Displaying items by tag: Global

Local ethnic or folk religions have seen great losses to the larger religious movements. They were the dominant faith among 30% of the world in 1900, but only among 9% today. Yet traditional religion has not gone away. Many followers of world religions wear their faith lightly and remain, at heart, followers of folk religions: shamanists, idol worshippers, spiritists or ancestor worshippers. The worldwide fascination with spells, amulets, crystals and the occult highlights the power of the old ways. People who claim to connect with the spirit-world are still in demand around the world. Their presence is a kind of tax on fear. Yet people who have turned to Christ from folk religion testify to his power over spells, curses, fears, taboos, and superstitions - and also in the life-and-death issues like sin and forgiveness. Pray for Christ to shine ever brighter into the world of animism and for the Holy Spirit to bring repentance and new life. See

Dr Jason Hubbard writes, ‘Before Jesus ever performed a miracle, or preached a gospel, the Spirit of God drove Him into the wilderness to fast. He came out of that fast in the power of the Holy Spirit. Before there was an original Jesus movement, there was an original Jesus Fast. In 2020 Christians are being called to respond to Lou Engle’s call to a global 40-day-fast to see a world-wide manifestation of Jesus the Evangelist. The late Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade) believed that the power of fasting as it relates to prayer is the spiritual atomic bomb that our Lord has given us to destroy the strongholds of evil and usher in a great revival and spiritual harvest around the world’. See

A coalition of Christians across denominational lines has united to pray for an end to the coronavirus. Cindy Jacobs says, ‘We believe strongly that since this is a worldwide issue, it is going to take the whole Church to cry out together for the mercy and healing power of God to contain it.’ Church leaders stood united to fast and pray on 3 March to petition the Sovereign Lord for His mercy. Let us continue to knock on Heaven’s door, praying Psalm 91 over families and nations, binding fear, knowing that God has not given us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7). Pray for wisdom for our leaders and safety for emergency responders working to protect people and prevent the virus spreading. Pray for Christians to have a calm courage to share the Word effectively through this time of crisis. For the prayer petition click the ‘More’ button.

March is International Women's History month. Women are two thirds of the world’s poorest citizens. Nearly two-thirds of illiterate people are women. Globally women are paid less than men. A cultural preference for male babies has led to 30 million deaths of unborn or baby girls in India and China and fuels trafficking women as brides or sex slaves. God looks on the heart: what do we look at when choosing leaders? Pray for more women and men to be recognised, equipped, and released into service based on their giftedness and godliness. Pray for more humble, Christ-like models. Prideful ‘hierarchy’ and ‘angry feminism’ destroy the unity that God designed and desires. Pray that Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, and tribal people groups will see amazing unity in the Body of Christ between men and women that causes them to turn to Jesus.

Quotes from a working document on Islam from the Lausanne Global Consultation state - Every individual church fellowship and denomination throughout the world needs to find ways of enabling Christians to be awake to the challenges of Islam and for opportunities to witness to Muslims. Where Christians are held back by fear, they need to be encouraged to build genuine, natural relationships with their Muslim neighbours, by practising hospitality and taking bold initiatives. Where they are held back by ignorance, they need to learn more about Muslims and Islam and to explore prayerfully some of the new opportunities that have opened up in recent years for communicating the gospel. Where they are held back by prejudice, they need to be reminded of the ways in which Jesus enabled his disciples to overcome their racial and religious prejudices.

Please call on the Lord for his intervention in the swarms of locusts that are growing and devouring farms in Africa, now spreading to the Middle East and China. (See). Pray for the hundreds of thousands forced to evacuate their homes after unusual flooding has devastated Australia, Southern USA, Bolivia, Peru, Indonesia and parts of the UK. (See) Over the past two months seismic activity has been rising. Last week a 7.7 quake struck off the coast of Jamaica shaking people as far away as Miami and Mount Merapi in Indonesia erupted launching lava and ash 2,000 metres into the sky, forcing residents to flee to a 1.8 mile designated no-go zone. (See) Pray for peace of mind for those living near seismic activity. Coronavirus infections continue to rise but less media coverage has been given to the highly contagious H1N1 virus that claimed 13 lives in one week in Taiwan (See)

UK Christian politician Jeremy Hunt read Brother Andrew’s book ‘God’s Smuggler’ in his youth. This gave him a lifelong prayerful concern for the persecuted church. When he was appointed foreign minister, he looked into what the foreign service was doing to help persecuted Christians worldwide. What he discovered made him uncomfortable: there had been very high-profile interventions supporting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Bahai in Yemen, and Yazidis in Iraq - but little UK and international diplomatic assistance for suffering Christians, even though NGOs and churches were advocating on their behalf. Mr Hunt identified possible blind spots for persecuted Christians by his staff: awkwardness about bringing God into politics, post-colonial guilt, and fearfulness of being seen to impose our faith on others. He called it ‘misguided political correctness’ in his independent review. Now Boris Johnson has appointed a special envoy on freedom of religion or belief to head up the process of dealing with Christian persecution. The UN and the EU have similar envoys.

5G is widespread in China and being tested in America and Europe. Potentially, it will unleash a tidal wave of smart devices. Doctors will carry out surgery remotely, taking advantage of 5G’s speed to control precision robots. Designers and lawyers will work remotely through shared virtual realities. Scientific experiments will be carried out over long distances, allowing scientists across nations to take part in common research projects. 5G will transform ‘smart cities’, with sensors for gathering, analysing and processing data on public transport and energy consumption. They will improve waste collection, detecting whether bins are full and telling bin-men where those full bins are. 5G will keep traffic flowing by working traffic lights based on traffic volume. Self-driving cars will communicate instantly and avoid crashes. Rural areas will benefit from autonomous drones hovering over plants and spraying sticky ones with pesticides when needed. The most surprising innovations are those that still live in our imaginations.

Hudson Valley towns, north of New York, have seen an influx of Hasidic Jews in recent years, and they have been suffering violent attacks following a deadly 10 December shooting rampage at a kosher market where six Jewish people died. New York City police received at least six reports of attacks in one week. Mayor Bill de Blasio promised an increased police presence in neighbourhoods with large Jewish populations. In London, anti-Semitic graffiti were daubed on a synagogue and several kosher shops during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. The graffiti showed the Star of David and ‘911’, referencing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that Jews are responsible for the 9/11 terror attack or Kristallnacht, the organised nationwide attack on Jews which began in Germany on 9 November 1938. In November newspaper headlines stated that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe, riding a wave of nationalism. See also

Around the world in 2019, corruption sparked demonstrations and toppled governments in what should be a wake-up call for leaders to follow through on their commitments and make good on old promises as well as new, meaningful resolutions. Corruption is deepening the crisis of democracy in many parts of the world. Countries with higher rates of public sector corruption have weaker democratic institutions, depriving citizens of political rights such as free and fair elections and the right to protest. Many protested and, losing patience, took to the streets demanding that their governments serve public interest. We may see more protests in the coming year unless political leaders take urgent steps to eradicate corruption and make their countries a liveable place for all citizens. In over 100 countries, people can turn to Transparency International chapters for advice on long-lasting and inclusive approaches to strengthen their democracies.