Greenbelt 07

For a day-by-day account of what happened you can read here, suffice to say that we included another meeting in our itenary and have some exciting plans for next year when hopefully things will get underway. We are also about to release a report on churches and have a general meeting planned for October, so stay tuned!

Catholics Vs Amnesty International

This is one of those arguments which is risky to get involved with because it is very emotive, although that shouldn't really stop anyone.
If there is something at the core of Catholic teaching and in Amnesty's mission it's the sanctity of human life and the right for human beings to live in dignity and love, this is a Catch 22 situation for some. On one hand it is an experience too horrible for words for a woman to find she is pregnant as a result of being raped. On the other there is the value of human life even when it is in the womb.
There are no hard and fast solutions as such and it's one we all need to hold in prayer and deal with in a sensitive and thoughtful manner

Progress on Korean Hostage Crisis in Afghanistan

In this day and age it's easy to be cynical with certain news stories and not expect miracles and answers to prayer, but just sometimes it does happen.
Lets pray that they are all released and that peace, genuine Godly peace, comes to Afghanistan

Cuban churches take bold step

Churches in Cuba are planning a co-ordinated mission programme across the country on a huge scale.
The Baptist World Alliance has reported that the Baptist Convention of Eastern Cuba is planning to reach out to 500,000 people and the Western Convention aims to plant 1,000 house churches by 2010. Whereas parts of the Christian community in Cuba have struggled to grow in the past, recent reports suggest that the last decade has seen some growth.Open Doors (a charity which works for persecuted Christians worldwide) lists Cuba as the 24th country in its 'world's top 50 worst persecutors of Christians', and suggests that there is "periodic harassment of Christians" and that "it is almost impossible to register churches". It also claims that "there are about 900 legal and 15,000 illegal house churches" in Cuba.
However, it also states that since 1990 government pressure on churches has lessened and the 1992 constitution declared discrimination against Christians illegal, although how much this has been upheld is questionable. Nevertheless, one Cuban church leader described the hope of the latest drive by the Baptist conventions in Cuba, saying, "these are very exciting times for the church in Cuba . . . We used to think people should come and we would make disciples. Now, we are going into our towns and villages and reaching people to make disciples".

Cameron in Rwanda

Recently a lot of flak has been given about David Cameron's trip to Rwanda and as a Labour Party member it would be easy for me more than others to pick holes for the sake of cheap political scoring (and to be fair I am sure it would be the same the Conservatives if it was a Labour leader in opposition doing this).
But this was something that had been planned for weeks beforehand, before the floods, and the Conservative leader did try and keep in touch with events. I agree that he should have shown more commitment to the plight of some of his constituents, but at the same time he was highlighting the need for the West not to turn it's back on the poorer nations of Africa, even when it is out of the limelight.
This can be seen as a challenge to all Conservatives to give more support to the various aid charities and the work that the government is doing to try and tackle debt relief and has been the aim of the aforementioned organisations for some years now. It is hard work, so some form of moral and active support from the opposition is to be welcomed and one hopes that grassroots Conservatives follow the example of the leader!

Paul Burgin
(Jt CPF Co'Ordinator)