Displaying items by tag: Global

In France the security alert system is at its highest level, after an extremist gunman opened fire at a Christmas market in Strasbourg, killing two people and injuring at least twelve. Christmas can be a dangerous season for many. Last year suicide bombers killed nine and wounded over 50 people attending pre-Christmas church services in Pakistan. In Nigeria, Boko Haram have often carried out Christmas attacks. In the West, Christmas can mean financial strain, pressures, loneliness or simply a time with relatives where old tensions come to the fore and explode, sometimes with devastating results. For example, last year in Canada a father who had custody of his daughters (aged six and four) on Christmas Day killed them both and attempted suicide. Pray for peace to replace turmoil, restraint to replace violence, and harmony to replace disagreement wherever it threatens. Pray that police and other agencies can detect and remove danger from vulnerable community spaces.

GO 2020 is a global vision to activate the whole Body of Christ – millions of individual believers, churches and large global ministries - to pray and share the Gospel all over the world in a joint effort of evangelism during the month of May 2020.

THE CALLING

“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Mt 9:37

The Great Commission is not an “optional assignment” for the Church. Yet 93% of church members never share the Gospel with others. GO 2020 aims to turn those numbers upside down … to pursue the following:

VISION

To activate and train every Christian believer, everywhere to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through a unique partnership effort involving many different denominations and parachurch organizations, this massive moment is meant to train and inspire every believer to live a lifestyle of evangelism.

GOALS

Mobilize 100 million Christians to share the Gospel during May 2020.
Reach 1 billion people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
1 million new churches, faith communities and small groups.
Disciple 20 million new believers and integrate them into existing and new churches.

HOW?

Through a strategic partnership network built over nearly a decade, GO 2020:

Encourages ordinary believers to share the Gospel through personal conversation and to demonstrate God’s love through prayer, caring, and sharing in numerous different ways.
Equips Churches with training and materials in evangelism, discipleship and church planting (see Resources).
Promotes Kingdom partnership as churches, denominations and ministries from many different backgrounds work together to reach the world (see Partner).
Invites every church to be part of a church planting initiative during the year 2020. Every church is planting a church – together we can establish 1 million new faith communities.
Makes the Gospel visible through thousands of “Jesus Celebrations”, GO 2020 Events, March for Jesus and more.

GO 2020 is a special edition of Global Outreach Day, which has been taking place every last Saturday of May since 2012. On this day, every year, believers worldwide have stepped out together in faith to share the Good News.

25 million believers have already participated in Global Outreach Day. To see what God has done, view Global Outreach Day testimonies.

«Every believer is a witness and a disciple maker – Every church is planting new churches»

More at:https://www.go2020.world/explained

Prayer Points Suggested for GO-2020:

1. Pray that as the call to GO-2020 goes out, every believer wakes up to fully seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, realizing the time is short. (Rom. 13:11-14; Luke 19:13; Psalm 90:12)
   
2. Pray that every follower of Jesus is BEING a disciple who fully follows Jesus in loving God, loving others and making disciples that make disciples. (Acts 1:8; Matt. 22:37; Prov. 11:30; Matt. 28:18-20)
   
3. Pray that believers see the hearts of those the Holy Spirit has prepared to hear and that they share in a way that can be understood and responded to. (John 4:36; John 6:44; 2 Tim. 4:2)
   
4. Pray for every people group with little gospel witness to be adopted for prayer and outreach then engaged with a Kingdom multiplication strategy, so that there will be no place left without gospel witness in every tongue, tribe and nation. Currently ¼ to 1/3 of the world has little to no gospel witness (Unreached people groups) and 401 people groups over 500,000 in population have less than .1% Christians among them (these represent 88% of the remaining task. (Matt. 9:37-38; 2 Cor. 10:16; 2 Peter 3:9; Rev. 7:9) 
   
5. Pray for access to the entire Word of God in every language since at present only 7% of the world’s languages have a full Bible and only 1 in 5 Bible Translation Projects focus on translating the Old Testament. (Matt. 9:37-38; Heb. 4:12; Rom. 10:17-21)
   
6. Pray for the Body of Christ to recognize our call to see His Kingdom coming and His will being done (not building our own kingdoms) and that we work together in the unity of the Spirit keeping the bond of peace for His glory among the nations. (Matt. 6:10; Eph. 4:3; Matt. 12:22-26)

The 18th International Anti-Corruption Conference brought together 1,800+ delegates from civil society, governments, multilateral agencies, and the private sector. They came from 144 countries to exchange ideas and experiences. Although there has been progress around the world, they are concerned that the foundations of democracy and the rule of law are under threat in many countries. Today, the world is witnessing erosion of good governance, sharp increases in human rights violations and violence. The role of civil society is also being impeded by repressive governments. The rise of authoritarianism, in the guise of populist regimes, threatens all who defend social justice regardless of the regions or continents. Stealing from their own people, colluding with criminals, and distorting laws and truth to serve their own interests result in extremist movements and harsh divisions.

