CHRISTIAN TODAY, the US-run news website, has stripped its editorial office in London of reporters.

At the end of last week, three journalists — James Macintyre, the managing editor, Harry Farley, the news editor; and the junior staff writer Joseph Hartropp — were informed that they were being made redundant — two of them with no redundancy pay-off.

The Christian Today website describes London as its main editorial office “with additional staff based in New York”. The only remaining journalist will be the Revd Mark Woods, a former editor of the Baptist Times and a consulting editor at the Methodist Recorder until he joined Christian Today.

The reason given for the redundancies is a downturn in the advertising revenue upon which the site relies.

Mr Woods said on Wednesday: “The last four years has seen Christian Today develop a very strong religious-affairs team, and we are very sad to see it dispersed. It has been a privilege to work with such excellent writers.

“Good journalism does need to be paid for, however, and we anticipate being able once again to build a strong and viable brand as conditions improve.”

Christian Today has been criticised in the past for the type of advertising it carries. Questions have also been raised about its ownership. It is one of a number of outlets, including the Christian Post and the International Business Times, founded by David Jang, a Korean pastor. He is also involved with Olivet University, a Bible college in California, and Newsweek magazine.