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Home for Good is a church-based fostering and adoption campaign. A joint initiative of the Evangelical Alliance, Care for the Family, and CCPAS, the campaign is using a network of churches across the UK to encourage and support Christian families to consider adoption. There are currently 4,600 children waiting to be adopted in England alone, something the Evangelical Alliance's mission director Krish Kandiah calls a "scandal". Having fostered a total of 16 children, one of whom he and his wife eventually adopted, Krish is passionate about the Home for Good campaign and hopes that through it, more Christians will be encouraged to open up their homes to children who don't have a family of their own. "The Bible is really clear that God cares about vulnerable children. He describes himself many times as a Father to the fatherless and protector of widows and orphans," Krish notes. "That's what drives our campaign."
Christians are being encouraged to share a little peace with their neighbours, in the form of a new booklet from the Methodist Church. Lavishly illustrated, A Gift of Peace features encouraging words from the Bible as well as reflections on peace from a variety of authors including Lao Tzu, Benjamin Franklin and Mother Theresa of Calcutta. Rev Alison Tomlin, President of the Methodist Conference, said: ‘In the midst of an increasingly chaotic and unsettled world, we all need God’s peace more than ever. We hope that this booklet will enrich the way we think and pray about peace and will help people to make a little more space in their lives for reflection.’ Churches are encouraged to give the booklets away as well as using them for personal or small group reflection. A Gift of Peace is available from Methodist Publishing at £5 for 50 copies and can be purchased online. Pray: for all those who receive the booklet that they will take time to reflect and receive God’s peace. (Jude 2) More: http://www.methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.newsDetail&newsid=457
Girls as young as 13 are facing pressure to appear in home-made porn movies, teachers warned yesterday. Young teenagers are also submitting to demands from boys for explicit photos which are often shared among friends and even placed on the internet for millions to view. A conference was told yesterday how easy access to depraved online content is destroying children’s innocence and changing how they perceive themselves and others. Delegates warned that lads’ mags, the surge in explicit ‘mummy porn’ novels, exposure to inappropriate movies and the depiction of women in computer games are also contributing to a dramatic moral decline among the young. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ annual conference in Liverpool warned that pornography and other depraved imagery was becoming part of everyday life. Delegates called for sex education classes to be used to explain to pupils that the behaviour they see online is not normal and the ‘perfect’ bodies they see are usually unattainable.
Pray: against those who are presurising the young to get involved in pornography. (Ps.140:4)
Schoolgirls as young as 13 are being given contraceptive injections and implants during lunch-breaks without their parents’ knowledge. School nurses have given implants or jabs to girls aged between 13 and 16 more than 900 times in the past two years, a survey by The Daily Telegraph has found. On more than 20 occasions this has been given to girls aged 13. A further 7,400 girls aged 15 and under have been given contraceptive injections or implants at family planning clinics. Under the patient confidentiality rules, nurses are banned from seeking the permission of parents beforehand, or even informing them afterwards, without the pupil’s permission. Dr Peter Saunders, Chief Executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said sex under the age of 16 is illegal and ‘to facilitate such behaviour behind parents’ backs is unprofessional, irresponsible and morally wrong’. Earlier this year, parents in Southampton were furious after discovering that implants were being offered to their daughters
Pray: for parents to be allowed to fulfil their responsibilities and moral guidance for their children and not have them covertly removed by government agencies. (Gal.5:19)
Teachers will today call for an investigation into rising levels of poor behaviour among girls in the classroom. The girls, they argue, are more likely to resort to cyber-bullying – the form of bullying utilising the internet and mobile phones that is worrying school leaders. A survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) reveals that half the teachers believed girls' behaviour had got worse during the past two years. One in five thought it was now more challenging than boys. Teachers interviewed for the survey accused girls of being ‘sneakier’ than boys in the way they misbehaved. They were also more adept at using modern social media such as Facebook to bully their fellow pupils. ‘Girls spread rumours and fallouts last a long time,’ a 34-year-old teacher from Reading told researchers. ‘Boys tend to sort it out fairly quickly.’ Pray: for our young people that they will take a stand against such bullying. (Ps.94:16)
Girls wanting to become Guides, Brownies or Rainbows currently promise to ‘love’ God when signing up to the 101-year-old organisation. However, the association is considering reviewing the wording of its affirmation for new members, to remove religious references. The move comes after parents complained it was unfair to exclude children who had not received a Christian upbringing. The promise is optional but only girls who have taken it can be awarded the movement's highest badges. Christian campaigners yesterday warned that the 600,000-member association risks losing its values if it abandons the religious element of the oath. 'It would be terribly sad,' said Mike Judge, spokesman for The Christian Institute. ‘The Girl Guides has always embraced all people but has its roots in Christian values, which is what has made it so popular and successful. It will be very difficult for it to maintain its values if it removes the ethics from where those ideas spring.’