Following the remarks to the UN about climate change by Dominica’s foreign minister (see https://www.prayer-alert.net/worldwide-pa-site/item/11038-un-assembly-climate-change-a-global-responsibility), on 7 October a UN intergovernmental panel added to that warning by stating that preventing an extra single degree of heat could make a life-or-death difference in the next few decades for multitudes of people and ecosystems on this fast-warming planet. It detailed how weather, health and ecosystems would be in better shape if the world’s leaders limited future human-caused warming to half a degree, instead of the Paris-agreed goal of 1 degree. Meeting the more ambitious goal requires immediate cuts in emissions of heat-trapping gases and dramatic changes in the energy field. The panel said it is technically possible, but saw little chance of the needed adjustments being made by every nation. See also the article ‘Bishop challenges Government on climate change’ in the UK section.

As climate change creates huge ecological and economic damage, more and more money is being given to at-risk countries to help them prevent it and adapt to its effects. But these grants can be diverted into private bank accounts and vanity projects. Senior staff at Kenya’s geothermal energy company went on compulsory leave after trying to embezzle US$19 million, and a Bangladesh fishing community cannot reach their cyclone shelter that was built on the other side of a river which isn’t crossable during bad weather. The contractor built the shelter next to his own house. Also 52 Maldivian families were relocated from islands vulnerable to erosion and sea surges. The government raised funds to house them. Construction never began; they were still homeless eight years after the relocation. Transparency International works to safeguard climate change funding from corruption, by monitoring and exposing corruption risks and supporting communities.

Politicians and the Bank of England now say that the chances of a ‘no deal’ scenario are high, and may leave the UK with no trading deals in place. Pray that a spirit of fear will not entrench our nation. WTO's director general believes ‘this is not going to be a situation where all trade stops and there is collapse in terms of the economy as a whole. The tendency is that prices will go up because you have to absorb the cost of that disruption’. The WTO facilitates 164 countries, without free trade agreements with each other, to trade using the same tax on imports and the same limits on the number of goods. After Brexit, the UK could lower/waive tariffs to stimulate free trade. Cheaper products could enter UK, but some UK producers could fold. We can pray for business to thrive. The UK already trades under WTO rules with China, US, Brazil and Australia, plus any country without a trade agreement with the EU.

Japan's weather agency has declared the heatwave sweeping the country a natural disaster, with 80+ deaths recorded since 19 July and the temperature reaching 41.1C. By 26 July over 22,000 were hospitalised with heatstroke, and the heatwave shows no sign of abating. People were urged to stay in air-conditioned spaces, drink water, and rest to prevent heat exhaustion. The fire department dispatched ambulances 3,125 times within Tokyo in just one day. Meanwhile, temperatures in Korea climbed to 40. Much of Europe is baking under a high-pressure ridge of tropical heat, climbing as far as the Arctic and blocking cooling rainfalls. Temperatures above 32 extended to northern Scandinavia, setting records in Sweden, Finland and Norway for stations above the Arctic Circle. There are unprecedented wildfires in Sweden. Algeria reached 51.3, the highest temperature ever recorded on the African continent. A brutal heatwave also struck Canada, with seventy heat-related deaths, and in the USA Dallas experienced highs of 43.

The 2018 Global Slavery Index revealed that North Korea has the most human slaves in the world. Research showed it keeps over 2.6 million people in modern day slavery - that is, one in every ten citizens is forced to work under slavery conditions. A UN Commission of Inquiry has observed that violations of human rights in North Korea are not mere excesses of the state, they are an essential component of the political system. Eritrea, described as ‘a repressive regime that abuses its conscription system to hold its citizens in forced labour for decades’, has the second highest prevalence of modern slavery. The others in the top ten are Burundi, the Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Mauritania, South Sudan, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Iran. Most of these nations have conflict, displacement, and a lack of physical security. However, the conditions in North Korea, Eritrea, and Burundi stand out because slavery is state-imposed.

South Asia IJM are searching for two teenage girls being exploited by a private sex-trafficking network. IJM worked with police for weeks to rescue them, but at the last minute they were moved from the target location. Please pray for a new strategy to find the girls quickly, without tip-offs making the traffickers suspicious. Also, remember the Dominican Republic mother of two sex-trafficking survivors struggling to provide for her five children. The European expat perpetrator in this case is offering her increasingly large sums of money to drop accusations against him, but she refuses every time. May God strengthen her and provide for the family’s needs. Finally, thank God for Kevin Hyland, who leaves the role of UK independent anti-slavery commissioner at IJM this month. The role was created under the Modern Slavery Act of 2015, and his work has been groundbreaking in uniting forces from NGOs, the private sector, and the Government to fight modern slavery. Pray for wisdom in the selection of his replacement. See

It has been almost three years since the ‘refugee crisis’ was brought to the world’s attention. Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, came like a flood from the Middle East and North Africa to Europe, fleeing war, drought, terrorism and pain. Many Christians responded compassionately, with thousands volunteering across Europe to serve the refugees who had left everything behind. Many YWAM workers got involved through serving on the shores of Europe, along the migration route and in destination nations like Germany and Sweden. On the island of Lesvos alone, more than 1,000 YWAMers served in the camp, with a combined effort of approximately 20,000 days of work! While the number of volunteers has decreased, displaced people are still coming and helpers are still needed to meet practical needs and build relationships with the people in the camps. In 2018 refugees no longer live in camps. Host nations face the challenge of integrating thousands into their society.