Marriage petition passes 64,000 …and growing
In less than one week, the national petition for marriage has gathered more than 64,000 signatures. That number only includes those who have signed up online. In addition, people across the nation are signing paper petitions and posting them in. The Coalition for Marriage produced half-a-million paper petition forms for distribution throughout the UK. Reacting to news the online petition passed the 64,000 mark, campaign director Colin Hart said: ‘In just our first week, 64,000 people have signed the campaign’s petition. They are from all walks of life, religious and non religious, but they all share one thing, a belief that the Government should not redefine the current definition of marriage, which has been the bedrock of society for thousands of years’.
Praise: God for the response to this petition and pray that numbers will continue to increase. (Ro.8:31)
More: http://c4m.org.uk/
INSIGHT: Praying for the Olympics
An awful lot of planning has taken place for the security of the Olympic Games. The planning started before we won the bid in 2005 and it has carried on. Last week a mock July-7-style terror attack took place in London, to test responses to attack during Games. Behind the scenes the Government Police and the Church are working together with full programmes of
planning, training and extra recruitment. For insights into how to pray during the months leading up to the Olympic Games go to the ‘More’ link below. For further insights into the pagan roots of the Olympics go to: Click Here
Pray:for Olympic prayer rooms and prayer events to grow in power and number in the coming months.(2Ch.7:13-15)
Info: http://site.prayer-alert.net/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=51&Itemid=93
Mock Jesus but not Mohammed, says BBC boss
The BBC's director general said the broadcaster would never mock Mohammed like it mocks Jesus. He justified the astonishing admission of religious bias by suggesting that mocking Mohammed has the ‘emotional force of grotesque child pornography’. But Jesus is fair game, he said, because Christianity has broad shoulders and fewer ties to ethnicity. Mr Thompson says the BBC would never have broadcast Jerry Springer The Opera – a controversial musical that mocked Jesus – if its target had been Mohammed. He made the remarks in an interview for a research project at the University of Oxford. Mr Thompson said: ‘The point is that for a Muslim, a depiction, particularly a comic or demeaning depiction, of the Prophet Mohammed might have the emotional force of a piece of grotesque child pornography.’ The BBC director general admits Christianity gets tougher treatmen than other religions because it has ‘pretty broad shoulders’.
Pray: for greater understanding that all faiths are important to their followers and all should be treated equally and with respect. (1Pe.2:17)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/well-mock-jesus-but-not-mohammed-says-bbc-boss/
Christian financial advisers welcome review into payday loans
The Association of Christian Financial Advisers (ACFA) has welcomed the Government's decision to investigate payday loans. The Office of Fair Trading is to investigate payday lenders amid claims that they are taking advantage of people in financial difficulty and providing loans without checking that borrowers can afford to repay them. The ACFA is calling for legislation to cap interest rates. The group outlined its concerns in a letter to Chancellor George Osborne last December in which it expressed 'increasing dismay' over the manner in which payday loan companies were allowed to trade. The letter criticised the 'unfair and unreasonable' interest rates charged by lenders. According to the Independent, the typical APR charged by a payday lender is 4,000%. The ACFA is calling upon the Chancellor to introduce legislation to cap interest rates for all personal lending, including unauthorised bank overdrafts. 'There should be no place for the extortion of the desperate and vulnerable.'
Pray: for an end to what amounts to usury targeted at the financially most vulnerable. (Pr.28:8)
UK doctors agree to gender abortions
Women are being granted abortions after telling doctors their baby is the ‘wrong sex’, a national newspaper undercover investigation has revealed. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has reported the paper’s information to the Police and said carrying out an abortion on the grounds of gender alone is ‘morally repugnant’. The Chief Medical Officer is writing to all abortion clinics, NHS hospitals and Primary Care Trusts, to ‘remind them of their responsibilities and the requirements’ under abortion legislation. The Daily Telegraph’s investigation found three instances of doctors offering to arrange abortions after being told that the women did not want the baby because of its sex. In an editorial yesterday, the Telegraph said its investigation ‘raises a host of disturbing questions, adding ‘The investigation has also confirmed that abortion on demand, often dismissed as a myth, is in fact routine.’ It said that ‘the UK is developing an unenviable reputation for the commercialisation of abortion.
