England, N.Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brexit
The Government is appealing against a High Court ruling that MPs must vote on triggering Article 50. The Scottish and Welsh Governments’ senior law officers will also take part in the appeal. Further, an ancient Scottish ‘Claim of Right’ is to be used - triggering article 50 without MPs’ vote would be in breach of a Scottish 1689 ‘radical revolutionary tradition’ that has been ‘enshrined in Scottish law for more than 300 years’. Northern Ireland’s Attorney General is expected to take part in the court hearing, increasing the chances that the cross-border deal with the Republic of Ireland in the Good Friday agreement will also become part of the legal argument. We can pray that the activation of Article 50 and Brexit deadline will align with God’s timing and that the influence of the Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies, every Court Decision and vote of Parliament will come together in God’s timing.
Ashers may be able to appeal gay cake case again
Ashers bakery has been told it may be able to take its fight against a discrimination ruling to the UK Supreme Court. The Christian-owned bakery was ruled to have broken discrimination laws by refusing to make a cake with a slogan supporting gay marriage. It appealed the verdict but the Court of Appeal rejected it. The Christian Institute, which is supporting the McArthur family who own Ashers bakery, said in a hearing on Tuesday that it could potentially launch another appeal in the Supreme Court through what the Institute called ‘a little known legal provision’. The Court has asked the McArthur family's lawyers to provide written submissions ‘probably within the next week’, according to the Institute. At Tuesday's hearing it was also said that the Attorney General, who intervened in their earlier case at the Court of Appeal, was seeking to refer the Ashers’ case to the Supreme Court ‘on devolution issues’.
'JAMS' will be crushed over 5 years
The Autumn Statement offers little help to the ‘Just About Managing’ classes. Their overall incomes are set to be squeezed even more severely over the course of this Parliament than previously thought, according to a new analysis by the Resolution Foundation think-tank. They calculate that the inflation-adjusted incomes of the entire bottom third of the income distribution - the least well-off thirty per cent of households - will fall between 2015 and 2020. We can pray for the finances of the United Kingdom to function according to Kingdom values and the purposes and that plans in the recent Autumn Statement will bless the people. We can also pray for an end to greed, excesses and mismanagement by organisations.
#JoyToTheWorld this Christmas!
1 December sees the launch of www.achristmasnearyou.org which allows people to find their nearest Christmas church services wherever they live in the UK. The Church of England already has nearly 19,000 Christmas services and events registered online but now they want to upload other denominations on to the site and are asking churches to go to www.achristmasnearyou.org/upload to enter their individual churches and their service details so that people across the country can find out about the nearest service to where they live and join the #JoyToTheWorld campaign. The organisers will be sharing four Christmas videos throughout December and encouraging people to share their #JoyToTheWorld on social media. People can also download resources for their church at www.achristmasnearyou.org/resources.
Autumn Statement
Denis Healey delivered the first version of the Autumn Statement In 1975 and made it a duty for the Government to publish two economic updates a year. On Wednesday the Chancellor of the Exchequer said, ‘I am abolishing the Autumn Statement’. The Budget which happens in the spring will in future be the only update to the country on UK economic situations. Wednesday’s Autumn Statement on taxation and spending plans was based on updated independent economic forecasts and projections by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). We can pray for our nation to be blessed and not cursed by these projections, that we lend and not borrow, create wealth and steward wealth wisely. We can pray also for Philip Hammond, civil servants and all working at the Treasury, for this year’s economic projections, departmental spending allocations and Budget taxation plans to be wisely and successfully implemented and not blurred.
Houses Of Parliament - Red light for persecuted believers
#RedWednesday, an initiative spearheaded by the advocacy charity ‘Aid to the Church in Need’, is highlighting a lack of religious freedom in countries around the world. The Houses of Parliament, the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St John's Wood, the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Stevenage, and Bolton Town Hall, are among dozens of buildings including churches, synagogues and mosques across the UK who lit up their buildings red on Wednesday to mark a show of solidarity with anyone persecuted for their faith. Lord Alton of Liverpool said, ‘In this month of remembrance we are right to stand in solidarity with those who suffer. Our Houses of Parliament represent the struggle for liberty and freedom. In bathing them in red we commemorate those who enjoy none of those privileges and it is an earnest of our determination that they should.’
Trypraying 2017
Several places are considering using trypraying co-operatively next year in the run up to, or from, Easter. In our sights is the goal of 1000 churches across the UK making use of it and 10 city-wide projects where scores of churches work together. We are happy to talk with you if this is something you would like to consider. You could host a meeting in the next three months to get the idea talked about. We might even be able to send along a speaker to help. Please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are interested.
If you are within reach of High Wycombe or Birmingham on 28/29th November then you might wish to come to one of these two ‘interest meetings’ to see how it all works.
• Monday 28th November 7.30 (refreshments) for 8.00 p.m. at St Peter's Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, HP10 9QL.
• Tuesday 29th November 2.30 p.m. Riverside House, 21 Alcester Road, Moseley, Birmingham. B13 8AR.
Please email us if you are interested and we’ll get you counted in for refreshments – or just come.
Meanwhile, here’s a conversation which took place in Costa yesterday with someone who "doesn’t do church.”
I had previously given her copy of the trypraying booklet. I felt I should take a risk and ask how she got on with it. She said she had given it away to a friend - who had then given it to someone else. "Your booklet is travelling!" she joked. I explained the content of the booklet again, especially Day 5 (forgiveness) and Day 6 (responding to Christ) because, on offer, is the possibility of a relationship with a loving God. I asked if she had prayed the prayers on those days and she was non-commital but she then volunteered, “I'll tell you what I am going to do. I’m going to go through the booklet again and pray and the next time I see you I’ll tell you how I got on .”
Encouraging.
Take risks.
Source: Trypraying
‘Golden age’ for Aleppo church
Many Christians have fled from Aleppo to Lebanon. In Kristina’s church, only 10% of the original congregation are left, but the church is full as displaced people take their place - especially Muslims. She says, ‘Muslims were surprised to see churches offering support and programmes for all Syrians, not just Christians.’ Many have dropped their hostility towards Christians and are re-thinking their faith. A growing number of Muslim children are attending children’s activities, where the Bible is opened daily. Gradually Muslim families have joined church activities. Kristina speaks of a ‘golden age’ for the Middle East Church. ‘Muslims are coming to us. The only thing we have to do is tell them the good news; they are waiting for it’, she says.
Northern Ireland and redefinition of marriage
Arlene Foster, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, has said that her Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will continue to use its veto to stop same-sex marriage. She said that her party felt ‘strongly’ that they should protect the definition of marriage, and referred to the huge outcry against the ruling in the Ashers Bakery case. Recently, 51 Unionists voted against redefining marriage - so opposition is not confined to the DUP.
Canada: ‘With glowing hearts we see you rise’
Mike Jacobs, husband of Cindy Jacobs, was woken at 5 am by the Lord reminding him of a prophetic word that was released in the early 1980s from their UK prayer network: ‘A revival will start in Western Canada, sweeping from the west to east, and then go down into the USA, and into Mexico, Central America, and South America.’ Mr Jacobs said, ‘God was saying to me in the morning, “Have I not said there is going to be a revival?” So He is stirring this word once again, and we are going to start seeing this revival.’ For the rest of this encouraging word for North America, click the ‘More’ button.