A Methodist minister will be offering visitors to Trafalgar Square a touch of midweek spirituality as he leads a worship service from the fourth plinth, alongside Nelson’s Column and the imposing facade of the National Gallery.

If watching football is a waste of time with redeeming moments, much the same could be said about prayer, says Simon Barrow. In a world over-attached to achievement, we lose sight of the fact that what is really 'worth it' is often not conventionally 'productive'.

If there's anything more disheartening than this week's report on social mobility, it's the government's response to it. Their timid proposals for higher education are unlikely to do anything to challenge the way that the education system functions to maintain privilege and inequality.

Genuine hope is quite different from optimism or wishful thinking, says Simon Barrow. To understand it we need fresh eyes attuned to the artfulness of reality and the presence of love even in the midst of suffering.

The Accord Coalition has welcomed the findings of a report published yesterday (9 July) examining community cohesion and segregation in Blackburn with Darwen.

Guns in church show that whatever is said about trust in God, it's really the threat of violence that we are trusting, says Simon Barrow. And this contradiction opens up a rich vein of satire against our patently false gods.

Politicians and Congolese church leaders launched the Prayer for Peace in Congo initiative at the House of Lords today (June 30), calling for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

The Church of England has called for greater investment in public health programmes aimed at teenagers, in a submission to UK advertising regulating bodies.

Talmudic study opens the door to an understanding of obedience that does not crush the enquiring mind, says Giles Fraser. The text of Scripture, rightly understood, both questions us and affirms our questioning.

A cruciform tree, a radiating Cain eyed by a simmering Abel, and a doveish floating vision: these are just a few of the images you will see as part of the vital but little-known Methodist Art Collection, says Simon Barrow.

Students and staff at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) have welcomed a partial victory in their dispute with university authorities over the abuse of cleaning staff.