Several Australian religious authors publish under the Morning Star banner. These include progressives, Greg Jenks and Rex Hunt. (Rex led two events in the UK tour last year). Their books may be purchased via the usual Morning Star Publishing website but at a lower postage rate since the books will be now produced in the UK.

The three blogs will appear over the next week. The contributors are

13th November: Alan Race from south London who has written books about Interfaith Dialogue and Religious Pluralism. He will argue that religious diversity could be seen as 'the will of God' and that by dialogue with the other, we are better able to be ourselves.​

Click through to the full post in order to find the links to the Powerpoint sequences. You can also read a report about the tour.

PCN Britain is pleased to announce that Dr Val Webb will be conducting her third tour of the UK next spring. In 2013 and 2015 Val visited the UK to give talks to churches and PCN Groups on material from her many books (see www.valwebb.com.au). ​

PCN member Richard Eddleston has organised a meeting to launch the group. The initial meeting will be at the Friends Meeting House, Clarendon Street, Nottingham NG1 5JD on Monday 14th November at 2.00 pm

As well as a report on the conference from Adrian, this article contains links to audio recordings and transcripts of all the speakers.

Adrian Alker writes: Church attendance is rather higher in Australia than it is in the UK. A higher percentage of students are educated in Christian schools, colleges and universities. As in the US, it is not unusual to find Australian churches with well resourced social programmes.

This lecture, delivered today at the LSE in London, seemed to be making three points.

1. Religious identity is based less around scripture than believers commonly claim. Religious groups are equally if not more defined by their practices and their community. It is frequently the case that these customary and community influences are the drivers of belief.

Large numbers have been attending Brian McLaren's eight day speaking tour of the UK. He began his tour with a full day conference at the Oasis Centre in central London last Saturday (October 8th). The day concluded with a recorded conversation between the Oasis pastor, Steve Chalke and McLaren. Both pastors, Chalke and McLaren, have created waves in traditional Christian circles by their refusal to toe the line on matters such as gay marriage and Biblical literalism.

A video recording of events at the Oasis Centre will be available soon from the PCN website shop...

This day long conference, organised by PCN Britain, will take place at St Stephen's Church, BS1 1EQ, on Saturday 13th May 2017. These annual lectures pay tribute to ​Marcus Borg who died in 2015 and whose writings inspired and gave confidence to a new generation of Christians, rooted in the life and teaching of Jesus more than the nature of his death and what followed.

John Churcher is a retired Methodist minister, author of Setting Jesus Free and Dying to Live. He was a founding member of PCN Britain in 2003 and served as its chair for six years. This series of lectures represents the evolution of his own faith over this period.​

Following his stroke earlier this month, Bishop Jack Spong's planned tour of the UK next month is cancelled. The expected news was confirmed by his wife, Christine, this afternoon. We understand that Jack is now at a rehabilitation hospital near his home in New Jersey and there are good hopes that he will make a recovery. Arrangements for those who hold tickets.....

The Episcopal Diocese of Newark, New Jersey, made the following announcement yesterday

On Saturday morning Bishop Jack Spong had a stroke before a speaking engagement in Marquette, Michigan. The next few days are very important. His wife Christine and the Spong family would be grateful for your prayers

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As part of a look back on the ministry and influence​ the late Bishop of Durham, Adrian Alker has been invited to join a discussion on the Sunday Programme on Radio 4 tomorrow, Sunday 11th September. He will be appearing with Philip

North, Bishop of Burnley and the discussion is due to be broadcast sometime between 7.30 and 7.50am.

This is an opportunity for an experienced Minister who embraces contemporary, progressive Christian theology and has an understanding of the factors that contribute to psycho-spiritual wellbeing in us all.

You must be an experienced, soundly-researched and inspiring preacher who understands the opportunities a well-resourced city church can offer.

This list has been compiled by Maureen Bownas, who is chief librarian at the St Mark's Centre for Radical Christianity library, which you can access through our resource pages. All these books are available to borrow from the CRC.

Progressive Voices is the magazine of our network and we encourage contributions from members and fellow travellers.