We have prayed that these two nations can become united in their battle against the Taliban terrorists. Unfortunately, it took the tragic attack on the Pakistani school and the slaughter of many children to bring this cooperation about. Let's continue to agree in prayer that Pakistan and Afghanistan will work together closely and will subdue the Taliban in both countries effectively and totally this year.
25 December 2014 BBC News
[The military chiefs of Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to co-ordinate military operations along their border.
The move comes a week after Taliban fighters attacked a school in Peshawar, killing more than 150 people.
Afghan army chief Gen Sher Mohammad Karimi and his counterpart Gen Raheel Sharif met in Islamabad on Tuesday and announced their plans to co-operate.
In the past the two countries have accused each other of allowing cross-border attacks by militants.
The two generals met in the presence of US General John Campbell, who heads Nato coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Gen Karimi and Gen Sharif agreed their subordinates would meet immediately to discuss operations targeting Pakistani Taliban (TTP) bases along the border.
Last week Gen Sharif met Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul. The two countries agreed to "jointly take effective actions against terrorism and extremism".
Separately, Afghan officials said more than 150 Taliban militants had been killed in military operations in the border province of Kunar.
Turning point?
Taliban militants burst into Army Public School in Peshawar on 16 December, shooting children and staff members.
Security sources now say a total of 152 people were killed. Media reports suggest the attack could have been co-ordinated from Afghanistan.
Following the attack Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to rid his country of terrorism, and said there would be no distinction between "good and bad" Taliban.
Pakistan has previously been accused by the Afghans and Nato of allowing al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban to seek refuge and garner logistical support in Pakistan.
The city of Peshawar is close to the Afghan border, in a region that has seen some of the worst of the violence during years of Taliban insurgency.
HK New Wave Citywide United Monthly Prayer Gathering -2nd anniversary review
Kingdom Harvest Ministries
NWHOP
The Foursqure church in Sri Lanka struggled to grow this year unlike in the past years. This was due to open persecution and lack of freedom to express our faith openly. Below are a few statistics of our growth patterns this year:
- We had 7,186 people receiving Jesus for the first time
- 457 obeyed in water baptism
- 748 became new members
- 3151 were baptized in the holy spirit
- 13,651 were healed
- 40 new churches were planted around the island
We now have 1,864 churches and meeting places, 520 credentialed Pastors and Church Planters and over 1,000 young people being trained in programs for evangelism and Church planting.
Our 4 children's homes, 2 vocational training schools, 2 widow centers and the school for children with special needs are doing well despite the financial support we face to sustain them.
We thank you for your prayers and partnership in the work God is doing in Sri Lanka and appreciate your renewed commitment for prayer and financial support these coming years.
Please uphold us in the following prayer request:
- Our nation for a fair and free election as we face our Presidential election on the 8th of January 2015.
- The ongoing floods all over the Island have affected many thousands; we need material and prayer support to minister to the needs of those in refugee camps.
- Persecution continues unabated against the churches in Sri Lanka, many churches and Pastors are constantly threatened of physical attacks,
- Christian parents find it almost impossible to enroll their children to schools they are not admitted into most institutions run by the government.
Please see this video with others in your church or prayer group. Let your heart be broken for the plight of those suffering under the brutal, genocidal regime of Kim Jong Un, one of the most wickeddictators of history in the ranks of Hitler and Stalin along with his father and grandfather. Let's continue to pray with persistence and hope for the liberation of North Korea and especially the protection and release of those whose lives hang in the balance in the death camps where many tens of thousands are languishing, suffering torture, deprivation and death.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkOsxGgSDUE
Let's pray for the following:
1 That the UN and international community will ramp up the pressure on the North Korean regime to release its citizens from the death camps. Pray that the regime will be afraid to harm or kill them.
2 Pray that the regime will implode and be removed so that North and South Korea can be reunified, even this year.
3 Pray for those who are translating and publishing a book about the genocide happening that they can overcome the spiritual warfare they are facing and that it will be published and distributed widely in the USA and internationally. May it have a strong impact in mobilizing the international community to take united action against the North Korean government.
4 Pray for the organization of a second Prayer Initiative for North Korea (PINK) in April.
Here are some articles by Robert Park, the Korean-American activist who has been trying to alert the international community about the atrocities happening in North Korea. A few years ago, he spent months experiencing torture in a prison there because of his deep burden for the deliverance of the people there.
Please read, pray and act as God leads you. Anything you can do will make a difference for North Korea's liberation.
