In the past, we’ve talked in this blog about changing attitudes to Christianity in British society. This week, Mark Pritchard MP called for a debate on Christianophobia in Westminster Hall. He told the BBC: ‘The debate is not about doing God or theocracy. It’s about ensuring that the Christian tradition of our nation is recognised.’ The MP also added that he would ’seek to slay the fashionable dragon of political correctness’ which was ‘assaulting’ the nation’s Christmas traditions.

This comes in the same week that a Sunday Telegraph poll revealed that only one in five schools are planning to stage a traditional nativity play this Christmas. And Royal Mail has traditionally alternated between sacred and secular designs for their Christmas stamps, and this year it is the turn for a religious image. But in fact they have issued two designs this year: ‘angels’ are the first choice unless (as their website suggests) ‘you prefer a more religious image on your Christmas post’ when you can request a Madonna and Child.

Click here to listen to Simon Mayo’s Radio 5 show which discusses what life is like for Christians in the UK in 2007.

This Sunday (14 October 07) at Emmanuel is a good week to visit us if you are student within reach of Bramcote!  Every student who comes this week to our Sunday meeting at 10.30 will get a free lunch hosted at the home of one of our church families.

If you are at Nottingham Uni, meet us on Friday evening at our stand at the CU’s Churches Fair at 9.00-10.00pm in Room B23 in the Maths and Physics building.

Two Ways to Live is a simple way of explaining what Christians believe.  It can be learnt as a basic outline using six pictures which make it easy to remember.  Plus there’s a Bible verse that shows where each step in this outline comes from.

At Emmanuel, we’ve been running a training course to learn Two Ways to Live which is helping us to have a thorough knowledge of what the gospel is, and the ability to share it with someone else clearly and naturally when the opportunity arises.

If you’d like to know a bit more about Two Ways to Live, follow this link. 

Emmanuel is now in summer holiday mode. A number of people are away at various times during these summer months, and most of our midweek groups are taking a short break. However, we still meet every Sunday at 10.30am at Bramcote Hills Sport and Community College, meeting rather more informally in the Library (- follow the same directions, and the Library is just inside the main reception area of the school). There are summer groups on Sundays for all ages of children and young people, from babies up to School Year 9. There’s music, some quiet and prayers, chat and, as always, listening to the Bible read and explained; we’re especially grateful that a number of friends from Beeston Free Church will be visiting us as preachers.

So, we’re still very definitely open for business, and if you’re wanting to try us out, these Sundays are a good time to pop in a for a visit. You’ll get a good feel for what makes us tick, and a chance to meet a smaller number of people in relaxed surroundings over a good strong cup of coffee. Come any week soon!

Our full programme gets going again from Sunday 09 September: watch this space.