Displaying items by tag: Religion

Policing covers a vast range of issues. Often non-crime-related issues take up a considerable amount of time and resources where local needs are many and varied. Faith communities can help the police in numerous ways by engaging with and providing support to some of the most vulnerable within our communities. Within the National Policing Vision and Mission, faith communities can support them with their non-statutory requirements. The #FaithAndPoliceTogether vision is to see the police services in England and Wales work in partnership with faith groups to build safer communities and reduce demand. This will have an important role to play in bringing about community cohesion and transformation, The policing vision for 2025 stresses that the links between communities and police form the bedrock of British policing. These include parenting courses, youth services, addiction recovery services, supported housing, and much more.

The new relationships and sex education regulations, normalising same-sex relationships and gender fluidity to children as young as three, could become compulsory from September. However, schools are closed. The legally-required consultations with parents to determine schools’ policies have not taken place. Parents have the right to have their views heard, and have children educated in line with their religious belief. Many believe that the implementation of the regulations should be postponed until there have been proper consultations and reviews. An online petition has now been launched for the postponement of the implementation until parents have opportunities to have their views heard. To see the petition, click the ‘More’ button.

Suzanne Ferrett, head of Passion for the Nation, writes, ‘God is changing the face of His Church across this land. He is changing us in the hidden place so that we will reflect His glory in the visible place. We declare this is a season when He is calling His people into His presence, to know His heart, His ways and His desires, that a fresh revelation of the power of prayer will come to His people, and that the shifts and the changes He desires will be released within us and through us. Pray that as the Holy Spirit moves across His people in this day, we will change individually and corporately, that we will emerge from this season, carrying His heartbeat and the anointing which comes through time spent with Him, cleansed by the fire of God’s Spirit, pure in heart, spirit and soul.’ For the full text of her message, click on the ‘More’ button.

During the coronavirus lockdown, Nigerian Fulani militants have murdered a five-year-old child they snatched from a pregnant mother, another nine Christians including two children, and a second pregnant woman In Egypt, seven Islamist terrorists, suspected of plotting to attack Christians under cover of the nightly coronavirus curfew, were shot dead. In West Africa, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau declared coronavirus a ‘product of evil’ while he mocked health measures and stepped up attacks. In East Africa the arrival of a second invasion of ravenous young locusts, spawned in Ethiopia, is feared to be twenty times more severe than the plague that devastated crops in January. Iran is facing major challenges. Its slow response to the pandemic, lack of transparency, and absence of an exit strategy, together with the US sanctions and the fall of oil prices, have compromised its healthcare system, its economic situation, and the daily lives of its people.

When Angela Barry's grandfather died last year she realised just how difficult many of his generation were finding life, often feeling isolated. As the country went into quarantine, she was determined to ensure that the older people in her community did not feel alone. Her solution - fruit and vegetables. Along with her husband and three children, she has set up a weekly free fruit and veg stall outside her house in Bolton and delivers bags of fresh produce to those who need it most. So far they have served 50 isolated neighbours. Sons Joshua (9), Ben (7), and Isaac (4) are manning the stall, which has created many opportunities for new relationships. Angela says, ‘This is a really great time for us as a church to be the light. We are all at home and it is a brilliant chance for us to really show what church is in our local community.’

In 2016 we prayed that a vision to build a wall of one million bricks, each brick representing an answered prayer, would become a reality, and it did. Now the Wall is seeking 10,000 testimonies during April to share hope with the nation online and sow faith at this challenging time. People have more time on their hands than ever, and as they read stories of answered prayer they will find fresh hope instead of fear, joy instead of anxiety; and encounter the God who answers prayer. They are inviting each intercessor to be a social media warrior and give them 15 minutes a day - or take time to share an answered prayer on their website. To do so, please click the ‘More’ button. It is encouraging to see the answered prayers that are beginning to come out of this crisis. To be involved, contact

Psalm 127:3 states, ‘Children are a gift from God’. In the Name of Jesus, we pray for children to be safe and secure, loved, enjoyed, and protected, and that everything God has put within them of fun, of laughter, of imagination and gift will be released and encouraged. We pray that this will be a time of unprecedented learning, growth and experience for them at every age. May their education come in multiple ways, with rich life-learning for all ages and stages at this time. We ask God to bless vulnerable children with safety, protection, and provision of shelter, food and love. We pray for children suffering from autism, dyslexia, ADHD and related issues. May they be surrounded at this time by those who love them, and may patience, acceptance, confidence and peace overwhelm every fear and anxiety.

A Christian brother asks us to pray for Pakistan, where this crisis will play out very differently. Prime minister Imran Khan said he won't be able to lock down cities fully because of the poverty. Citizens simply have to go to work each day to feed their families. Also, crowded living conditions and limited healthcare facilities will mean the virus spreads rapidly, causing enormous loss of life - many times greater than we will see in the West. However, in the middle of this awful pandemic, we may have the greatest opportunity and responsibility that the Church has ever had to share God’s love with the people of Pakistan. People who are angry, frightened, grieving and in despair have questions about life and death, why God let this happen, why prayers were not answered. This is potentially a time for the gospel like no other in history.

Wherever you are reading this across our UK nations and across the globe, no doubt you are in some stage of ‘physical lockdown’ because of the coronavirus pandemic. Our culture of daily life and our gathered worship patterns are being reshaped. We are all being forced to look at what are the real priorities in our lives. But the wonderful truth is that as followers of Jesus Christ we can never be in ‘spiritual lockdown’. There is no situation, no place, no time zone, no age limit, no health scare, no financial pressure, nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:38-39). So today and over these coming weeks, we want to encourage you to keep remembering that our God - the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ - is on the throne, and He is sovereign over all of the shaking.

The Queen said ‘We salute you’, after 405,000 individuals stepped up to support the NHS just two hours after the government made an appeal for helpers to deliver medicines to the vulnerable and do shopping. Boris Johnson said the number of volunteers was equivalent to the population of Coventry. Meanwhile people are finding new ways of being together while apart. Isolated elderly are becoming adept at meeting friends, neighbours, and prayer groups by Skype, Zoom and Messenger. There are wonderful examples of acts of kindness, generosity, and compassion that demonstrate the underlying unity that humans feel for each other. We can pray according to Psalm 5:11 that God’s protection will spread over all who are currently volunteering and showing unity and kindness.