A Jewish place of worship. The word comes from Greek and means an assembly or gathering place. It is not clear how soon synagogues became widespread among places of Jewish diaspora. It was traditionally assumed that they grew up after the fall of ...

Esau was the elder twin son of Isaac and Rebekah. Despite being born before his twin, Jacob, he did not receive the birthright or blessing of the elder son. He sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew (see Genesis 25.29–34).

If you couldn’t join us live on 18 May (or you did and you want to watch again) here’s the recording of our livestream with everything you need to know about Bible mission in Ukraine and how you and your church can make a difference for refugees ...

Daniel is a book of two halves. The first six chapters contain stories about ‘Daniel’, an exile in a high position in the Babylonian court, and what he did to survive as a Jew in that potentially hostile environment. The final six chapters contai...

The book begins with God commanding Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife. The first few chapters describe what happened when he did so. Chapter 4 onwards contains messages from God via Hosea, first to the people of Israel (4–11) and then to the people...

The story of Judith features, unsurprisingly, Judith as its main hero. Judith, whom we are told was both very beautiful and a widow, was horrified that her fellow Jews did not trust in God to deliver them from their enemies, the Assyrians. So she wen...

The book of Isaiah is really important to me. I read it during the year that I was Student Union President at Exeter University. I’d just finished my degree in theology and suddenly found myself in charge of sixty staff. I was super, super busy and...

Our second child was called Zachary. Everything seemed normal, but when we went for the 12-week scan we discovered that he had Edwards’ Syndrome. There was 95 per cent chance that he wouldn’t survive the pregnancy. If he did, he’d only live for...

I worked in the City for many years. Life was brilliant on the trading floor. If you couldn’t stand pressure and didn’t have a sense of humour, it wasn’t the place to be! One lunchtime, two of my colleagues asked me to go to St Helen’s Bisho...

I was 27, married and we had a three-year-old son. I thought everything was rosy. But then my husband decided he couldn’t stay with me and off he went. The bottom dropped out of my world. When you are down, down, down as far as you think you can go...

Prior to becoming a Christian, I had a lot of superstitious feelings. I used to count to three before I did things. I never walked under a ladder. I would throw salt over my shoulder. I thought bad luck would befall me if I didn’t walk into the pat...

Both my parents were alcoholics and publicans. Church never featured at all. But I started singing at school when I was 11 and then was asked if I’d like to sing in the local church choir. I spent so much time on the streets trying to avoid being a...

I got married quite young. After a few years we wanted children, but after a few more years – during which time I’d had a miscarriage – nothing was happening, so we saw specialists for tests. They didn’t find anything, but we had unidentified...

I’d always read the Bible every day. But I was in a job that was all about following the money. Eventually, in a job like that, people become frustrated. Then, in 2011, I was in Kenya attending a conference. There was a break for reflection. I came...

When I was studying at Homerton, Cambridge, my good friend walked into my room one day, blew the dust off my Bible and said, “Why don’t you read your Bible?” At the same time, I’d taken up pottery. I carried on doing it until I was 80. It was...

I’ve only been living here for 19 months. During that time my husband has had two operations and pancreatic cancer. He’s doing very well. But it’s been quite a time for me. I’m only now starting to meet people. What sustained me when I came h...

I was reading economics at Durham university. The career path was most likely management consultancy. But I also played a lot of hockey and got chatting to a friend in the pub. I told him that I prayed sometimes. He invited me to church and it was th...

I grew up in Uganda. When I was about 19 or 20, I saw people like the Apostle Paul travel and there was a sense of urgency to what he did. I’m thinking, “There are 40 different tribes in Uganda, but Africa is much bigger, and oh, there are other ...

I was born here in Bethlehem. When I was a kid, about nine or ten, I went to Bible Society summer camps. That gave a message that added something to our lives. I was inspired by what I learned. What struck me was the way that people treated the kids,...

I was a teacher for 30 years. I was the head of music at a big school. One day I was called in and someone had accused me of an impropriety. I was supposed to have done it 30 years ago. I was extremely determined to make sure my name was cleared. I w...