Hanover Park is a violent gangland neighbourhood of unemployed young men where even army deployment failed to stop shootings. Gangsters as young as 12 operate within a contested jigsaw of fiefdoms in the historically ‘coloured’ township - 15-minutes from well-heeled central Cape Town. Mary Bruce points to identical three-storey flats ‘That’s the Ghetto Kids. Over there are the Dollars, and this side are the Americans. They fight everyone.’ A couple of hundred metres towards the taxi rank the ‘turf’ yields the Mongrels and Laughing Boys gangs. Up to 500 youths in Hanover Park could be classed as ‘child soldiers’. Nearly 7,000 people in Hanover Park are active within the myriad street gangs that have their roots in a prison gang culture on the Western Cape that stretches back over 100 years. Pray for ‘Ceasefire’, NGO violence interrupters working to nip trouble in the bud and help gangsters to quit.

Thirteen churches in Algeria have been closed since 2018. Hope Evangelical Church is the latest to be ordered to shut down as the government’s crackdown on houses of worship continues. A 2006 law is being used as a pretext to clamp down on churches, even though the commission it created is yet to meet to consider the requests it has already received. The law requires non-Muslim places of worship be authorised by the National Commission for Non-Muslim Worship. Concern is growing for Algerian Christians, as it is unable or unwilling to fulfil this essential part of its mandate. The government should either reconstitute it entirely, or the law itself should be repealed in order to ensure the right to freedom of religion or belief for religious minorities in the country. Pray for churches to know the Lord's peace, wisdom and guidance in the face of the growing pressure. Pray also that Christians are not discouraged by this fierce campaign against them.

Since 2015 tunnels have run under the border from Mexico to America. Donald Trump has made building a border wall one of his key priorities to tackle illegal immigration and drug trafficking. On 30 January, US officials said that they had discovered the longest smuggling tunnel ever. Stretching for 1,313m, it had a lift, rail track, drainage, air ventilation systems and high voltage electrical cables. The passageway connected an industrial site in Tijuana to the San Diego area in California. Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, one of the largest drug-trafficking organisations in the world, operates in the area. Its founder and long-time leader, Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, is serving life in prison in Alcatraz. Mexico's murder rate rises annually - 2019 was the bloodiest year on record, with 34,582 killings. Much of the violence is linked to criminal gangs who engage in drug trafficking, kidnappings and extortion of local businesses and farmers. See

Last year we prayed for Christian doctor Richard Scott to be vindicated after a concerted and targeted attack against him by a secularist campaign group was thrown out by the General Medical Council (GMC). In June the National Secular Society registered ‘concern’ with the GMC that the GP was ‘continuing to pray and promote Christianity during consultations in an attempt to convert patients’. However, the GMC has ruled that there was no evidence and that he had done nothing wrong.

Philip saw members of his isolated tribal community in Bangladesh dying from simple diseases (malaria, diarrhoea, childbirth complications) because there was no medical care. ‘I asked God to open a door for our community because I could do nothing. I never thought that God would open the door through me!’ With help from Open Doors, Philip trained as a rural doctor and returned to his village to serve as a pastor and a doctor, providing medical help and supporting Christian families who were mocked and insulted in a traditionally Buddhist tribal community. ‘But now they have started respecting the Christians. They buy medicine from me and say good things about my service. I am building good relationships with them and telling them about Jesus Christ.’

Brazilian soccer star Roberto Firmino scored the winning goal at the FIFA Club World Cup. Now millions of Christian fans are celebrating his latest move off the field - committing his life to Christ. Firmino professed his faith and was baptised in a swimming pool by his Liverpool FC teammate Alisson Becker and Brazilian musician Isaias Saad. Firmino shared a video of the baptism on his Instagram on 16 January. It was viewed over 3.2 million times in one day. ‘I give you my failures and I will give you my victories as well. My biggest title is your love, Jesus!’ Firmino wrote. 

MPs said that many thousands of people in Northern Ireland had been ignored last year when Westminster politicians voted to repeal Northern Ireland’s strong protections for women and unborn. In her maiden speech in the House of Commons, Carla Lockhart MP said, ‘I want a society in Northern Ireland that values life, and I want to see services that will help women choose life.’ Rebecca Long-Bailey, a Labour leadership candidate and practising Christian, said that she agreed with the words of the Disability Rights Commission that ‘the context in which parents choose whether to have a child should be one in which disability and non-disability are valued equally.’ The Equality and Human Rights Commission consistently criticises laws which differentiate between unborn babies on grounds of disability. See

American bishop Michael Curry, who delivered a memorable sermon on the 'power of love' at Harry and Meghan's wedding in 2018, has reached out to the couple after they announced they will no longer be working members of the royal family as of spring this year. The head of the Episcopal Church is offering ‘pastoral care’ to the couple ‘as they forge lives across the pond’, according to The Sunday Times. Bishop Michael’s sermon included these words: ‘We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love and when we discover that, we will be able to make of this old world a new world, for love is the only way. When love is the way, we actually treat each other well, like we are actually family.’ Prophetic sentiments now, as the couple step away from royal life.

A new virus is mutating and spreading, having already produced over 500 confirmed cases in China. Britain is monitoring flights arriving from China, with a ‘separate area’ being set up at Heathrow to screen travellers arriving from affected regions amid fears of a pandemic. Pray for UK and global public health officials to stay ahead of the issue as they watch its progress. The Chinese lunar New Year is on 25 January, so currently millions of Chinese people are preparing to travel domestically and abroad for the celebrations. See also the China article in world section.

A report by the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) suggests that ministers’ failure to ban far-right extremist groups is undermining the fight against online propaganda. Sharing the material of National Action and its spin-off terrorist groups is a terror offence punishable by up to 15 years’ imprisonment, whereas hate-filled propaganda from other groups carries far lower sentences. HJS warned that posts by non-prohibited groups may not be properly monitored or taken down by social media companies who rely on government lists of terror organisations when deciding what to remove. Islamists are jailed three times longer than some far-right extremists for online offences. HJS said, ‘The government needs to keep this situation under review in a fast-moving online world, where offending causes real and significant harm.’ Social media companies have become increasingly adept at spotting jihadi symbols and language, but progressed more slowly with the diverse range of indicators used by the far-right.