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Young people are being encouraged to apply for one-year placements with a variety of innovative church projects throughout Britain. The opportunities range from working with young people directly affected by drug and alcohol problems to addressing some of the UK's most pressing social issues on a national scale. The One Programme is a paid year out for young people aged 16 to 23 years old. One Programme Participants (known as OPPs) are paid to work 15 hours a week: nine hours in a local church project and six hours for training and other national work. The projects are selected by a panel of young people and key-workers. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to make a difference in their own communities and will be paid a living wage. Hayley Moss, Methodist Youth President, said: “It offers excellent opportunities both for the young people and the projects hosting them.
Pray: for the One Programme and the young people who engage with it. (Tit.3:8)
Baptist churches are 'complacent' about the need for church planting and have been lulled into a false sense of security by relatively healthy attendance figures, according to church planting consultant Stuart Murray-Williams. Mr Murray-Williams says in a web interview for the Incarnate church planting network See: that Baptist churches are the 'least creative' in this area compared with other major denominations. The problem lies not in the number of churches being planted - about one a month from 2005-2009, with a further 37 last year, indicating an increase in activity. But 'the way Baptists tend to plant is that a larger church with spare resources and spare people will plant a daughter church nearby. This is a perfectly good, way of doing it, but it's not strategic. It means we're not planting churches where they're most needed, but where we have the resources to do it.' Pray: that church planting resources would be directed strategically.
Churches are being invited to take part in the first ever day of prayer for toddler groups this June. The day is being organised by 1277, an alliance of Christian denominations and agencies including the Church of England, the Catholic, Methodist and United Reformed Churches, and the Baptist Union of Great Britain. The name of the alliance represents the average number of days between a child’s birth and the start of formal education. There are around 27,000 church-based toddler groups across the UK, many of them run by committed volunteers and amounting to half of the total support and care on offer to the nation’s pre-schoolers and their carers. The day of prayer on 5 June falls within National Family Week. It is being dedicated to those who attend a church toddler group and will also celebrate the valuable work of those who help out.
Pray: for all those who care for, prepare for and work with all our pre-school children. (Lk.15-16)
More: http://www.christiantoday.co.uk/article/call.to.churches.to.pray.for.toddler.groups/28005.htm
Senior church leaders and representatives from the main Christian denominations have called for Yorkshire to be a region of Sanctuary for people escaping persecution and who are seeking protection in the UK. The church leaders have a long record of supporting asylum seekers and refugees in their flight from terror abroad and their plight of destitution in this country. West Yorkshire Ecumenical Council (WYEC) urged all churches in the region to take practical steps to promote a culture of hospitality and to become places of sanctuary and welcome for asylum seekers. The Rev Dr Clive Barrett, Executive Secretary of WYEC, said that 'Welcome and hospitality are at the heart of Christian life. Church leaders encourage everyone, especially local churches, to extend that welcome to people who come to us seeking safety.’ Pray: for the stateless that they might find refuge. (Is.16:3) More:http://www.networkleeds.com/Articles/223427/Network_Leeds/Recent_News/West_Yorkshire_churches.aspx
The Bishop of Down and Dromore is asking Christians to pray following weeks of violence in Belfast over the city council's decision to fly the Union flag on certain days only. Protests have been held over the flag dispute for the last month and the past week has seen an intensification of violence, with rioting causing injury and damage. The Right Rev Harold Miller said the recent unrest had been ‘tragic and difficult’ for Northern Ireland and particularly East Belfast, which falls within the Diocese of Down and Dromore. He said he was ‘deeply concerned’ about the ‘potential trajectory’ of the current situation, in light of the divisions and violence of Northern Ireland's past. ‘Lying behind all of this is the sense in parts of the Loyalist community that they have lost a great deal over the past years, especially in terms of identity, and that has led to a fear of the future being uncertain,’ the bishop said.
