People are in desperate need of God. Wayne came to faith through patient, sensitive and long-term work by London City Mission (LCM). He was five or six when he started going to mid-week sports at their centre, then later to a youth club called Jucos, with a Bible class. ‘It wasn’t the stories that drew me in: it was the sport. I’d be at the centre to play sport in the week, and on Sunday I’d go to Jucos, stay for tea and the evening service. I loved being at the centre. Over time, faith became real and relevant.’ He gave his life to Jesus and today he lives in Slough with wife Joyce and son Chris. He works with a charity called Christian Connections in Schools, a local ministry partner with Scripture Union. ‘My work now is exactly the same as what LCM did with me all those years ago: talking about what Jesus said and did, and its relevance today.’

The Queen delivered her 2016 speech this week, setting out the Government’s agenda for the coming session. Measures will be introduced to help the lowest-income families to save, through a new Help to Save scheme. Pray for those who will still have to wait for a first payment of Universal Credit and struggle to repay hardship loans and still stay out of debt. Pray also for the Government commitment to build a million new homes and promote home ownership. May they implement workable changes that end homelessness quickly and help first-time buyers. The Government will reform prisons and courts to give individuals a second chance. Prison governors will be ‘independent legal entities with the power to enter into contracts, generate and retain income, and establish their own boards with external expertise.’ Pray for the prison service to be wise and discerning as changes are implemented, and not to be tempted to cut corners or widen profit margins.

An internal review by the BBC says its content is ‘too Christian’ and should be more balanced. Aaqil Ahmed, a Muslim and the BBC's head of religion and ethics, compiled a report that suggests the company should give more airtime to Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faiths. One proposal is for the BBC to broadcast Friday prayers from a mosque similar to Songs of Praise on Sundays. Ahmed said in a statement that they look at the number of hours they produce, and measure that against the religious make-up of society. The number of Muslims has doubled in ten years, to three million. According to The Daily Telegraph, controversy surrounded Ahmed's appointment in 2009 over allegations he had demonstrated a pro-Islam bias in his former position at Channel 4. The Muslim Council of Britain said, ‘We would not wish Christians to have any less exposure.’

Ofsted has warned, ‘Thousands more children than previously thought are at risk of harm and indoctrination in illegal madrassas and faith schools.’ Inspectors uncovered 100 ‘underground’ schools across Britain, many catering to very religious communities. A third of illegal schools were Muslim, and one-sixth either Christian or Jewish. Others were private, non-religious schools. Investigators were deeply alarmed by sub-standard education which undermined Government efforts to ensure schools promote British values. In a drive to crack down on radicalising pupils, new rules state that schools must promote tolerance of other faiths and lifestyles. The illegal schools have not registered with the Government and so are not subject to any regulation. Ofsted said that pupils attending these schools may be at significant risk of harm and indoctrination. Inspections revealed serious fire hazards, and unsafe and unhygienic premises. Ofsted believes that unregistered schools uncovered so far are a small proportion of the total of those operating.

Last week we prayed for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British charity worker who was arrested at Baghdad airport and held in solitary confinement without charge. A campaign to free her was instigated with a petition to David Cameron to act on her behalf. On Thursday Nazanin’s husband Richard wrote on his blog, ‘I was not planning an update - but I wanted to share. Nazanin told her family a few hours ago that she has been moved out of solitary confinement, and is now kept in a group cell. More details will follow when I have spoken to the family, but it is a happy day. Thank you to everyone who has made that happen.’ Next week he is going to Brussels to petition about her case.

Cathy Warwick, the chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, has been attacked for her decision to give the union's backing to a campaign to scrap the abortion time limit without consulting its members. She chairs the board of trustees at British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), which assists 65,000 women a year with birth control, and believes that abortions should be removed from criminal law. Peter Saunders, CEO of the Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF), has called this decision ‘absolutely appalling’ and called for her resignation.  Mr Saunders said, ‘It looks like a personal crusade; she wants to decriminalise it all together. This is astonishing from an organisation whose very motto is that life is the gift of God.’ New research by the World Health Organisation shows that one in four pregnancies now end in abortion – that is 56 million abortions every year worldwide. Official figures released by the Department of Health on Wednesday revealed that abortions across England and Wales in 2015 have reached a five-year high. See:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has given his strong support to the work of community-based responses to the global AIDS epidemic. In a video message released before next month’s High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS (8-10 June), Archbishop Justin Welby celebrates the great progress that has been made to eliminate AIDS as a threatening global disease by 2030, and calls for a ‘great further step’ - the mobilisation of ‘political, financial, technical and clinical resources through communities’ to make this a reality. He praises the role of communities, particularly faith-based communities, in providing treatment for the poor and marginalised. The Archbishop highlights the role the Anglican Communion has played for many years in offering community-based treatment, ‘enabling communities to…support the victims of AIDS, their families, and others affected directly and indirectly’.

British soldiers are raising concerns about their new Israeli-made, army-issue body armour – with one troop suggesting parts of the latest load-carrying system may as well be ‘used as fire fuel.’ The criticism focuses on parts of an integrated new armour system called Virtus, which is being brought into service to replace the heavier Afghanistan-era Osprey armour. Soldiers say some of the pouches and straps used to store and attach equipment are ‘snapping.’ So far the military has issued 9,000 units of Virtus to key combat units including the Parachute Regiment and Royal Marines. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it is working with the supplier to fix the issues. However, the father of one soldier told the BBC he is appalled, the new kit appeared to be substandard. His son and fellow-soldiers still found it hard to get back up again if they were forced to go to ground in the face of the enemy, he said.

A Staffordshire bull terrier was restrained by a parent after biting eleven children in a play park in Blyth, Northumberland. They suffered bite wounds as they remained trapped in the fenced-off area. Nine were taken to hospital, with a seven-year-old girl expected to need skin grafts. Northumbria Police officers are working to find the animal's owner. The most recent survey reports that hospital admissions for injuries caused by dogs are up by 76% in ten years. The most likely age group to be admitted after dog attacks are children under ten.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the Zika virus could spread to Europe this summer, although the likelihood of an outbreak is low to moderate. Areas most at risk are those where Aedes mosquitoes spread the virus: the Black Sea coast of Russia, Georgia, and Madeira. Countries with a moderate risk include Spain, France, Italy and Greece. UK risk is low. The WHO is calling on countries to eliminate mosquito breeding sites and ensure that people, particularly pregnant women, have information on the potentially harmful consequences of the disease.