A rescue ship carrying 60 migrants picked up from rubber boats in the Mediterranean Sea arrived in a Spanish port on 4 July, after being refused entry by Italy and Malta. Tens of thousands of migrants have reached European shores so far this year. Southern European countries are refusing entry to arrivals unless their burden is shared. Refugee policies now dominate European political agendas. Pray for God to inspire Europe’s leaders to agree on border protection that complements existing European agreements (Schengen/Dublin III). Pray for fresh methods to speed up current slow asylum procedures. Some nations are ‘going it alone’ - asserting their own interests, without any compassion for the plight of the displaced. Ask God to soften hearts and give politicians compassion towards those fleeing their home countries.

The NHS is preparing to stockpile medicines and equipment to ensure hospitals can function after a no-deal Brexit. Simon Stevens, the health service CE, said there was 'immediate planning' around the Department for Health and in hospitals about 'securing medical supply' under different scenarios to ensure there was enough medicine. It is 'top of the list' of contingency planning that would be implemented once the state of the deal 'crystallised' in the autumn. Whitehall realises that with no replacement for EU medical agencies, hospitals could run out of drugs and other supplies within weeks. Mr Stevens told the BBC's Andrew Marr that hospitals would be ‘ready for whatever situation emerges’. Pray for patients, the NHS and the UK’s life science industry to have workable regulatory arrangements in place and be fit for purpose for a smooth transition. Pray also for cross-border communications in medical research and development.

On 3 and 4 July, the BBC aired ten news topics promoting LGBTQ+ on their website. Twice last month BBC Radio Four Sunday programme interviewed a woman who had been an evangelical and then changed her beliefs to become a homosexual. LGBTQ+ people now make up a weighty percentage of BBC staff and their influence is seen more and more in programmes and reporting. Quiz shows, soaps, documentaries and entertainment programmes usually have a LGBTQ+ representative. A Christian lady who struggled with her sexuality told her story of how she was counselled by a liberal theologian who helped her to ‘read the Bible in a different way’ so she could become LGBTQ+. She said she had since talked with Archbishop Justin Welby who encouraged her to apply for ordination, saying she would be just the kind of clergy he wants to see in the Church of England. So the state broadcasting service and the state Church promote LGBTQ+ agendas. see

In September 2017 the eccentric Catholic Tory MP Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg addressed a crowd of 100 activists in Westminster who had signed up to the ‘Moggmentum’ movement which grew over the summer. A survey at the time found that he was Tory members’ favourite to be the next leader, despite the fact that he has never held a frontbench post. Ten months later he insisted again that he is not ambitious and not aware of a £750,000 war chest raised by supporters for an eventual leadership bid. He joked, ‘There isn't a leadership contest. I’m very unlikely to be the next Pope and just as unlikely to be the next Prime Minister. The papacy would be fantastic. I would be infallible, which is better than is given to most politicians.’ He named Sajid Javid and Michael Gove as ‘first-class candidates’ to succeed Theresa May when there is a vacancy.

Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill at a house in Amesbury and remain in a critical condition after being exposed to Novichok, the same nerve agent that poisoned ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal. There was nothing in their background suggesting the pair were targeted. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said they could not confirm whether the nerve agent came from the same batch but the possibility was ‘clearly a line of inquiry’. Chemical weapons expert Richard Guthrie says the Novichok used on the Skripals may have been disposed of haphazardly. Security minister Ben Wallace says he cannot guarantee people are 100% safe from further contamination. The areas around Amesbury and Salisbury where the couple went on the day they fell ill have been cordoned-off and police warned the public against picking up anything if they didn’t know what it was. Pray for the victims’ recovery and for successful detailed examination of potentially dangerous areas.

The Passport Office and Action Fraud are raising awareness of the need to report missing passports to prevent documents from being used to commit identity crime and facilitate illegal travel across borders. Almost 50 million people hold a UK passport and 400,000 are lost or stolen annually. Yet despite the risks people wait on average 73 days before making a report. Passports have all the information that fraudsters need to steal an identity and set up accounts in that name. Immigration Minister, Caroline Nokes, said, ‘When you lose your bank card, the first thing you do is contact your bank and have it cancelled, yet people don’t treat lost or stolen passports with the same urgency’. By reporting missing passports, law enforcement agencies and immigration control officers can keep ahead of criminals attempting to get a UK passport illegally. This also ensures action can be taken against anyone identified as having obtained a passport by fraudulent means.

Drug deaths have reached their worst level in Scotland since records began, (934 in 2017). Statistics show Scotland's drug death-rate is roughly two and half times the UK rate and ‘massively worse’ than anywhere in Europe. The official ‘Drug-related deaths’ paper shows methadone, the heroin substitute, was present in nearly half of all deaths. Methadone is prescribed by the NHS to keep people off drugs! Annie Wells, the Scottish public health spokesperson, said, ‘ We need a radical and urgent drugs strategy, not one that waves the white flag in the face of drug-dealers and those who profit from this despicable industry, but one that gets tough on the issue. We need to help vulnerable people beat the habit once and for all, not park them on methadone just to watch them die from that very substance years later.’ Pray for God to inspire ministers to implement a successful, revitalised substance use strategy.

‘Gay conversion therapies’ are to be banned as part of a government 75-point plan to improve the lives of gay and transgender people. A national survey of 108,000 LGBT people suggested that 2% have undergone the practice with another 5% having been offered it. A plan costing £4.5m, has been produced in response to the survey. A national LGBT health adviser will be recruited to tackle discrimination, improve the response to hate crime and improve diversity in education institutions. While the government did not offer a definition of conversion therapy, its report said it ranges from ‘pseudo’ psychological treatments to surgical interventions and 'corrective' rape. Faith organisations were the most likely to have carried out the therapy, according to the report. The NHS does not refer people for it and disagrees with the practice.

The Trumpet Call day was framed in worship to Jesus - The Lamb who has conquered - and included deep times of humbling, confession and repentance after RT Kendall spoke and again after Malcolm Duncan had spoken.  The promise contained in 2 Chronicles 7:14 invites us to continue to come to our heavenly Father on an ongoing basis for ourselves, for the Church and for our nations, in humility and confession in order that we might see a continuation of the turning from our wicked ways.  The WPC team have had many encouraging feedback comments. One Church leader said it had completely turned around his ministry, another said ‘awesome is an overused word but it truly was awesome’. The team has also been very encouraged by feedback on evangelistic events happening at the same time and the week after and by conversations about prayer and mission whilst recognising that there is a hard road ahead of us.

Lewis Hamilton believes he has the hand of God resting over him when he steps into his Formula One car. The Christian racing driver will set his sights on wrestling back the championship lead at the British Grand Prix. ‘Anything can happen any day, but I feel God has his hand over me,’ Hamilton, 33, said ahead of his home race. ‘Every morning I have breakfast and before I eat, I pray. Every time I eat, actually, I pray. So, whether it's a couple of seconds, a minute or whatever you are praying for, take that moment. He attends church with a couple of friends, ‘We leave Church most often feeling enlightened and empowered. Sometimes you leave, and you are like 'I didn't get that today', but most of the time you leave and you are like 'wow, I know where I am going'.