Displaying items by tag: United Kingdom

England's children's commissioner is highlighting pressures facing mothers caring for babies born in lockdown without the usual family and state support networks. An estimated 76,000 babies will have been born in England under lockdown so far. Although helplines for parents have been set up in most areas, the usual sources of physical support from family, friends and voluntary services are not at present available. Also births are not being registered, due to rules tied to the pandemic, so even basic information about new babies is not being gathered. Pray for the new mothers depending on phone support from health visitors and GPs, often not readily accessible. May God give strength and confidence to new mothers and fathers unsure of ‘baby routines’ and facing unexpected challenges. Many babies have missed the health checks that would have picked up urgent development needs in the first few weeks because parents have not wanted to attend and risk potential infection.

500+ clergy and lay people signed a letter to the Times calling for a rethink to current guidance on church shutdown. They said that closed churches are stifling their prophetic witness and defence of the poor. They agreed that temporary closure of churches for public worship is necessary in the current crisis. However, the broadcast of services from a closed church is explicitly permitted by government guidelines and almost all other churches are doing this, but ‘the Church of England has gone beyond this advice’. Since the publication of this letter, the CofE has responded by issuing revised guidelines outlining the precautions which must be taken if a church building is being used for private prayer or streaming worship: see

The National Cyber Security Centre reports that Chinese, Russians and Iranians are targeting healthcare bodies involved in coronavirus research. The first country to find a vaccine or cure will achieve diplomatic and geo-political influence. Healthcare and medical research staff were urged to improve their password security and implement two-factor authentication on accounts to reduce the possibility of threats. Matt Hancock has given the intelligence service access to the NHS IT network. Boris Johnson wisely stated, 'The race to discover the vaccine to defeat this virus is not a competition between countries but the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes'. Pray for nations to share vital information and resources rather than competing with each other and potentially wasting time duplicating identical tests and research.

On 29 April Carrie Symonds, Boris Johnson's partner, gave birth to a baby boy in a London hospital. They have received many congratulations from politicians and are also being prayed for by church leaders, many of whom have written their messages and prayers online. The Archbishop of York wrote, ‘May the angels of God be your shield and defender. A candle is lit for the three of you, and prayers offered.’

During these days of isolation, United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) is now offering an alternative to the negative news bombarding us 24/7 by bringing a new radio programme, ‘Hope For Every Home’. Their vision is to spread God’s Word far and wide with real-life stories of what God is doing in people’s lives. Prayers of thanksgiving for all the good things happening right now, and celebration as they welcome the many new listeners receiving hope directly into their homes by listening to UCB Radio. They hope to reach more people than ever before with an hour of life-changing messages. To listen now, click the ‘More’ button.

Boris Johnson has said, ‘The UK is at the moment of maximum risk in the coronavirus outbreak’. Speaking outside No 10 for the first time since recovering from the virus, he said we are now beginning to ‘turn the tide’ on the disease. But he refused to ‘throw away’ the public's ‘effort and sacrifice’ by relaxing the lockdown too soon. We can pray for God to continue to give him strength and stamina as he returns to work. Pray that he paces himself and has the discernment to acknowledge when to allow others to carry burdens for him. May God’s wisdom direct him in every decision and give him heaven’s strategies for the next phase. Pray also for MPs, advisors, civil servants, scientists, and economists to adopt workable policies. Let us also ask our Father in heaven to unite the members of every political party as they work towards unlocking the United Kingdom.

Now that we no longer gather physically, congregations are navigating church, prayer, house groups, worship, etc with technology, and our church leaders are coming to terms with electronic churches to manage the implications of coronavirus on their congregations and communities. Let us pray that innovative ideas will be birthed through high-tech fresh expressions of church. Pray for those ministering to the bereaved, unemployed, depressed, financially challenged, or living with addictions. The burdens of care that our pastors carry are huge and can be exhausting. May God give them strength, protection, wisdom, and discernment as they pour the fragrance of His purposes and support into challenging situations. Pray for church networking amongst those who are without the internet. Pray for foodbanks as more communities struggle financially. May our church teams have heaven's insights when new trials arise. Pray for church leaders without good internet connections or the gift of being technologically astute. God, bring help wherever it is needed.

Two major business groups have written to the governments in Dublin and Belfast to urge coordination in the recovery from coronavirus. The CBI and its Irish equivalent, Ibec, said that an economic reboot will need ‘the highest level of cooperation, coordination and joined-up thinking’. They highlighted the importance of integrated supply chains across the border and Irish Sea, stopping short of requesting a synchronised exit from the lockdown. There have been political differences at Stormont on the level to which an all-island approach should be taken to coronavirus. The two groups say that it is in everyone's interests to have experts on both sides of the border regularly communicating on their respective plans for economic revival and recovery, including all-island business and cross-border employment. They add, ‘It would be helpful and worthwhile for parallel conversations to take place between the two islands, with the North-South Ministerial Council and the British-Irish council providing appropriate formal frameworks for such discussions’.

The UK’s IJM team have seen God do amazing things as people have cried out to Him in prayer. They report, ‘Covid-19 lockdowns are inadvertently creating the conditions for disturbing increases of abuse in many of the areas where we work. While our teams are doing what they can to protect survivors and find those who are being abused, we must ask God to reach those we are unable to reach, to provide safety, remove fear and bring hope. We believe God is calling for an unprecedented move of prayer. Will you join us? For the next few weeks, we will be praying specifically for those who are #UnsafeInLockdown.’ They are asking intercessors to pray every day for issues which they will spotlight each week. To take part and pray, click the ‘More’ button.

Christians in Parliament is an all-party group which exists to support all MPs and staff in their work in the Houses of Parliament through Bible study and prayer groups, one-to-one contact and chapel services, speaker events and discussion groups examining the truth and relevance of the Christian faith to personal and political life plus policy discussions and briefings informed by the Bible and Christian theology. Through lockdown our Christians in Parliament have still been functioning with the help of technology. Their online Tuesday lunchtime services are now operating via video-conferencing. On Tuesday 5 May Sir Gary Streeter MP will be preaching on ‘How to be right with God’, from Matthew 5:6. Please pray for more members of staff to join these meetings and be inspired to walk with God through troubled times.