Best of the Fests - thousands join together for summer worship

 AP

Summertime means one thing in the Christian calendar – tents, wellies and tens of thousands of Christians gathered together in worship.

Whether it's for New Wine, New Day, Soul Survivor, Momentum or Greenbelt, Christians all over the country – and even further afield – are braving the British weather, and we've pulled together some of the best tweets, pictures and videos from the summer festivals so far:

 

 

New Wine

Soul Survivor

New Day

News
Buddhism declines worldwide as ageing and disaffiliation take their toll, Pew study finds
Buddhism declines worldwide as ageing and disaffiliation take their toll, Pew study finds

Buddhism was the only major world faith to record a decline between 2010 and 2020.

Scotland: Eleventh hour plea to MSPs to reject assisted suicide
Scotland: Eleventh hour plea to MSPs to reject assisted suicide

Bishop John Keenan, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, is urging members of the Scottish Parliament to think of the vulnerable and vote against assisted suicide. 

Archbishop of Canterbury to embark on historic six-day pilgrimage
Archbishop of Canterbury to embark on historic six-day pilgrimage

The Archbishop of Canterbury will undertake a six-day pilgrimage before she is installed as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury later this month. 

Baptist seminary provides refuge to people displaced in Lebanon
Baptist seminary provides refuge to people displaced in Lebanon

The Arab Baptist Theological Seminary near Beirut is sheltering displaced people who fled their homes as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah forces hundreds of thousands of civilians across Lebanon to seek refuge.