Displaying items by tag: Global

If the world consisted of 100 people, 20 would live in a slum; 42 would never hear about Jesus; 49 would live on less than £1.50 a day. Please pray for the many missionaries working to preach the Good News to the poor (Luke4:18a). Jesus was clear that everyone has a right to know and to choose to follow him in ways that are culturally appropriate for them. Pray for abundant distribution of Bibles and teaching materials for the various unreached people groups. 81% of these people live in Asia and the Arab world. Jesus also said that there should be freedom for the prisoners (Luke 4:18b). Families can be trapped for generations, feeling hopeless and out of control. Jesus had a lot to say about poverty and its effects, so pray for God to empower all who engage with communities and address issues such as income-generation, vocational training, education, and social justice. See also

Transparency International warned of the dangers of funds for the response to the coronavirus crisis being misappropriated. On 26 May more stories confirmed the validity of these concerns. In Bolivia, the minister of health was removed from his post after the government paid over the odds for ventilators that were not even fit for purpose. In Italy, the head of Sicily’s coronavirus response has been put under house arrest following an investigation into bribery cases going back to 2016. In Poland, the health minister is under fire after the government bought more than 10,000 useless face masks through a family friend. The case has been referred to prosecutors. These examples join many others, including an investigation in Bosnia and Herzegovina into a multi-million-euro government contract for ventilators that went to a raspberry farm with political connections, and the resignation in Panama of a senior politician involved in yet another ventilator procurement scandal.

Jesus said, ‘The first of all the commandments is, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.”’ (Mark 12:29) During Ramadan, millions of Christians around the world and churches and ministries from many denominations participated in the largest ongoing prayer focus for the Muslim world - that Muslims would understand and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. Ramadan will finish on 23 May, but we can continue to pray that what God has begun in the lives of our Muslim neighbours will continue. May the Holy Spirit linger in their lives. May we continue to send faithful Christian prayers to heaven on behalf of our ‘not yet saved’ brothers and sisters. May we be open to personal and human contact and manifest God’s love through kindness and respect in relationships. Let us ask God to help us to share our faith while explaining terms such as sin, prayer, God, Son of God and faith.

There are 9.5 million more internally displaced persons (IDPs) than last year. The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) works alongside refugees who have historically fallen through the cracks of support and been ignored by their own governments. The new coronavirus challenges could result in the needs of IDPs receding further into the background, according to the JRS in Iraq. In Afghanistan there are 55,000 IDPs in over fifty informal settlements in Kabul, now fearing evacuation and the loss of daily wage jobs and whatever assets they have secured prior to the pandemic. JRS accompanies, serves, and defends IDPs in fourteen countries through education, psycho-social support, peacebuilding, pastoral activities, training in modern agricultural techniques, plus mediation to settle land disputes and other conflicts. This is part of a three-year campaign to draw attention to the current limits and challenges and call for long term solutions. See

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) wants India, Nigeria, Russia, Syria and Vietnam to be put on a religious freedom blacklist and join the ranks of ‘countries of particular concern’. That would make them subject to sanctions if they do not improve their records. Countries already on this list include China, Iran, and North Korea. The commission noted that India’s nationalist government ‘allowed violence against minorities and their houses of worship to continue with impunity and tolerated hate speech and incitement to violence.’ Minority Christians have been among those targeted. It remained unclear whether the state department would follow the USCIRF's advice because India is an increasingly close US ally. The USCIRF's annual report is watched worldwide as an independent way of monitoring, analysing and reporting on threats to religious freedom abroad.

Refugee-led organisations play important but neglected roles in providing protection and assistance to other refugees and host communities. Now they are on the front line of the COVID-19 response in camps and cities around the world as other organisations withdraw. Refugees distribute food and non-food items, provide information, serve as community health workers, take part in tracking and monitoring, and influence behavioural norms. As formal humanitarian governance struggles to respond to the direct and indirect consequences of the coronavirus in both camps and urban areas, their work is more vital than ever. In Arua, a bustling town now surrounded by three refugee camps, urban refugees also face severe food shortages. The restrictions on movement have not only affected their livelihoods but their ability to go back to the refugee camps where they are registered to receive the monthly food rations on which they depend.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on children goes far beyond any health risks. Across Europe and Central Asia, everyday services essential for their safety and well-being - from ante-natal care and home visits for new parents, to child protection and education - are grinding to a halt as entire populations go into lockdown. For millions of children and their families, this is a time of anxiety and uncertainty. For those children who were vulnerable before this crisis, the pandemic heightens the risks they already face, particularly children from the poorest families, children with disabilities, those from ethnic minorities and refugee and migrant children - especially unaccompanied children, separated from their families. Now that schools are closed and home-based quarantine has become the ‘new normal’, parents have become frontline responders to the pandemic, needing comprehensive support to safeguard their children’s health, wellbeing and development.

G20 health ministers had a virtual meeting on 19 April. They agreed that lifting lockdown restrictions is not the end of the epidemic; it is just the beginning of the next phase, and countries must educate, engage, and empower their people to prevent any resurgence. They must have the capacity to detect, test, isolate and care for every case and trace every contact. Health systems must have the capacity to absorb any increase in cases. There is deep concern that the virus is gathering pace in countries that lack the capabilities of G20 countries. Urgent support is needed as they respond to the pandemic, while ensuring that other essential health services can continue. One of the biggest challenges which G20 and WHO face in Africa (and other countries) is the critical shortage of supplies, and the lack of ability to deliver them because of weak supply chains.

‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ Many of us have Muslim friends, and we long to see them understand and believe John 3:16. During Ramadan (however modified), let us pray and ask God to anoint us for Spirit-led conversations with them. As they practise self-restraint, fast and pray to become closer to Allah, we can pray that the Holy Spirit will open their spiritual eyes to know the Father who loves them. When they sacrifice and give alms, we can ask God in heaven to show them the sacrifice that Jesus made when he was crucified for the sins of the world. May He give His Church love for Muslims across the world. May we have compassion for those who are like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34). For a ‘30daysprayer’ resource click the ‘More’ button, or go to 

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) stated recently, ‘Some of the most active centres of Covid-19 infection, such as China and Iran, are countries where the media have been unable to fulfil their role of informing the public. There is an urgent need to render an exhaustive and honest account of the obstacles to press freedom and the attempts to manipulate information during this unprecedented epidemic. And we must offer solutions that enable journalists now and tomorrow to provide reliable information and combat rumours.’ With this in mind, RSF has launched Tracker-19 to monitor and evaluate the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on journalism, and to offer recommendations on how to defend the right to information. The tool will monitor not only coronavirus but any unprecedented global crisis. It will document state censorship and deliberate disinformation, and their impact on the right to reliable news and information. It will also make recommendations on how to defend journalism.