Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

The following is based on a Passion for the Nation post: ‘God desires this nation to be healthy in body, mind and spirit. We can pray for a new season of health to come upon this land and for lifestyles to be changed and negative patterns broken, irrespective of background or wealth. May a fresh wisdom and desire for healthy living rest upon individuals, families and communities, supported and encouraged by all related industries in production and marketing. We pray that in this season Government, NHS trusts, managers and medical staff will work together, co-operating and stewarding resources well; that new medical and financial strategies will be found, facilitating God’s purpose and priority. In the Name of Jesus, we come in agreement with Proverbs 16:24: “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet and delightful to the soul and healing to the body”. We pray for a new thankfulness for the NHS to be released within our nation.’

Ealing Council may install buffer zones outside a Marie Stopes abortion clinic to ban the presence of pro-life protesters within 150 metres. It would prohibit silent praying, singing hymns, displaying foetus images and distributing leaflets. Only after twenty years of activity outside the clinic has the council considered them a threat. Pro-lifers have never altered their tactics or adopted any aggressive policies. They organise the prayer vigils and provide counselling for pregnant women in crisis. They repeatedly asked Ealing councillors to meet and listen to women who have been helped by their pavement counsellors; their offers were ignored. Video footage of ‘intimidating protesters’ simply shows three people at prayer opposite the clinic. Meanwhile on 24 January Manchester council voted to ‘take all necessary actions within its powers’ to stop what it said was protesters’ harassment of women using their abortion clinics. See

Police figures show offences up 14% in a year, with knife and gun crime rising even more steeply. Statistics also show the number of police officers in England and Wales has fallen by 930 in the same period, to the lowest since records began. Offences such as domestic burglary and car crime are also increasing: however, there has been a 15% fall in fraud and online computer misuse. Nevertheless the increasing levels of gun and knife offences, stalking, harassment, and robbery will set alarm bells ringing in Downing Street. God’s plans are for good and not for evil. Let us pray for our nations to experience peace, stability and justice, pushing back every plan and purpose of Satan for confusion, criminality or deception.

Ireland's Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said Britain should be offered a bespoke trade deal with the EU after Brexit, rather than an ‘off-the-shelf’ agreement. He added that Ireland would like Britain to ‘stay closer in the EU’s orbit’ than non-member states, and mentioned the example of Norway, which currently implements EU single market rules with free movement within the bloc. He also suggested that although Theresa May had pledged to leave the EU customs union and single market, ‘perhaps we can negotiate something that isn’t very different from that’. Brussels wants the UK’s future relationship with the EU to be either Norwegian-style implementation of all EU rules, or a Canadian style free-trade agreement that would not cover large areas of the economy, including services. British negotiators have been given until March to decide what they want the future relationship with the EU to look like.

David Barker and Stephen Wan were preaching the gospel in Camberley in December. Hecklers gathered and claimed that the preachers said ‘homosexuals are going to hell’ and ‘man cannot lie with man’. The preachers deny saying this. David spoke about the good news of Christmas, quoting Romans 3:23, ‘All people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’, and John 3:16. Stephen explained Jesus was called ‘Jesus’ because he would save his people from their sins, and he came into the world to atone for the sins of all mankind. A heckler accused him of preaching hate and asked about homosexuality. Stephen explained the Genesis creation story, adding that ‘marriage is an institution ordained by God for the purpose of procreation’. The two men were questioned by the police, but with help from the Christian Legal Centre, all charges against them were dropped.

In 2016, 350 Church leaders gathered to talk about and tackle the issue of pornography in their congregations and communities. Since then a move to combat pornography in the Church has grown. The CARE organisation sees the need for the Church to tackle this issue head on, after research in 2014 showed 79% of men and 76% of women aged 18-30 watched porn at least once a month. A growing number of Christians are aware of the effects of pornography and addiction on both men and women. Pray for more leaders to hear about and attend these conferences, and learn how to address the immorality that is damaging on spiritual, psychological and relational levels. Pray for more Christian therapists to be trained. For the 2018 conference details, click the ‘More’ button.

Ex-army colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon became a volunteer in Syria and said, ‘I’ve never seen anything as horrific as what is going on in Ghouta. Its starving people live underground in cellars, caves and tunnels. Three times in the past four days chlorine bombs were dropped by Syrian forces. Outlawed by the Geneva Convention, the chlorine combines with water in the lungs to produce hydrochloric acid, which dissolves the lungs. When civilians are flushed out onto the streets, they face death from the barrel-bombs and high-energy explosives that rain down from Putin’s Russian jets and Assad’s aircraft. Water is contaminated. Hospitals are targeted in air strikes. Ghouta is the last bastion to hold out against Bashar al-Assad and its inhabitants are being bombed, gassed and starved into submission.’ He added, ‘Putin can do as he pleases, and there will be chilling consequences for Britain’s security unless we act.’

Following a meeting with the Prime Minister, the former education secretary, Justine Greening, left the Government, to be succeeded by Damian Hinds. The women and equalities portfolio will be held by Amber Rudd. These changes will give the Government the opportunity to review many of Ms Greening’s more extreme proposals before they begin to impact upon families: for example, using compulsory relationships education to teach children as young as five about same-sex marriage, and allowing anybody, whatever age, to choose their gender. It is not too late to halt either of these policies, nor is it too late for the Government to note the views of the 59% of party members who oppose same-sex marriage (according to a new YouGov poll).

Theresa May has appointed Tracey Crouch, the minister for sport and civil society, to head a government-wide group with responsibility for policies connected to loneliness. She will implement one of the main recommendations of a report by the Jo Cox Commission. The Government said it would develop a wider strategy on the issue, gather more evidence and statistics, and provide funding for community groups to start activities which connect people. Researchers say that nine million people often or always feel lonely; the prime minister said, ‘For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life’. Pray for Social Services, churches, charities and community leaders to address loneliness endured by the elderly, carers, new parents, refugees and the bereaved. Pray for Ms Crouch and her team to have a specific God-given anointing for the new role they have been given. See also

There are around 13.8 million 18-34 year olds who fall into the category of millennials. The Church Army is releasing guidance on how to evangelise millennials as we face a lack of young people in the pews. Research based on observing twelve different approaches to mission and evangelism around the UK from a variety of church traditions suggests a way forward. 'The findings are really encouraging and suggest that mission with young adults, while challenging, is not as difficult as one might think,' said Dr Tim Ling, the Church Army's director of research. In the churches studied, at least sixty people became Christians, with a further 48 reporting that the church had helped them rediscover a lost faith. The report urged churches to create 'spaces where young adults can belong and feel part of a community before they believe'.