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Servicemen and women are coming to the end of their deployment and are being replaced on a gradual changeover in Afghanistan. This is a vulnerable time for service personnel. Anticipating a safe return, service personnel need to stay vigilant right until they get on the aircraft to go home. We all should be aware of their damaging memories from incidents witnessed during their deployment and support them if they require to seek professional help because they find it difficult adjusting to normal life.
Pray: that they will adjust quickly back into their normal routines and family life. (Heb 13:17)
The Armed Forces are undergoing a dramatic reduction in size and reorganisation. Over 6,600 personnel across all three services were notified of their selection for redundancy in the first two tranches, which took place in 2011 and 2012. The third tranche, affecting only the Army, was announced in January 2013. A fourth tranche is expected in early 2014. The complete process should be over by the middle of 2015 with approximately 9,500 people expected to be released under tranche 3 and 4. Up to 5,300 Army personnel are in the pool for redundancy in tranche 3. Those selected for redundancy in tranche 3 will be told on 18 June 2013.
Pray: for those Service personnel as they wait to hear if they are losing their job. Please pray for the families as they have to face finding homes, new schools and a new life situation. (Jer. 29:11)
More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21134353
The penultimate British force has arrived in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. These troops were once in more than 130 bases, but this is now down to five, and will reduce still further. They now rarely patrol and the formation of the brigade has changed too. They have enough armour and infantry to protect them from Taliban attacks, but a large part of the force is made up of engineers and logisticians engaged in packing what they can to take back to UK and disposing of what they cannot. Many of the troops now arriving in Helmand will stay for nine months, but some will leave earlier as the force rapidly scales back. Please pray for the families who are facing a long nine month separation from their loved ones, and especially for the children who are fearful of Daddy being away.
Pray: that the draw down will be peaceful and safe. Please pray against attacks from the Taliban which might hinder this process. (Ps.140:4)
Hundreds of thousands of Christians across Britain and Ireland are joining in the 2013 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in churches across these islands. The Week is an annual event marked by churches of all traditions - Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, evangelical and indigenous. It runs from 18-25 January, though many congregations were most involved on last Sunday, 20 January. The collaborative event aims at building bridges in witness and common service between Christians of many backgrounds and understandings, and is promoted by ecumenical bodies nationally and internationally. The theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2013 comes from an ecumenical group in South India. They have reflected upon their own context and offer to people across the globe thematic ideas that call fellow Christians to respond to the obligation to act justly in the world. The text is taken from Micah 6.6-8.
Pray: for a significant legacy from the week of prayer. ( Mic. 6:6-8)
More: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/17826
With austerity being the talk of the day, the Bishop of Bath and Wells has challenged the church to step up and be the ‘bigger society’ at a time when sacrifice is being asked of all. Preaching in Wells Cathedral last Sunday, the Rt Rev Peter Price said: ‘Nationally we face the ongoing realities of overseas conflict, a war economy, a national debt, difficult decisions by government, calling all of us to sacrifice. For some the sacrifice will be all too real in terms of lost jobs, homes, even futures. In any democracy, calls for sacrifice to meet pressing realities require the trust of people that government will keep covenant – faith – to fulfil its obligations of serving the common good, and the possibility of a ‘better future for everyone’. Here we find sure ground for faith, firm support for hope, and the basis of a society in which trust, neighbourliness and humanity is found’.
Pray: that the Government and electorate will keep faith with each other to ensure fairness to all. (Isa.26:2)
British prisoners are increasingly being forced to convert to Islam by their fellow inmates, the prison officers’ union has warned. Muslim gangs are growing in power and influence among prisoners and there are concerns that they are targeting vulnerable new arrivals – making prisons a breeding ground for extremism. ‘It is a concern, and there’s been clear evidence from a variety of different incidents. Young men are being targeted and then coerced into converting to Islam,’ the association’s general secretary, Steve Gillan, told Sky News. One woman, whose brother is being bullied by a gang trying to force him to convert, told the broadcaster: ‘He just looks like a broken man, he's tearful on visits. I'm just really scared for him. He's been physically assaulted. He's had black eyes. In the shower, he got threatened with a knife. He's not going to back down. He's not going to convert for anyone.’
