Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

Alfie Dean from Babbacombe wanted to do something to help others in his community during lockdown; so the 13-year-old set up a pantry outside his house to help vulnerable people who cannot get to the shops and those struggling to buy essentials. He erected two shelves at the end of his driveway and stocked them with milk, bread, tins, pasta, biscuits, etc. A sign read, ‘Babbacombe Pantry - take what you need, leave what you don’t and donate what you can’. In the first two days fifty people used the pantry. In Buckinghamshire a Network Rail bridge between junctions 16 and 17 on the M25 carries a large graffiti sign, ‘Thank you NHS’ (see). It is not clear who painted the heart-warming message.  In America hundreds of Christians surrounded a hospital and sang and prayed to raise the spirits of staff and coronavirus patients: see

Billionaire Hans Rausing is donating £16.5 million towards supporting NHS staff and volunteers. £5 million will pay for packs of food and necessities to be distributed to the isolated vulnerable and the cost of travel, parking, and accommodation for volunteers. The chief executive of NHS Charities Together, said that the £5 million grant is the single biggest donation from a family or individual in their appeal. The current donation follows a £2.5 million grant by Mr Rausing last week which he pledged for bodies including the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Over the next six months a further £9 million will be donated. Meanwhile we can pray for NHS Charities Together as they provide immediate support to the well-being of the NHS staff, who are at the forefront of this national emergency.

Coronavirus restrictions affected farmers who supply the likes of McDonalds. Half of farmers’ orders came from out-of-home eating and three meals per week per person need to shift from outside to inside the home through retail. On top of this is panic buying. Pray for the National Farmers’ Union as it works with the Government to keep UK food supplies flowing to where they are needed. Farmers also face a huge shortfall of EU seasonal workers. By the end of March 10,000 people had signed up to harvest fruit and vegetables but over 90,000 jobs need filling. Pray for an increase of ‘land army’ recruits in the coming weeks. The first crop, asparagus, needs to be harvested in April, and there will be no seasonal EU workers available. Pray for students and unemployed to make themselves available to be trained and relied on to put food on our tables, now that we are out of the EU. See also the Europe article ‘Shortage of fruit and veg’, and here

The crisis has prompted rural communities to link up as never before via social media and offers of help to those in self-isolation. Christians are reaching out to and praying for their neighbours. Pray that, despite our inability to meet, rural Christians will continue to be able to love their neighbours in practical ways, to shine as lights in the darkness, and share the good news of Jesus Christ. Pray especially for the rural elderly and that these and other developments will inaugurate a new coming together of rural and urban people, a new mutual understanding, and a new recognition of the importance of farming and the land. 2 Chronicles 7:13-15 sets out how God's ancient people are to respond to adversities, including pestilence (verse 13). Pray that His people today will respond with prayer and humbling ourselves, seeking His face and turning from our wicked ways.

Despite having to cancel their annual gala and fundraising dinners, IJM were still able to meet their fundraising target - enough to fund 30 rescues! Please continue to pray for them as they adjust to a new remote working situation, and for their summer festivals team as they work out how to move forward in the light of the cancellation of New Wine - their most important connection-building opportunity of the year - and many other festivals across the UK. Pray for victims of trafficking in the UK as new social distancing laws come into force. The changes in socialising in the UK mean that there will be many people trapped in potentially dangerous situations, and fewer eyes and ears of people around to spot the signs of trafficking in the usual hotspots (nail bars, car washes, etc). As churches are also closed, a key point of contact for vulnerable and potentially trafficked people has been sealed off.

It has taken just one week to build Britain’s first coronavirus field hospital, in London’s Dockland. It will treat up to 4,000 previously fit and healthy people struck down by coronavirus. London patients in need of intensive care but with the best chance of survival will be taken to the Nightingale hospital, which has been constructed inside the ExCel arena. For a time-lapse viewing of the conversion progress, click the ‘More’ button. Please pray for God to fill the building with His peace. May every patient referred there know His comfort, as the divine physician and healer of the sick watches over every bed. Pray for every nurse, doctor, paramedic and auxiliary to have the protection and the stamina that comes from heaven, and ask God to give wisdom and discernment to every doctor as they make life and death decisions.

We are all at risk from false information. For instance, a photo was circulated of a busy mosque supposedly in lockdown, but it was taken before lockdown. Another image showed trucks said to be carrying bodies of Covid-19 victims - but this was untrue, and the picture had been taken in Italy. We can pray that the waves of fear generated by similar scams are prevented by astute reporting and investigating. More serious than false news is fraudulent information and theft when members of the public are texted and told to share their bank card details in order to receive a supposed Covid-19 relief payment from the government. Similarly-worded emails have been sent from a website named ‘uk-covid-relieve.com.’ The true government’s website has a ‘gov.uk’ URL, not a ‘.com’. The authors of the email are thieves.

Women immigration detainees are being sent to Yarl's Wood detention centre despite a confirmed case of coronavirus there. Some women have underlying health conditions and sanitation is poor - only one hand sanitiser in the building and women are issued with one pair of gloves and one mask each with no instructions. ‘Women for Refugee Women’ supports women in the centre and said the decision to continue bringing in new detainees was ‘negligent’ and accused the Home Office of putting lives at risk. One woman in her 40s, who asked to remain anonymous, said detainees continued to move around the centre with no social distancing in communal areas and women had to share rooms. Detainees with health conditions are ‘terrified’ about becoming infected. Staff are not providing updated information and some women have been told there was ‘no need for concern’ the charity said. The Home Office strongly denied the claims.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, currently on temporary release from a five-year jail sentence, is, for the first time, under formal consideration for clemency. A decision will be made by the highest level of Iran’s multi-layered government. There is no guarantee that clemency will be granted, or that she will be allowed to return to the UK. The supreme leader will present a recommendation to the deputy prosecutor. He could either approve clemency or recommend to the supreme leader not to grant it; or it could just sit on his desk for a bit. Now is the time to pray that the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei releases a strongly worded recommendation to the prosecutor general’s office for her immediate release. Pray also that the prosecutor-general will decide that now is the time to allow Nazanin to take the steps towards freedom. 

Wherever you are reading this across our UK nations and across the globe, no doubt you are in some stage of ‘physical lockdown’ because of the coronavirus pandemic. Our culture of daily life and our gathered worship patterns are being reshaped. We are all being forced to look at what are the real priorities in our lives. But the wonderful truth is that as followers of Jesus Christ we can never be in ‘spiritual lockdown’. There is no situation, no place, no time zone, no age limit, no health scare, no financial pressure, nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:38-39). So today and over these coming weeks, we want to encourage you to keep remembering that our God - the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ - is on the throne, and He is sovereign over all of the shaking.