Pray: that there would be a breakthrough leading to reconciliation and peace in NI. (2Cor.5:17-19)
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/call.for.prayer.for.belfast.after.union.flag.riots/31414.htm
The public policy think tank ResPublica has called for a ‘radical’ overhaul of the Gift Aid system to bring it up to speed with the digital age. It said the system was ‘antiquated’ and ‘bureaucratic’ and that it was ‘an anomaly in this day and age’ that charities are still unable to claim Gift Aid online. A new report warned that charities were losing out on as much as £750 million each year because of the current paper-based system. It claims that the current system places unnecessary burdens on HMRC and individual charities and is so inefficient that the cost to the taxpayer of processing each claim amounts to around £5. The think tank said that the high administrative costs had created a ‘perverse disincentive’ for the Treasury to encourage more people to use Gift Aid on their donations. It wants the current system to be digitised to make it easier for charities to claim Gift Aid. Pray: for more efficient systems to ensure a greater part of donations being effectively used. (2Cor.8:20-21)
Tory MP Nadine Dorries urged the Government to instruct clinics to provide counselling to women who seek terminations. She said such ‘informed consent’ would lead to a reduction in UK abortion figures, currently around 200,000 a year. Opening a short Commons debate, former nurse Ms Dorries said: ‘If any of us were referred to a hospital today for a minor procedure, e.g.an ingrowing toenail operation, the procedure would be explained to us in detail. We would be aware of the level of pain we would experience, told exactly what would happen while we were under the anaesthetic and be given follow-up appointments. A woman who has an abortion has none of that: she is discharged at the end of the day out onto the street and left to come to terms with the roller coaster emotional journey she will still be in the midst of.’ Pray: that very sensitive consideration is given by health professionals to the spiritually vulnerable. (Ps.34:18)
Another financial crisis threatens unless tougher banking regulations are introduced and borrowers learn to live within their means, the Association of Christian Financial Advisers has warned. ACFA Aidan Vaughan attacked the more aggressive activities of investment bankers, namely credit derivatives, as he warned that unrestrained investment banking activities could lead to even bigger financial crises in the future. ‘ACFA strongly encourages Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, to stand up to the banks,’ he said. ‘The public is angry especially when they see bankers again earning huge bonuses when it is tax payers’ money that has rescued the day. For most people, taxes are rising, wages are static, inflation is rising, living standards are falling and government expenditure is being cut dramatically. The basic biblical principle of ‘spending less than you earn’ has been ignored on a massive scale.’ Pray:for the banking industry to adopt an open and fair approach to their role in the economic life of Britain. (Ps.15:5)
The Jubilee Debt Campaign is calling on the British government to exert pressure on international institutions to cancel Pakistan's debt. The Pakistani government is currently in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country’s most important creditor, to ask for debt relief for the disaster-stricken country. The IMF is believed to be insisting that Pakistan introduces a value-added-tax system and removes energy sector subsidies in order to receive further loans. A range of charities, church and campaign groups, including the Methodist Relief and Development Fund and Christian Aid, have joined the call for Western borrowers to take some responsibility for Pakistan's heavy indebtedness. They argue that Pakistan needs an immediate freeze on debt repayments, expressing fears that the country's annual $3 billion repayments dwarf current levels of emergency aid. Campaigners argue that it is inappropriate for the IMF to hold the country to ransom amidst the current disaster. Pray: for governments and the IMF to review their stance and grant debt relief to Pakistan. (Dt.24:6)
Christian hoteliers from Liverpool who were subjected to a criminal trial because of comments they made about Islam have called for a change to the law. Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang, declared innocent last December, were prosecuted under Section 5 of the Public Order Act after a female Muslim guest complained that she had been offended by their comments. To protect other Christians from a similar ordeal, the Vogelenzangs have encouraged Christians to visit their MP and ask for the word ‘insulting’ to be removed from the Public Order Act as part of the Coalition’s forthcoming Freedom Bill. ‘We stood trial, accused of a crime. It was awful. After a two-day hearing, the judge threw out the case against us. As Christians we should help each other. We want to help people by making sure that this can’t happen again to anyone else.’ Pray: for Christians to have freedom of expression without fear of prosecution. (Mt.24:14) More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/video-vogelenzangs-call-for-change-to-public-order-law/