Pray: against the growth of Muslim extremism in our prisons and the pressure they exert to convert to Islam. (Mt.23:15)
An Islamic television channel has been hit with a hefty fine after a Muslim hate preacher told viewers, live on air, that it was the duty of all Muslims to murder anyone who shows disrespect for the Prophet Mohammed. Noor TV, a British-based Satellite Television Channel that broadcasts programmes about Islam throughout Europe, was fined $115,000 by the British broadcasting regulator known as Ofcom for inciting people to commit murder. Ofcom said the fine imposed on August 21 was so large due to ‘the serious nature of the breaches of the Broadcasting Code.’ It said young Muslims watching Noor TV could become ‘radicalized’ and take ‘violent and criminal action as a result of watching videos of Muslims with extreme views.’ The programme in question, Paigham-e-Mustafa, is a talk show aimed at young British Muslims with questions about a wide range of issues and personal conduct relating to Islam and Islamic teachings.
Pray: against this trend to radicalize Muslims and incite murder. (Mt.5:21)
More: http://europenews.dk/en/node/70934
Britain ranks the third worst country in Europe for pressures on families, according to an index compiled by the Relationships Foundation. The think tank’s new family pressure gauge compares the pressures on families in 27 European countries and finds that families in Britain are struggling more than their European counterparts under the weight of money worries, long working hours and high living costs. Only families in Romania and Bulgaria are more pressured. The study found that while Britons work the longest hours per week in Europe – 43 on average – they are also paying dearly for it, with nearly a quarter of the family income (23.5%) being spent on childcare. That amounts to twice the amount paid by families in France, three times that paid by German families, and four times the cost of childcare in Sweden. Around one in five British families with dependent children (20.9%) is experiencing ‘difficulty’ or ‘great difficulty’ in making ends meet.
Pray: that these shocking statistics will awake our government to the needs of families. (Pr.11:29a)
More: ttp://www.christiantoday.com/article/britain.third.worst.country.for.families.in.europe/28029.htm
Britain hosts the third biggest volume of internet pornography in the world and is home to more than half a million sites, according to a shocking survey. There are more than 52million pages of pornographic content in the country, including rape websites registered under the national domain name which ends co.uk. The revelation that Britain is one of the most popular worldwide locations to host adult websites will intensify pressure on the Government to provide an opt-out system for online porn. There are no restrictions on pornographers registering their sites under Britain’s domain name, for which a private company called Nominet UK is responsible. John Carr, a government adviser on child internet safety, called on Nominet to ban websites containing certain words like rape and said the ‘free for all’ should end. He said that all porn sites should be under the domain name .xxx and declared: ‘The UK should not provide succour and comfort to porn merchants.’ (See also Prayer Alert 30-2013)
Pray: that the Government will move forward their plans to control internet pornography, crime and other misuse. (Col.3:23)
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali has warned that Britain is no longer a free society where conscience is respected. Speaking at the Christian Broadcasting Council’s annual conference, the bishop warned that ‘encroaching totalitarianism’ was threatening respect for conscience. ‘What we are facing is not a free society, but an ideology that is seeking to impose its views on us,’ he said. The bishop said that the secular worldview was undermining absolute respect for human life and amounted to an attack on the unborn child, the ill, the disabled, the elderly and the family. He said that respect for the unborn child had been eroded by the ‘demands of science’ and ‘huge commercial interests’, as well as a ‘relativistic’ worldview that cannot explain the dignity of the human person. ‘If you can dispense with a person at the earliest stage of life why not do it at the later stages. Or in between?’ he said. Pray: that the secular worldview and its ideology would not be imposed upon our society. (Job.27:6) More:http://www.christiantoday.com/article/britain.is.no.longer.a.free.society.says.bishop.nazirali/27732.htm