Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

More people are reporting consistent unhappiness, with women more likely to do so, an NHS survey has found. The Royal College of Psychiatrists said women are more likely to bear the brunt of domestic and caring responsibilities. Almost a quarter of 45- to 54-year-olds are mentally ill, but numbers drop as women get older. 16% have severe problems past 65, and 14% at 85. Christians are recognising the need to reach those with mental health diagnoses, but often those in the church with these diagnoses suffer in silence. Having heard that the joy of the Lord is their strength or that they need only pray more to be healed or that happiness will accompany the faithful, many who suffer from mental illness keep their diagnosis a secret. Pray for all those in need of counselling and pastoral care, and for Christian counselling services to be known about more widely. See also

In November you prayed for Joshua Sutcliffe, the Christian maths teacher facing discipline for 'misgendering' a school student. See: He is now taking his employer to court after being dismissed for gross misconduct. The child had self-declared as ‘male’, but Sutcliffe had been given no formal instruction on how he was to refer to the pupil. When the pupil became irate Sutcliffe apologised. However, an investigation began. Sutcliffe’s claim of discrimination also stems from his school Bible club being shut down 18 months after it began. Sutcliffe said he was more than willing to answer all the unjustified allegations against him, and detail his grievances about 'equality' policies and practices, but would do so before an independent tribunal not school governors. The Christian Legal Centre said cases like these have become common as children are making decisions against their natural born biological sex.

The problems over the Irish border dispute seem to have been resolved, after intense negotiations between London, Brussels, Dublin and Belfast. We can pray for God to bless everyone powerfully with the wisdom and discernment needed to bring about His purposes in all future discussions. May each nation prosper and flourish in its different Christian heritage. Pray that the UK will prosper as a result of what is negotiated in the days to come. Pray for Ireland, Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK to be in unity and not divided; pray for Stormont, Scotland’s parliament, and the Welsh assembly to work in co-operation with Westminster; pray for God to be the author of all lawmaking, boundaries and borders.

(Linda Digby – Prayer Alert Team)

As Christmas approaches, churches will be presenting carol services and other seasonal activities where the gospel is preached. Pray for God to anoint His people with powerful evangelism, and for the Holy Spirit to speak through the Church as she faithfully witnesses to the true gospel message. The Evangelical Alliance recently won an award for their website at the Premier Digital Awards. At this site churches can order from over 200 different outreach materials and ideas to inspire, equip and support the Church to make Jesus known. Pray for many thousands of unsaved people to realise this year that Jesus was born to give them a full life that never ends. Christmas can be a very lonely time, a time without hope. The Salvation Army has begun its 2017 Christmas appeal to raise awareness and finance for their work amongst the poor, vulnerable, and homeless. See:

Before President Trump decided to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he received last-minute pleas from many people, including the heads of Jerusalem churches and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Justin Welby wrote, ‘Mr President, we have been following, with concern, reports about the possibility of changing how the United States understands and deals with the status of Jerusalem. We are certain that such a step will yield increased hatred, conflict, violence and suffering in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, moving us farther from the goal of unity and deeper toward destructive division. We ask you to help us all walk towards more love and a definitive peace, which cannot be reached without Jerusalem being for all.’ For the full letter to President Trump, go to

A two-minute video calling on Christians to safeguard God's good world by working towards a future free of nuclear weapons has been released. This call to action is being distributed digitally to thousands across the world by the Baptists, Methodists, Quakers, Church of Scotland, and URC. The video explains, in simple cartoons, the basis for the Church's support for the new UN treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, and calls on people to join in this multinational movement towards a world free of them. The treaty, once ratified, will make the use and threat of use of nuclear weapons illegal under international law. People are being invited to submit their names to a picture petition, which will be delivered to the UK Government in February.

Numbers are falling in the Church in Scotland, church buildings are closing, and in a recent survey 51% said that they have no religion. However, there is a ‘stirring’ going on under the surface. The Church has often been called the ‘sleeping giant’. We may be experiencing a reduction in numbers but, as the story of Gideon’s army tells us, numbers are not everything when it comes to accomplishing the plans and purposes of God for a people and a nation. The sleeping giant is starting to awake from its slumber! There have been many local outreaches, summer missions, etc, which, together with the excellent Alpha courses, have borne fruit with folk coming to Christ. With Ffald y Brenin, we can pray, ‘O High King of heaven, have mercy on our land. Revive Your church. Send the Holy Spirit for the sake of the lost, the least and the broken. May Your Kingdom come to our nation. In Jesus’ mighty Name. Amen.’

The Christian mental health organisation Livability called for churches to be more honest about life's difficulties. A survey found that half of UK adults (26 million people) would feel uncomfortable or unsure about telling others if they experienced a mental health problem. The director of Livability said, ‘It's about creating communities where we talk about our well-being. There's a real need for us to start normalising the level of conversation that we have in our churches. There's a negative impact when we don't talk about these things.’ He encouraged churches to move away from criticism and adopt a culture of honesty, with leaders talking about their own emotional and mental well-being. The survey found that people aged between 16 and 24 are most likely to experience mental health issues. To be called a ‘snowflake’, implying that you are easily offended or hurt, is damaging to mental health.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, who resigned after a row over whether gay sex was sinful, gave this year’s Theos Annual lecture on 28 November. One of his comments was: ‘Genuine Christianity has always has been countercultural, going against the norms of the day. In Revelation 17, we read about the final fall of Babylon: materialistic, complacent, ambivalent towards the poor and vulnerable, self–satisfied, and proud. The Babylonian empire had been dead for hundreds of years by then, so why mention it? Because Babylon stands for every empire, every society where human beings choose to live for themselves and not for God. So Babylon in 90 AD was Rome, and today it is our society, and as Christians we are to live as aliens in such a land.’ He also said that Christians are deemed ‘dangerous and offensive’ by the public.

Peter challenges us to ‘be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks’. Sometimes the questions are not easy. The Christian Enquiry Agency is here to help. Our website (www.Christianity.org.uk) gives enquirers individual answers to their questions about Christianity, a Gospel of Luke if they request one, details of a local church, or prayer for any issue.

(Peter Graystone, Christian Enquiry Agency)