Season’s Greetings to all members of the Free Churches Group

As we stand in the precious gap between 2025 and 2026, the story at the centre of this season still speaks with amazing clarity. The nativity is far more than a tender scene—its truth is bold, unsettling, and filled with promise. A child is born into a world shaped by imperial power, social strain, and communities struggling under the pressure of political decisions made far above them. Yet through this child, God’s presence breaks into ordinary life with a courage that cannot be silenced.

This year has carried its own troubles and joys. Across the nations, households have endured financial uncertainty, stretched public services, political volatility, and widening fault lines in our common life. Too many live with the unspoken ache of isolation, exhaustion, or grief. Many communities feel unseen. And yet, in the midst of this, signs of grace continue to rise: communities supporting one another, churches standing with those pushed aside, people choosing compassion even when the world encourages impatience and fear.

The Christmas story meets us here as witness and as revelation.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it” (John 1:5).

This is the heartbeat of the incarnation: that God steps into places where people struggle to breathe freely, and affirms their dignity without condition. God’s presence arrives in vulnerability, aligning with those who know what it is to be overlooked or pushed to the margins.

The family at the centre of the Christmas story journeys under imperial decree, their later flight from danger, and their resilience in the face of injustice mirror the world we inhabit. Families today move across borders seeking safety; communities navigate pressures created by systems that count numbers and neglect lives; people hold hope through journeys they did not choose. Christmas reveals that God is already there—in the displacement, in the uncertainty, in the fragile courage that keeps families moving toward life.

As the Free Churches, our vocation is rooted in this truth. We are called to shape communities where justice is lived, not merely spoken; where compassion is genuine; where the voices of those most affected by the decisions of the powerful are not nudged to the edges but brought to the centre. Our witness must speak to the world as it is, while insisting on the world that can be.

The year ahead will bring its share of demands. Yet it also carries possibility—new alliances for justice, fresh commitments to healing, deeper solidarity with the vulnerable, and renewed courage to speak truth in public life. May we enter the coming year with hearts attuned to God’s movement: steady, compassionate, and bold.

My prayer for us all is that we step into the future with clarity of purpose; that we continue to lift the voices of those long unheard; that our churches become places where hope takes root in real and tangible ways; and that the light that rises in the Christmas story shines through our common life with strength and grace.

May peace, courage, and God’s liberating love accompany you into the year ahead.

Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson

Moderator of the Free Churches Group

Volunteer Lay & Professional Director Vacancies – UK Board of Healthcare Chaplaincy (UKBHC)

As described within its communication below, the UK Board of Healthcare Chaplaincy is the Professional Standards Authority accredited register for chaplains working in health and social care settings. Rather like the General Medical Council or the Nurses and Midwifery Council, the Board sets standards for safe and competence practice as well as accrediting training and education. As registration becomes mandatory within Scotland, and other nations are encouraged to follow suit, the work of the Board will take on increasing importance. The directors play a critical role in both enabling and shaping the work of the Board. If you feel passionate about the benefit of safe, high-quality, evidence-based and patient centred chaplaincy care being provided as part of holistic care within health and social are setting I’d encourage you to consider applying for one of the vacant director positions.

Volunteer Lay & Professional Director Vacancies – UK Board of Healthcare Chaplaincy (UKBHC) 

The UKBHC has a number of exciting opportunities for four volunteer Directors to join our Board.   

The primary aim of the Board is the safety and wellbeing of the public, which it achieves by setting high standards for the professional practice of healthcare chaplains as a Professional Standards Authority accredited register. UKBHC holds a register of healthcare chaplains who have fulfilled its criteria for admission as registrants, as well as members who do not yet meet these criteria and who are committed to a high professional standard for healthcare chaplaincy working within the code of conduct. 

Chaplains and Spiritual Care professionals come from many different traditions and belief groups, including non-religious beliefs, and are united by their common focus on the individual and their own values, beliefs and ways of making meaning during the challenges life can throw our way.   

The work Chaplains and Spiritual Care professionals do is very important to patients, family members and to healthcare staff.  The Board is proud to support these dedicated professionals.  One of our outgoing Directors said recently "I've found it very rewarding to work with such a diverse, dedicated and caring group of people who all share a commitment to raising the profile of Chaplaincy in healthcare and sustaining standards." 

