Premier Christian Newscast

In amongst the comings and goings of Westminster over the last few weeks, there might have been one event that slipped your attention. The International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief saw religious leaders flock to central London to talk about persecuted people of faith. Whether it is Christians being attacked in Nigeria – as we heard about just a few weeks ago on the show...

Twelve-year-old Archie Battersbee was found unresponsive and severely brain damaged at his home in April. He never regained consciousness and had to be put on ventilation to be kept alive in hospital. For several months he was the subject of a legal tussle between his doctors who believed he was brain dead and that his life support should be turned off, and his parents who argued he could recover...

Christians are no strangers to the world of boxing. In fact there is a disproportionate number of believers competing compared to other sports. Not an event goes by without someone having a Bible verse written on their shorts or someone giving glory to God in a post-fight TV interview. So what draws people to this dangerous game and does a belief in God give you an advantage in the ring? For this...

Last year, more Christians were killed in Nigeria than the rest of the world combined, according to data from the charity Open Doors. And attacks against believers have only increased in 2022, culminating in a horrific atrocity in June when at least 40 worshippers were killed during a Pentecost service. Yet even as the shootings, bombings and kidnappings increase, Nigeria’s government, the interna...

On the 24th of June, one of the most momentous US Supreme Court decisions of the past century – Roe v Wade – was overturned. The constitutional right guaranteeing abortion for American women in all 50 states, which had stood since 1973, was no more. In the month or so since, the consequences of the end of Roe have started rippling out in all directions. Many states have already banned or severely...

Next week, more than 600 bishops from around the world will descend on Canterbury to spend two weeks in prayer, worship, Bible study and discussion. Fourteen years in the making, this will be the 15th Lambeth Conference – a gathering of every bishop in the 46 independent churches that make up the Anglican Communion. But all is not well within global Anglicanism. Huge divisions on sexuality and mar...

This week we’re digging into the thorny question of whether church leaders should get involved in politics. The British government’s new policy of forcibly sending asylum seekers to be assessed and resettled in Rwanda has provoked unprecedented criticism from Church of England archbishops and bishops, and other prominent Christian voices. Justin Welby famously said in a sermon the plans would not...

Franklin Graham, son of famous US evangelist Billy Graham, is in the middle of a UK evangelistic stadium tour. It's a triumphant return for the American preacher after his last attempt at a UK tour in 2020 saw all eight venues cancel on him after pressure from activists opposed to his language on same-sex relationships. But is Graham’s brand of no-holds-barred American evangelicalism likely to fin...

This week we’re digging into something little covered in the media – the decline (and possible rebirth) of the Christian bookshop. Bricks and mortar stores selling Christian resources have been steadily closing down for decades, hit by competition from the internet, declining footfall on the high street, and maybe simply that there are fewer and fewer Christians to sell to. In today’s episode we’r...

Five years ago, two suicide bombers targeted Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority in twin deadly attacks on church services. The Palm Sunday blasts in 2017 left 45 worshippers dead and more than 120 injured. For this week’s Newscast we’re diving back into the Premier archive to bring you a fascinating and tragic documentary exploring the impact the Palm Sunday bombings have had on Egypt’s embattled C...

A perfect storm of rocketing prices and bills in everything from petrol to energy to food has meant making ends meet is getting harder and harder for millions, not just in the UK but around the world too. Many people were already struggling as a result of the pandemic lockdowns and recessions, and so the impact of soaring inflation – which hit a 40-year high of 9% in May – has been devastating for...

The Church of Scotland's general assembly voted 274 to 136 just a few weeks ago to change their laws to allow gay marriages in church for the first time. The culmination of years of debate and an even longer campaign, the decision was marked by celebration from some in the church and deep regret from more conservative elements. The Church of Scotland has now become the seventh major denomination i...

Brian and Bobbie Houston - the Australian power couple who have grown the Hillsong movement from a church plant in the Sydney suburbs to an empire that today spans 125 sites across 27 countries - are the church’s Global Senior Pastors no more. The couple stood down earlier this year amid a series of scandals, including allegedly failing to report Brian’s father’s historic sexual abuse and a myster...

Raising awareness around mental health is well embedded in the church, but how well are we doing at actually caring for those experiencing mental health problems in our congregations? In this episode we explore new research from Kintsugi Hope on what those in the pews really think about mental health, plus we interview Christians who live with mental health conditions about what churches must do t...

In the first episode of this brand new podcast we look at how the church in the Ukraine and around the world responded to the war with Russia. How should we respond when under attack, and how do we know what news to trust?