ago a massive iceberg broke off the vast Antarctic ice shelf. It was so enormous that it was stuck there. Until last year, when it began spinning and then drifted away into the southern Atlantic.

Within the Clark family, Róis saw herself as the wild child and her brother (the only young Christian she knew) as the goodie two-shoes. Yet, by the end of uni, she felt a lonely longing for more than hedonism could offer her.

Our decision to come here was difficult. A huge leap of faith! My husband and I were born and raised in Kenya and we moved to the UK six years ago to do my Master’s in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship and to work.

In this festive season, we sing of peace on earth, but it can be hard to tune out the background thrum of anxiety. Jolly music everywhere tells us, ‘Let your heart be light’, ‘May your days be merry and bright’, ‘Peace on earth, can it be?’ – only sometimes adding the honest subtext of ‘If only in my dreams’.

I bumped into a friend whom I hadn’t seen in years. It was good to catch up on family life and reminisce about our student days, yet amidst the halcyon memories of our early 20s, there was one that stood in contrast from all the others. It was our shared experience of unemployment.

Maintaining intentionality in the midst of so many competing demands for our time and attention isn’t easy. Here are four ways of doing so.

Shei-Lin wouldn’t have chosen Leicester but, thanks to those who walked with her through hard times, this is where her roots have truly grown.

What if the decline of the church in the West is not its death knell but part of its rebirth? Could the pain and conflict we’re experiencing be the birth pangs of a church moving from one epoch to another?