Evangelical Alliance

What an incredible day of celebration, unity and God's transforming power! On Sunday 12 July, 20 churches from across Rotherham and the surrounding area gathered at Manvers Lake for our second annual public baptism celebration. Hosted by Liberty Church Rotherham and led by our pastor, Adrian Dexter, the event was a beautiful demonstration of what happens when churches come together with one heart and purpose to make Jesus known.

When was the last time you stepped away from everyday life to spend a weekend, a week or even just a few days focused on God? Perhaps it was a church weekend away, a youth holiday, a family conference or a retreat. If you’ve experienced one, chances are you can still remember it. Not necessarily every talk or seminar, but the conversations that carried on late into the evening, the friendships that were formed, the prayers that changed something, and the sense that God met you in a fresh way.

It has been a pleasure to serve the One People Commission (OPC) at the Evangelical Alliance for the past five years. As I prepare to leave, to lead Colchester Baptist Church, I have been reflecting on how the landscape around unity, integration and justice has shifted during those five years.

Ahead of the UK’s first-ever Christian grandparenting conference, Sarah Holmes, Scripture Union lead researcher, shares how grandparents are crucial to children’s faith and how churches can better support them Most people have fond memories and lots of nostalgia when it comes to grandparents and grandparent figures. Few would disagree that they are influential for the children and young people around them, .

Today (25 June), the UK government has published their proposals for a new law banning conversion practices. They are deeply concerning and include the threat of up to five years in prison for those found guilty. They risk criminalising parents, church leaders and all who live out a biblically orthodox view of sexuality and gender. The Evangelical Alliance supports protections against coercive, abusive and harmful practices. Every person should be treated with dignity and respect.

On Wednesday 29 April 2026 abortion was decriminalised when the Criminal Justice Bill received Royal Assent. Viewed in tandem with the current practice of telemedicine abortion and ​‘DIY at home abortions’, the legislation in effect legalises dangerous self-managed backstreet abortions – even up to birth. As I wrote when the bill was voted on in parliament, it weakens important safeguards for both lives, women and unborn children, and the integrity of pregnancy care.

1,200 people gathered on Bournemouth beach to see 43 people baptised in the sea on Sunday 21 June. An even larger turnout is expected ahead of 50 more beach baptisms this Sunday. The beach baptisms, which are now in their second year, are hosted by 14 churches across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) to form the BCP Church Collective. Wonderfully, the event has gained coverage on BBC News and in local media outlets.

The news can be hard to engage with. Sometimes it can feel easier to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the tragedy, fear and division exposed to us daily, at the click of a button. We are bombarded with headlines highlighting the polarisation and division cutting across all areas of life. Communities are fraught, the gap between the political left and right is widening and the trending cultural stories of the last few months reflect something stark.

"My childhood was shaped by the brutality of war and the loss of my mother", reflects Rita El-Mounayer, SAT-7's international CEO. Growing up in Lebanon, Rita experienced both profound loss and God’s sustaining presence. Looking back, she describes her life as being shaped by ​“the fierce protective love of my father … and by a God who wipes away every tear”.

The assisted suicide baton passes from Kim Leadbeater on to Lauren Edwards, Labour MP for Rochester and Strood. In the media build up to the first reading of the bill, Edwards expressed how she wanted the Lords to “finish its job” and pass the bill. The bill’s reintroduction is an opportunity to campaign for true choice at the end of life and squash support for the principle of assisted suicide for a generation, here’s how.