Displaying items by tag: Religion

March is International Women's History month. Women are two thirds of the world’s poorest citizens. Nearly two-thirds of illiterate people are women. Globally women are paid less than men. A cultural preference for male babies has led to 30 million deaths of unborn or baby girls in India and China and fuels trafficking women as brides or sex slaves. God looks on the heart: what do we look at when choosing leaders? Pray for more women and men to be recognised, equipped, and released into service based on their giftedness and godliness. Pray for more humble, Christ-like models. Prideful ‘hierarchy’ and ‘angry feminism’ destroy the unity that God designed and desires. Pray that Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, and tribal people groups will see amazing unity in the Body of Christ between men and women that causes them to turn to Jesus.

Quotes from a working document on Islam from the Lausanne Global Consultation state - Every individual church fellowship and denomination throughout the world needs to find ways of enabling Christians to be awake to the challenges of Islam and for opportunities to witness to Muslims. Where Christians are held back by fear, they need to be encouraged to build genuine, natural relationships with their Muslim neighbours, by practising hospitality and taking bold initiatives. Where they are held back by ignorance, they need to learn more about Muslims and Islam and to explore prayerfully some of the new opportunities that have opened up in recent years for communicating the gospel. Where they are held back by prejudice, they need to be reminded of the ways in which Jesus enabled his disciples to overcome their racial and religious prejudices.

Rohingya pastor, Taher, and his 14-year-old daughter were abducted from Bangladesh Cox’s Bazar a refugee camp after 59 men attacked 22 Christian families, beating residents, vandalising homes, and looting property. At least 12 Christian refugees were injured and hospitalised and a makeshift Christian church and school were smashed. Families were relocated to a UN transit centre and filed a police case against the armed ethnic group, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. Taher’s wife, Roshida, fears her husband is dead and that her daughter has been forced to convert to Islam. She said, ‘No one can give me clear information.’ Approximately 1,500 Rohingya Christians are among 700,000 predominantly Muslim Rohingya refugees who fled ‘ethnic cleansing’ in 2017. Authorities described the attack as a ‘law and order incident’ - not Christian persecution. They do little to protect Christians. One said, ‘if victims wanted safety they should ‘go to the moon.’

Unrelenting violence consumes northeast Delhi as roving mobs with iron rods, sledgehammers and guns rampaged through the streets, committing arson, vandalism and terrifying residents since 22 February. On 27 February police said that WhatsApp was used by the gangs who indiscriminately injured children and the elderly. They vandalised and burnt schools, homes, cars and businesses leaving 35+ dead and 200+ injured because a new citizenship law allows 'persecuted minorities’ (Muslims Christians, Parsees, Sikhs, Buddhist etc.) citizenship status after six years of residency. From the start Hindus were considered ‘natural citizens’ of India and reject the new law. Police seized 50 mobile phones used by rioters to organise themselves by directing hired thugs from Uttar Pradesh and whipping up frenzied violence. Delhi Police and the Home Ministry said that the situation is under control, but the violence has not abated and the death toll has climbed steadily since the first day.

Montenegro has introduced a new law on religion which is causing great tension. A faith community must be able to prove that it owned its property before 1918 but many - especially the Serbian Orthodox Church – cannot do so. This is a provocative move in a country divided by ethnic & national identity. There have been huge protests in both Montenegro and Serbia. There is a real risk of ongoing instability, even violence. 30% of Montenegro’s population are ethnic Serbs. The argument is not about religion but about identity. Milan Knežević, an MP from Montenegro organised an event at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg about this legal situation. However, his passport was removed and he could not attend. Two members of his family were also arrested. (See) This is a pretty shocking level of intimidation. Please pray for peace in Montenegro. Ethnic and nationalistic identity divides the nation but it would be a tragedy if the situation escalates into violence.

In February 2019 the Church of England took a historic decision to have a loving, worshipping Christian community on every significant estate in England. That means offering enhanced support to existing churches and finding ways of planting new churches onto those estates from which they are absent. In 12 months they have been developing partnerships with people and organisations who share the Church’s commitment to renewing church life on the estates. These partnerships include other Christian denominations, mission agencies, Christian resource and training providers and the National Estates Churches Network which provides a support network and resources for estate leaders. During 2020 they will continue to use a range of written, spoken and social platforms to raise the profile of the ministry and attract able leaders to this work.

The Bishop-designate of Doncaster hosted a Wall of Hope in the cathedral over a three day period last year and was ‘overwhelmed’ by people’s response when over 10,000 people visited the wall to post a prayer. This year, Churches in Portsmouth Diocese are planning to host Hope Spaces in schools, village greens and shopping centres across the diocese during and after Thy Kingdom Come (21-31 May 2020), giving thousands of people who don’t know Jesus a chance to experience his love and hope for themselves. 41% of practising Christians say that a spiritual experience or an experience of the love of Jesus was a key influence in their coming to faith – so if we help more people to experience God’s love and presence, more of them will come to know him for themselves. To find out more about Hope Spaces click the ‘More’ button.

In 2019 ‘Living Lent’ was produced by the Methodist Church, the Church of Scotland, the Baptist Union and the United Reformed Church. It continues in 2020, inviting Christians to make radical changes for the climate during Lent. Our lifestyles and choices mean we have played a role in damaging creation. Churches are responding to the climate crisis with Lent activities which include a lifestyle change - inviting people to make a positive commitment towards change, developing habits that last long after the forty days. Participants, starting on Ash Wednesday, will use daily reflections to explore how our faith and concern for creation connect, through the Bible, through art and through poetry. Individuals will support each other as a dispersed community, for example on Facebook and Twitter through the hashtag #livinglent2020. Also,, the Church of England 2020 ‘Live Lent’ course focuses on care for creation and on protecting the earth from climate change. See

Twenty-four people, including the pastor, were killed and eighteen injured by gunmen at a Protestant church in the village of Pansi. Individuals were also kidnapped during the Sunday attack by armed terrorists. The regional governor, Colonel Salfo Kabore, said they attacked the peaceful local Christian population, after having identified them and separated them from ‘non-residents’. Some villagers fled to the town of Sebba near the Niger border. There have been several attacks against churches by militant Islamist groups in recent years. Pray for those people of Burkina Faso who are at serious risk of being killed for not converting to extreme factions of Islam.

In South Korea, in 2016, generations from across the nations converged to fast and pray and believe God for the birthing of new, youth-led prayer and mission movements. After the UPRISING in Korea, young people have owned the vision and taken the zeal for united prayer to their respective regions and nations. The ‘waves’ have rolled out; there is now UPRISING in the Philippines, South Africa, Mongolia, Bolivia, Malaysia, Europe, Canada, Chile, Mexico, and California. On 14-18 July, in Sydney, Australia there is a calling for another United Prayer. The theme will be: ‘From the Womb to the World.’ and an estimated 1,500, young and old, will attend a four-day destiny-engaging event at the Rosehill racecourse, with even more expected to be present in the Solemn Assembly in Sydney. The organisers hope that many more will join them in catalysing waves of youth-led global prayer and mission movements at the UPRISING.