News and Views File

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This is a space for news and other items -local or from the Web
(updated Jan 08 )

Eco-congregation
Money Matters
Global Churches Development Alliance Launched
Scottish Ecumenical Audit
Phones-4-Africa
Church attendance decline

St Peter's Church is becoming an Eco-Congregation!
The Church is examining every aspect of its life to make it as Green as possible and encouraging every member to look at their own lifestyle.

Eco-Congregation is an ecumenical programme helping churches make the link between environmental issues and Christian faith, and respond in practical action in the church, in the lives of individuals, and in the local and global community.
To find out more click here

Money Matters-Transforming giving
Stewardship is a charity known to many of us for facilitating our giving on a regular basis; it also publishes a regular newsletter called SHARE providing information and guidance for Churches and individuals on Biblical giving and money management.To quote

' We see Stewardship as more than a service. It is a value - a lifestyle choice that recognises God's ownership of all that we have.

Our approach is twofold:

• Facilitating effective giving - serving over 20,000 donors, we distribute more than £30 million of giving into God's world every year.
• Promoting biblical principles and practice - of joyful giving, planned stewardship, and generosity.

Raising Standards
Our vision is for a transformed Church, where financial and legal administration is a model of integrity and efficiency.
We facilitate this by providing a range of legal and financial support services.
Our distinctive: We combine technical expertise with genuine understanding of your spiritual purposes.

Sharing Knowledge
We view everything we do according to the perspective of the Kingdom of God. Working together, we will always accomplish more.
We provide training events and resources. We partner strategically with others. We link people together. If we do not have the resource, we can often point to someone who does.
Our approach is to share knowledge and co-ordinate resources for greater impact.

Headings in the latest issue of SHARE include 'an interview with Mark Greene', Six ways to launch a church fundraising campaign', 'National minimum wage', Timeline for Charities to act'. For more information click here

GLOBAL CHURCHES' DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE LAUNCHED
ACT (Action by Churches Together) Development brings together churches and related organizations across the world mandated to work to eradicate poverty, injustice and the abuse of human rights, with a particular focus on long-term development. The new alliance thus becomes one of the largest global networks for development in existence more

Scottish Ecumenical Audit
The results of an ecumenical audit of three Scottish towns and cities has been released by ACTS.

In the midst of changing patterns and structures of church and the challenges this presents locally and nationally, ACTS commissioned researcher Mairi Munro to carry out an ecumenical audit.

Her brief was to discover and reflect upon the nature of ecumenical engagement in three distinct areas of Scotland and to identify current insights, opportunities and needs on the ecumenical journey.

Focusing on Paisley, Inverness and St Andrews, and working through the local Churches Together Groups, people in local churches were asked to engage in workshops, interviews and a postal questionnaire to describe and reflect upon their ecumenical experience.

This generated information on the nature of ecumenical activity, the challenges at local level, resources and support required from a national level. more

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Phones-4-Africa
Don't dump your old mobile-phones- recycle them! There are several agencies which will recycle these; I have heard that we can dump old mobile phones at 31 Minto St, the office of our MP. Nigel Griffith's is supporting Phone-4-Africa.
Having just returned from Uganda I have seen how important mobile phones are to people there. Few have landlines or computers so the mobile has become essential for emergencies and keeping safe or in touch;-and not easily affordable.
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Church attendance decline
The rate of decline in church attendance is slowing, according to the latest English Church Census. In Pulling out of the Nose Dive, researcher Dr Peter Brierley reveals that an upsurge of ethnic minority churchgoers and growth in a third of churches have put the brakes on church decline in the last seven years. Half a million left the churches during this time compared to 1 million in the nine years before. Nevertheless, only 6.3 per cent of the population are in the pews today compared to 7.5 per cent in 1998. Across the church as a whole, the average fall is 15 per cent, with Roman Catholics and Methodists faring the worst. Pentecostal churches are experiencing the fastest growth (at almost 5 per cent). Black-led churches, especially those that attract recent immigrants, are flourishing. Inner London is one of the areas benefiting most. The capital also has 57 per cent of all worshippers in their 20s, the survey found.
Sources: Church Times (22/9); Baptist Times (21/9); Methodist Recorder (21/9)

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