To reflect this diversity, we are actively seeking to recruit Directors from as wide a variety of cultural backgrounds and faith traditions as possible.  We welcome and encourage applications from all faith traditions, including those from people with a non-religious worldview. 

You will be required to attend to Directors duties which currently include full day meetings 4 times per year - 3 times online and once face to face.  Between these meetings, Directors undertake a range of creative and administrative tasks vital to fulfilling our mission of maintaining standards.  The usual commitment is around 8 hours per month. 

We are seeking to recruit: 

2 Professional Directors & 2 Lay Directors. 

Professional Directors are required to be Registered Chaplains. Our current vacancies for Professional Directors are for an Academic Standards Lead and a Board Secretary*. You will need to be knowledgeable about the role and experiences of Chaplains/Spiritual Care Professionals across the UK and will need to demonstrate to us that you have the professional knowledge and skills to help us maintain the effective running of our organisation.  

Lay Directors cannot be Chaplains/Spiritual Care professionals. Lay Directors contribute by facilitating and challenging the wider Board of Directors to be rigorous and evidence-based in decision-making, problem solving and planning. Lay Directors often have a career background that brings useful skills and knowledge to the Board. We are particularly keen to hear from those who have business management, regulatory, or legal experience.  

You can contact our Chair, Sarah Crane chair@ukbhc.org.uk if you would like to have a conversation regarding these roles prior to making an application. Please apply by completing our application form (Lay Director, Board Secretary, Academic Standards Lead) and emailing it to the above email address. Interviews will take place during November and be held on Microsoft Teams. All appointments will be ratified by our December Board meeting and candidates will be informed after this point.  

These are unpaid, volunteer posts but we cover out of pocket expenses. 

*Company Secretarial services are provided by Wilson Partners 

 Kind regards,

Sarah Crane (she/her/hers)
UKBHC Chair
Chair@ukbhc.org.uk 

Statement from the Free Churches Group, England and Wales

On behalf of the Free Churches Group of England and Wales, the Moderator, Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson, extends heartfelt congratulations and warm good wishes to the Most Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally DBE on her historic appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury.

We wish you every strength, courage, and joy in this sacred calling, and pray that you feel God’s presence in each moment of discernment, service, and witness.

May God’s grace and goodness surround you, sustain you, and shine through your ministry in the years ahead.

Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson

Moderator

Free Churches Group

A stabbing attack at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue earlier today

The Free Churches Group mourns the tragic attack at a synagogue in Manchester on the holiest day in the Jewish year and strongly condemns all acts of violence.

Our hearts and prayers are with those who have been injured, their families, and all who are grieving the loss of loved ones. We give thanks for the courage and dedication of the emergency services in responding so swiftly.

At this difficult time, we pray for healing, for compassion to guide our actions, and for communities across the UK to stand together in understanding, peace, and love.

Education Sunday 14th September 2025: Lost and found

“Lost and Found” is the theme for Education Sunday 2025.

On Education Sunday, 14 September, we will be looking at the well-known parables from Luke’s Gospel, the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin (Luke 15.1-10).

In our schools, colleges and universities, there are many young people who feel lost, or appear to be lost. This can be because the institutions are so big that they don’t feel noticed, because don’t feel they fit with the expectations of the institution or their peers or because of the unseen struggles at home. Others appear to us to be lost because of the way they behave or fail to engage.

The introduction to the 2025 Education Sunday theme has been written by Rev Viviene Royal, the Executive Head of two alternative provision schools in the West Midlands. She says: “Our work is about being relentless in the search: finding the young person who’s become disconnected, rebuilding trust, and unlocking the door to learning again. We focus on the individual, and one-to-one pastoral support is key. Like the shepherd and the woman, we search and we keep searching.”

Please visit the CTE website to download the Education Sunday resources.

In addition to the usual resources for worship, we will be hosting a webinar helping churches to explore the issues raised by the TV series Adolescence and to consider how churches might respond on Tuesday, 16 September, from 4.30–6 pm.