Premier Christian Newscast

The podcast, brought to you by Premier, which takes you deeper into the stories impacting Christians around the world. Each week, we’ll dig into a particular issue, hearing from those directly involved or with a vested interest to make sense of the story and why it matters.

Abortion and the pro-life movement in the post-Roe era

25 Jul 2022
28:50

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....

The Lambeth Conference

18 Jul 2022
35:18

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...

The church in politics: Rwanda, bishops and the House of Lords

11 Jul 2022
31:50

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 criti...

Franklin Graham: The right messenger for the gospel?

4 Jul 2022
38:23

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 pre...

The decline of the Christian bookshop

27 Jun 2022
25:12

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 fr...

Remembering Egypt’s Palm Sunday bombings

20 Jun 2022
31:28

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 in...

The cost of living crisis

13 Jun 2022
24:04

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 resu...

The Church of Scotland and gay marriage

6 Jun 2022
31:08

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 celeb...

Leadership in crisis at Hillsong Church

30 May 2022
32:20

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 co...

Mental health friendly churches

22 May 2022
42:50

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...

Ukraine: the response of Christians

10 May 2022
33:25

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?