Pray: for an end to this unacceptable practice and for a firm response by the authorities. (Zec.8:5)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/video-uk-doctors-agree-to-gender-abortions/
Churches struggling to cope with growing housing needs
Churches are struggling to cope with the rise in demand for homeless and housing services. Housing Justice says that churches in its network have reported an increase in the number of people turning to them for help with housing. New church shelter schemes that opened up this winter in Milton Keynes and Birmingham were filled to capacity. Newly published Government statistics show that rough sleeping has risen in England by 23% in the last year. Figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government state that 2,181 people are sleeping rough on any one night, up from a total of 1,768 in last year's count. The figure is based on street counts carried out by 53 local authorities between October and November of last year, and estimates made in partnership with local homelessness agencies. Housing Justice director Alison Gelder said: ‘This increase is sadly part of a familiar picture of chronic and growing housing need in society.'
Pray: for God to enable the Church to meet this challenge and for the Government to ensure the most vulnerable are adequately supported. (Ps.140:12)
UN: drug gangs controlling parts of British cities
Parts of British cities are becoming no-go areas where drugs gangs are effectively in control, a United Nations drugs chief said this week. Professor Hamid Ghodse, president of the UN's International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), said there was 'a vicious cycle of social exclusion and drugs problems and fractured communities' in cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. The development of 'no-go areas’ was being fuelled by threats such as social inequality, migration and celebrities normalising drug abuse, he warned. ‘In many societies around the world, whether developed or developing, there are communities within the societies which develop which ones become no-go areas. 'Drug traffickers, organised crime, drug users, they take over. Examples are in Brazil, Mexico, in the United States, in the UK, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester.’ The INCB's annual report for 2011 found persistent social inequality, migration, emerging cultures of excess and a shift in traditional values were some of the key threats to social cohesion.
Pray: for authorities to be enabled to take charge of these ‘no-go’ areas and transform these communities. (Ro.12:2)
MP calls for reform of UK abortion law
Following an undercover investigation into abortion by the Daily Telegraph, Nadine Dorries MP has called for a reform of UK abortion law. The investigation uncovered the practice of gender selective abortions in a number of clinics, and has cast a wider question over how or even whether abortion laws are being followed. Ms Dorries has now suggested that the Abortion Act 1967 needs changing as it is ‘a badly drafted piece of legislation’. Under the Act, abortion is illegal unless it falls within certain exemptions. Under Grounds C, which is the exemption most often used, abortion may only be performed if continuing the pregnancy puts the mother’s (or her existing children’s) mental and physical health at greater risk than if she has an abortion. Yet critics have claimed that there is little evidence to suggest that this is a correct assumption in most cases, and that we now have abortion on demand in practice.
Pray: that serious consideration be given to reforming this abortion law. (Heb.7:12)
More: http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/abortion/mp-calls-for-reform-of-uk-abortion-law
Missions and Church Planting in Europe
Eurochurch.net is happy to announce the culmination of a year’s research with the release of theire report on missions and church planting in Europe. Over 600 people in 35 countries have responded to a questionnaire, making it the largest project of its type ever carried out in Europe. The report contains a country by country directory of people involved in church planting, together with an overview of church planting activity in that country and some useful reports and analysis. It will also form a research database for the future. Every six months they will email all the participants asking them to confirm that the information held on them is correct, and will also ask them to answer a few simple questions about the work in which they are involved. By doing this systematically over a number of years they will build up a comprehensive understanding of the complex nature of church planting in Europe today.
Pray: for that the information gathered will encourage the growth of church planting across Europe. (1Ki.8:28)
More: http://www.eurochurch.net/articles/report-on-missions-and-church-planting-in-europe.php
Missions and Church Planting in Europe
Eurochurch.net is happy to announce the culmination of a year’s research with the release of theire report on missions and church planting in Europe. Over 600 people in 35 countries have responded to a questionnaire, making it the largest project of its type ever carried out in Europe. The report contains a country by country directory of people involved in church planting, together with an overview of church planting activity in that country and some useful reports and analysis. It will also form a research database for the future. Every six months they will email all the participants asking them to confirm that the information held on them is correct, and will also ask them to answer a few simple questions about the work in which they are involved. By doing this systematically over a number of years they will build up a comprehensive understanding of the complex nature of church planting in Europe today.
Pray: for that the information gathered will encourage the growth of church planting across Europe. (1Ki.8:28)
More: http://www.eurochurch.net/articles/report-on-missions-and-church-planting-in-europe.php