Pray: for the association to look at other options so that they can retain the promise to ‘love God’. (Mt.22:37)
Girlguiding UK are consulting the public on whether the Girlguiding Promise should be changed to ‘make it more meaningful to girls and women.’ The consultation follows a similar move from the Scout Association, (See Prayer Alert 49-2012) which is also consulting the public on possible changes to the Scout Promise. Girls make the Promise when they join the Guides, which includes the vows to ‘love my God’ and ‘serve the Queen and my country.’ It will be the first major reform under the Guides’ recently appointed chief executive Julie Bentley. Some alternatives put forward to replace the reference to God in the Promise are ‘to search for the spiritual value in my life’ and ‘serve the highest truth and love faithfully at all times.’ The potential changes follow two cases of families who wanted their children to become Guides but objected to the oath.
Pray: that pressure from a small atheist minority will not cause the movement to revise its founding principles. (1Cor.3:10)
More: http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/social/girl-guides-consider-dropping-god-from-promise
Charities are being urged to ensure they are clued up about changes to claiming Gift Aid. A new system went live on Monday replacing paper claims forms with an online service requiring charities to connect their databases directly to HMRC's computers or make claims by uploading data via standard HMRC spreadsheets. Charities have until September to update their systems but Stewardship and NCVO are concerned that awareness of the changes is low among the estimated 100,000 charities claiming Gift Aid. They fear many charities have underestimated the challenges involved in making the adjustment. While charities are being advised to review the HMRC guidance with urgency, the organisations are also asking HMRC to take further steps to make sure charities are aware of the changes and able to meet the September deadline.
Pray: for wisdom and understanding as they adjust to the new regulations. (Pr.2:6)
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/gift.aid.warning.to.charities/32222.htm
Research and surveys show that many atheists, agnostics, and spiritual-seekers are former Christians. There was no research-based book that explained in depth why people were leaving, until Generation Ex-Christian. This recently released book by Drew Dyck, editorial manager of the ministry team at Christianity Today International, breaks down ‘leavers’ into six categories: postmodern leavers, recoilers, modern leavers, neo-pagans, rebels, and drifters. These categories were formed after Dyck interviewed nearly 100 people while researching the book. ‘I’m not a sociologist or statistician, but I knew as a journalist I could bring something to this issue by introducing people to some of the faces and the stories behind the statistics’, Dyck said, ‘and by providing profiles of these, what I call ‘leavers’, these 20-somethings and early-30s that have walked away from the faith’. He continued ‘then provide some kind of tips on how to engage them in meaningful conversations about God that will ultimately lead them back’.
Pray: that this work will assist the success of the mission of God's church. (Rev. 2:7)
Andrea Minichiello Williams spoke to the General Synod today (6 Feb), challenging the Church of England to take a stand for traditional marriage before it is too late. Urging the Presidents of the Synod (the two Archbishops) to authorise an Emergency Debate, Andrea Williams, member of the General Synod and CEO of Christian Concern, called on the Church to resist David Cameron’s attempt to introduce same-sex marriage, noting that such a concept is contrary to both the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. ‘If the national Church were to stand for marriage as traditionally defined then our Prime Minister would be defeated even before he began. Is it not the job of the established Church to hold Government to account and not to let her stray from biblical precepts which are good not just for individuals but for communities and nations?’
Pray: that the challenge laid down by Andrea will be taken seriously by the Church. (Mt.19:1-6)