The gem of British Christian journalism, the Christian Herald, will cease publication at the end of January 2006.

|TOP|The difficult decision was made by the trustees and executives of CPO, the publishers of Christian Herald, and it marks the end of an era in UK Christian publishing that began in 1874.

A news release on the newspaper’s website read: “Despite a range of initiatives in recent years to improve the paper's financial health, a combination of rising costs, the ongoing decline in reading amongst the UK Christian community, the changing nature of the news trade and the overall decline in advertising revenues in the newspaper industry have all contributed to the decision.”

Managing director of CPO, Paul Slide, said: “I’ve been associated with Christian Herald in various roles over the past 20 years and it’s been one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever been involved in.”

While the deputy editor and advertisement manager will be made redundant on the newspaper’s closure, other staff will be given new posts around the company.

|QUOTE|"We believe Christian Herald has fulfilled a unique role in informing the Christian world and will be sorely missed," said editor Russ Bravo, also development director of CPO.

"It has provided a breadth of reporting, analysis and coverage that denominational publications have not been able to match, and our international content has given consistent insight into God’s Church around the world."

Christian Herald began life over 130 years ago in Glasgow when it was founded by Anglican minister and evangelist Rev. Michael Baxter in July 1874 as a means of reporting the events surrounding the Moody and Sankey missions.

The Christian Herald started out as The Signs of Our Times and its peak circulation was 250,000 copies a week around 1900, making it the largest-selling religious periodical in the world.

|AD|Following the success of the UK Christian Herald, a US edition was launched in 1878 and published weekly until its closure in 1992.

Christian Herald published a range of sermons, Bible studies and theological books by Baxter’s wife Elizabeth, as well as sermons from some of the most famous preachers of the time including Charles Spurgeon, De Witt Talmage and R. A. Torrey.

Plans are currently underway to create a full digitalised archive of the complete publication from the first issue of 2 July 1874.

“This will ensure the preservation of a priceless body of heritage material for future generations, and unlock the contents by, in time, making them accessible for researchers, historians, Bible college students and others,” read the press release.

CPO now plans to launch a new Christian magazine, to be entitled ‘Inspire’, which is to be distributed each month to churches and individuals free of charge, which will offer a range of reports on the work of God in individuals, churches and Christian ministries.