In Depth:  Lydia Houghton

Lydia Houghton

A growing number of Christians are signing up to a programme committed to helping its students learn more about the Jewish roots of their faith.

The Church’s Ministry among Jewish People (CMJ) has launched “Torah Plus” – a programme focused on teaching how what is written in the first five books of the Bible (the Torah, or Pentateuch) is perfectly fulfilled in Jesus (or Yeshua), and exploring the Hebraic roots of Christianity.

Lydia Houghton

A Christian association is seeking to fill a reported gospel need in farming communities.

Tony Baskerville, Cheshire-based tenant farmer on the Rode Estate, Scholar Green, and elder at Grace Church, Sandbach, says that farmers are feeling increasingly marginalised. “There is a tremendous opportunity to reach out to them in genuine Christian love,” said Baskerville.

Lydia Houghton

In response to the increasingly prevalent liberal and progressive ideologies appearing in universities, a “new and unique” Christian college has been launched.

Selden College will be based in Oxford and has a twofold vision: to recover the heritage of Christian higher education, and to glorify God in this arena.

Lydia Houghton

A non-verbal teenager who uses his eyes to write is sharing his Christian faith through poetry, seven years on from the publication of his memoir.

Jonathan Bryan, 19, has cerebral palsy, and uses an alphabet board to communicate. His book Eye Can Write came out in 2018 – when he was only 12 years old – and details the silence, loneliness and pain of not being able to speak, and the experience of becoming literate and being able to communicate with his own words.

Lydia Houghton

The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) is launching a new Eastertime gathering, after popular Christian festival Word Alive shut down last year.

Rising Lights will take place from 6–10 April 2026 in the Devon town of Torquay, and is described as a chance to “hear God’s word, to praise our risen Saviour, and to rest.”