Displaying items by tag: Global

Nations face a resurgence of infections. May God bring comfort to those who have lost loved ones, giving them His peace that surpasses all understanding in 2021. Evolving and alarming headlines fuel worldwide uncertainty and rampant fear. Pray for the media to report facts and refrain from declaring their opinions loosely based on truths. Pray for the immunisation programmes to bring peace of mind as well as protection from the pandemic. May God inspire churches across the nations as they speak and bring hope to their congregations and communities. Pray also for the scientists to be anointed by God with wise skillful intervention to avoid further Covid mutations. May He give supernatural strength of spirit, mind and body to those working tirelessly to care for the sick, and miraculously work healing through them. Pray for all who have had ‘normal life’ replaced with quarantines, lockdowns and border closures.

Matthew Skirton is from the UK but has spent many years in Moldova. He says that mission agencies have noticed a decline in Christians engaging in cross-cultural, overseas mission. Less than 1% of Christians around the world are actively involved in global missions, something termed the ‘Mission Gap’. Has the Church - in some quarters - moved away from the core belief that followers of Christ are all called to go to the ends of the earth, to every people group, to witness and make disciples? Local mission continues - mums and tots groups, food banks, Alpha and online Christmas carol services. During lockdown the move to online church has seen a surge in people connecting with Jesus’ message. Fewer Christians are taking the leap abroad to where there is little chance of the people hearing the Gospel. A Turkish-speaking pastor in London whose services used to attract fifty people now livestreams to over 1,600 Turkish-speakers from his church.

Wealthy countries should be well-covered with vaccines by the first half of 2021, but low-income countries will still be waiting. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said that vaccine access is a huge challenge for low- and middle-income countries. Even when people in high-income countries have access to adequate vaccinations, if Covid is still circulating in poorer countries we will not see an end to the pandemic. Oxfam said, ‘What we want to see AstraZeneca and Oxford do now is to commit to an open licence so more vaccine manufacturers can get on board. We think really the power is in their hands to end this epidemic by the end of 2021.’ Both MSF and Oxfam say that both price and supply challenges can be overcome if we look at more systemic issues of patents. We need to open up intellectual property, including patents, so any manufacturer around the world could produce successful products without fearing sanctions.

On 1 January 2021, International Prayer Connections will launch a global online 24/7 prayer room. The ‘Global Family’ is a collaboration of international ministries from every continent and will be hosted in many languages using Zoom. You are invited to join. Each hour will have Spirit-led, Bible-based, worship-fed, and Christ-exalted times of prayer to multiple gospel movements across the earth. There will also be prayer for unreached people each hour. Please consider giving time, when available, each week in 2021 (personally, your church, city, organisation, network, etc) to join hands in prayer. Secondly, you are also invited (with at least one backup person who could act as room host) to commit to facilitating prayer the same hour each week for the 52 weeks of 2021. There will be training and resources available to you as we near the start of the 24/7 Global Family. For more information, see

FARMS International has helped Christians grow small businesses into sustainable sources of income through microcredit loans. In turn these businesses support their communities and the local church. But many small businesses have faced challenges with the pandemic. Programmes that depend on face-to-face consumers are struggling, and have been for months. Even as restrictions lift in some places, there’s still fear of hiring the person who’s going to bring Covid to the family. Because of that fear it’s really difficult for day labourers. Workers in cities are especially challenged to keep their businesses afloat. Fewer people are travelling or willing to be in close contact with someone else. The same holds for carpenters or people who do housework. These people are on the fringes, without a secure source of income and the things that follow, like food and education. See also

For hundreds of years, the Church has worked hard at translating, publishing and distributing the Bible. Only around 250 million people are still waiting for Bible translation to begin in the language they know best. But all this is just groundwork for the main task of seeing the nations become disciples of Christ through engaging with the Bible. Technology provides audio Bibles, Bible study apps, and videos dramatising Biblical content; these are a great blessing, especially where Bibles are hard to acquire, where literacy is low, or where it is a security risk to have a hard copy. Bible engagement is a challenge to every church across the nations. Pray for God to increase the number of all those who work in the gap between the Bible and the world: Bible teachers for children and adults; those who present Bible truth through music, art, dance, drama, fiction and other forms of storytelling and learning; and scholars and commentators.

About nine million species of animals and plants are exposed to changes in the global climate. Monitoring how climate change affects wildlife and ecosystems has become critical for directing conservation measures where life is most at risk. Today the world's biggest iceberg is bearing down on South Georgia. The Antarctic ice giant, similar in size to the island or to the county of Somerset, is expected to anchor itself offshore of the wildlife haven; posing a grave threat to local penguins and seals. Their normal foraging routes could be blocked, preventing them from feeding their young properly. All creatures living on the seafloor would be crushed where it touches ground. David Attenborough said the world is a unique and spectacular landscape, if we act now we can put it right and save and protect the animals and plants we have endangered throughout centuries of changing the natural world.

‘Contend’ is a 21-day prayer campaign, from 4 to 25 November, seeking God for a breakthrough in His global Church surrounding an increase of mission mobilisation across church structures, moving mission from the periphery to its rightful place - at the centre. Prayer materials are now available in numerous languages to help us prepare for the start of the prayer campaign. Daily videos are available with the prayer points in English.

Nearly half of world exports come from countries that fail to punish foreign bribery. That’s half of G20 countries and eight of the top 15 global exporters. Since 2018, fewer countries have been actively working against foreign bribery. One obstacle to enforcement is shell companies which cover up payments, making it difficult for authorities to trace the origin and destination of money. But even when countries actively enforce against foreign bribery, victims’ compensation is rare and most proceeds of corruption are never returned to countries or citizens. Citizens of countries where multinationals bribe public officials pay higher prices than they otherwise would for possibly lower-quality goods and services. Public money wasted on unnecessary contracts and deals deprives people of essential services like education and healthcare. The EU’s seven-year budget for Covid-19 recovery funds are at risk of abuse unless open, data-driven mechanisms to protect public contracts are put in place.

Covid-19 has plunged the world into an economic crisis and accelerated digitisation in the workplace. Adopting digital technology creates opportunities for millions of new businesses and jobs, but millions without access to technology are left jobless. Unequal access to the internet and technology will impact the unskilled and offline communities in the developing world where connectivity is expensive, slow and unreliable. For example, a vegetable trader in Nairobi may make basic mobile phone payments but cannot sell his produce online because most of his buyers are neither online nor aware of e-commerce. Governments in developing countries lack the funds, and private companies lack financial incentives to invest in broadband for all. The economic crisis triggered by the pandemic will discourage investing digital infrastructure where it is most needed. Pray for the 3.2 billion people who will remain unconnected, those who don't have laptop jobs or access to virtual education or work, to find ways to survive in post-pandemic times.