Displaying items by tag: British Isles

On 21 June the Archbishop of York Youth Trust hosted a regional conference, for primary head teachers in church schools across the Diocese of Manchester. It provided an opportunity for them to learn more about the Young Leaders Award delivered at Key Stage 2 and to share in the experiences of those completing the award. To date the Youth Trust has enrolled over 550 primary and secondary schools in these award schemes, empowering 63,000 young people to put leadership into action and make a difference in other people's lives through acts of service and community volunteering.

You recently prayed for a change in visa rules regarding trained medical staff because they were not working in the best interests of NHS patients. The Home Office has now decided that foreign doctors and nurses will be excluded from the government's visa cap. This will be a huge relief for NHS trusts across the country, which have been really struggling to fill their doctor and nurse vacancies. Some believe that Home Secretary Sajid Javid’s latest move could indicate a new direction for immigration policy post-Brexit.

Maqsood Bakhsh, a Christian, who has sought asylum in the UK for six years, has appealed to the Prime Minister to allow him to stay, fearing that he and his family face death if they return to Pakistan. He fled Pakistan with his wife Parveen and their sons Somer and Areebs, after Islamic extremists threatened to kill him because of his faith. The catalyst was the murder of two Christians shot outside a court, while in police custody. Pastor Rashid Emmanuel and Sajid had been accused of writing a pamphlet critical of the Prophet Muhammad. Those responsible for the murders believe Maqsood was in league with them, and will kill him and his family if they have the chance. The Home Office has repeatedly rejected their asylum applications. They have no right to appeal, but plan to launch a legal challenge.

300 human rights organisations, including several Christian charities, sent a joint letter to North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un, urging him to make lasting improvements to his country’s dire human rights situation. The charities welcome increased dialogue with other countries, but state that they have yet to see actions on the part of the government ‘that would signal clear improvements in the lives of citizens or their basic rights and freedoms’. The letter urges Kim to increase engagement with international human rights systems, end abuses in detention and prisons, establish regular meetings for separated families of foreign nationals with relatives in North Korea, and accept international humanitarian aid with appropriate monitoring to ensure it reaches needy people and communities. Pray for the families of those executed or in labour camps; ask God to bless and protect North Korean Christians who face daily terror as they live out their faith. See also the article in the World section.

Over a two-day debate MPs reversed or partially reversed 14 defeats on the EU withdrawal bill in the House of Lords. However, Teresa May only averted defeat on an amendment to give the Commons a ‘meaningful vote’ on Brexit by promising to rewrite the legislation in accordance with proposals drawn up by Tory rebel Dominic Grieve. At the time of writing the row is not fully defused, and further rebellion next week seems quite possible. Rebels want to force the Government to prioritise single market access in the final Brexit deal. Theresa May said the Government’s own amendment could not allow MPs to bind its hands or open it up to the risk that Brexit could be reversed. She intends not to allow parliament to overturn the will of the British people. She said, ‘Parliament gave the decision to the British people, the British people voted to leave the European Union, and as Prime Minister I am determined to deliver that.’

(From a Prophecy Today blog) Today, if speech does not conform to secular social mores of ‘tolerance’, ‘diversity’ and ‘equality’, then it becomes ‘hate speech’. In today’s politically correct environment, what we can and can’t say is increasingly regulated - we even censor ourselves for fear of offending some ‘victim’ groups which are given a higher status, deserving special consideration, and placed beyond criticism. Designation of victim groups, undoubtedly well-meant to rid society of prejudice by positively discriminating in favour of ‘victims’, is turning genuine justice on its head. Women’s rights are championed. Men’s rights are unheard of. LGBT rights are promoted over and above those of heterosexuals. Many ‘virtuous’ causes promote immoral living, false religions and the destruction of the family - while Godly living and thinking is ostracised. Pray for a reversal of society’s revolt against Biblical truth, rebellion against God, and the shying away from declaring His truth in public.

The executive leader of the Church Mission Society, Canon Philip Mounstephen, after a recent visit to in Nepal, ponders what difference it would make to the Church in the West if it was as filled with the Holy Spirit. He said that Nepali churches have experienced sustained and significant growth over recent years, while the older UK Church is in decline, facing indifference and suspicion. The Nepali Church is a living demonstration of what happens when the holy and the human meet - a church full of the Holy Spirit and faith, resulting in a great many people being brought to the Lord. The name Barnabas means ‘son of encouragement’, and the Nepali church should encourage us to explore what happens when a Church is filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith. We must begin with prayer. We must recognise our emptiness, and ask to be filled.

Every year, from 1 September to 4 October, members of the Christian family set aside time to deepen their relationship with the Creator, each other, and all of creation. This is the Season of Creation, which began in 1989 as a day of prayer for creation in the Orthodox Church, and which is now embraced by the wider ecumenical family. A letter to all churches said, ‘During this season, we join together to rejoice in the good gift of creation and reflect on how we care for it. As the environmental crisis deepens, we Christians are urgently called to witness to our faith by taking bold action to preserve the gift we share. During this season we ask ourselves: Do our actions honour the Lord as Creator? Are there ways to deepen our faith by protecting “the least of these”, who are most vulnerable to the consequences of environmental degradation?’

As knife crime rises, the many youth workers and organisations working with young people need our support and prayers. One of these is Ignite, a local grassroots charity working with 13- to 25-year-olds in Harrow to help them re-engage with education, find employment, or move away from anti-social behaviour, gang involvement, and exploitative relationships. It aims for long-term transformation in the lives of those who are at risk, marginalised, or facing barriers to success in life. This is done by activity and education-based programmes that challenge values and behaviour and by equipping young people with tools, resources and opportunities to make positive choices in their current situations.

Behailu Kebede, in whose flat the Grenfell Tower fire broke out, was scapegoated by the media and wrongly blamed for failing to raise the alarm. Pray that all such false reporting is revealed and innocent individuals are exonerated. Leslie Thomas QC claimed the failures of management of Grenfell stemmed from the way social housing was stigmatised; attitudes and stereotyping allowed cost-cutting and the use of deadly materials to become normalised. Michael Mansfield QC called for the inquiry to make urgent recommendations to ensure that tower blocks are safe, claiming the fire was foreseeable and criticising the Government’s failure to implement the coroner’s recommendations after the Lakanal house fire in 2009. He called for the imposition of a regulator on the construction industry to overturn its ‘non-compliance mindset’, and attacked Government-backed red tape for regarding safety as a ‘hindrance to profit-making.’