"The forgotten genocide in North Korea" (April 20, 2011): http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/when-will-we-stop-the-genocide-in-north-korea/2011/03/29/AFqXaMEE_story.html
"North Korea and the Genocide Convention" (September 9, 2011): http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/MI09Dg01.html
"North Korea and the Genocide Movement" (September 27, 2011): http://hir.harvard.edu/north-korea-and-the-genocide-movement
"Responsibility to Protect in North Korea" (November 9, 2011): http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/192623-responsibility-to-protect-in-north-korea
"Responsibility to Protect in North Korea" (December 7, 2011): http://hir.harvard.edu/responsibility-to-protect-in-north-korea
"Battling a system of starvation" (December 9, 2011): http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/battling-a-system-of-starvation-1.400446
"South Korea must act to save the lives of refugees from the North" (December 27, 2011): http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/12/27/robert-park-south-korea-must-act-to-save-the-lives-of-refugees-from-the-north/9/
"Time to End North Korea Genocide" (February 2, 2012): http://thediplomat.com/2012/02/02/time-to-end-north-korea-genocide/
"North Korea: The World's Principal Violator of the Responsibility to Protect" (February 6, 2012):
http://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/north-korea-world's-principal-violator-"responsibility-protect"
"Genocide in North Korea (February 6, 2012): http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2012/02/06/genocide-north-korea
"The case for genocide in North Korea" (February 8, 2012): http://view.koreaherald.com/kh/view.php?ud=20120208000741&cpv=0
"Robert Park: North Korean refugees face slaughter when China repatriates them" (February 28, 2012): http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refdaily?pass=463ef21123&id=4f4f1b425
"The Ongoing Human Rights Tragedy Occurring In North Korea" (June 14, 2012): http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/06/14/the-ongoing-human-rights-tragedy-occurring-in-north-korea/
"US silence on North Korea" (November 14, 2012): http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2012/11/197_124692.html
"President Obama's Broken Promise to the North Korean People" (November 26, 2012)
http://www.christianpost.com/news/president-obamas-broken-promise-to-the-north-korean-people-85544/
"Shining a Light on North Korea's Human Rights Crisis" (December 12, 2012): http://thediplomat.com/the-editor/2012/12/12/shinning-a-light-on-north-koreas-human-rights-crisis/
"Memo to UN Security Council: The human rights emergency in N. Korea can no longer be ignored" (December 12, 2012): http://www.worldtribune.com/2012/12/12/memo-to-un-security-council-the-human-rights-emergency-in-n-korea-can-no-longer-be-ignored/
"North Korea's Rocket Launch Highlights the Deliberate Nature of the Famine" (December 14, 2012): http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/12/14/robert-park-north-korea-uses-hunger-as-crowd-control/
"North Korea's Overlooked Atrocities" (January 28, 2012): http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/north-korea's-overlooked-atrocities
"Policy on North Korea needs to give a higher priority to human rights abuses" (March 22, 2013): http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/commentary/north-korea-policy-human-rights-abuse-political-risk-conflict-zones-diplomacy
"North Korea's Legacy of Terrorism" (June 7, 2013): http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/north-korea's-legacy-terrorism
"The Forgotten Genocide: North Korea's Prison State" (July/August 2013 Issue): http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/forgotten-genocide-north-korea's-prison-state
"A Srebrenica-esque Massacre Has Recently Taken Place In North Korea's Killing Fields" (October 11, 2013): http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/10/11/a-srebenica-esque-massacre-has-recently-taken-place-in-north-koreas-killing-fields/
"A Srebrenica-esque Massacre Has Recently Taken Place In North Korea's Killing Fields" (October 11, 2013): http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-nsc-a-srebenica-esque-massacre-has-recently-taken-20131011,0,1827534.story
"It's Time to Aid North Korea Dissidents" (December 20, 2013): http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/it's-time-aid-north-korea's-dissidents
Since October 2014, in the Beni territory there has been a recurrence of attacks against the civilian population by rebels who enter the villages with knives and similar weapons to massacre the population, men, women and children. To datemore than 250 have died, creating more than a hundred widows and more than
a thousand orphans in the streets in addition to the already considerable number of orphans. Because of these attacks, at least 80,000 families have fled their villages, leaving their property and homes. This amplifies an already precarious humanitarian situation in the area Beni is a city located at about 450 km North of Goma in North Kivu province. Currently, civilians are living there in the psychosis and fear of the continuation of the massacres according to the climate of general insecurity in the Area of Beni.
North Kivu civil society have called for social dialogue, all politicians and religious leaders from the area to reflect for three days to find a solution to this crisis affecting innocent civilian populations.
Prayer requests:
1 Pray that those who are responsible for the safety of people in the Beni will make all efforts to relieve suffering and ensure the protection of civilians.
2 Pray that God gives wisdom and intelligence to all who participate in social dialogue in Beni, so that the ideas that come out to give the solution that civilians living in peace and recover their dignity.
3 Pray that God gives the necessary for humanitarian actors to help the distressed population so that the population can have good assistance.
Children's Ministry
In Christmas day, we have organised activities with children and Youth in the objective to let them grow in God. We have gathered 500 children and Youth, with 25 Churches leaders and 10 children teachers.
Please pray for us, for 2015 we get some support to lead children and Youth activities. For now in Goma we have more than 15 churches who agree with the vision and they try to accompany our activities. As you know, we have accomplished more than four activities in 2014 with our small grant in 2014 but we have not been able to accomplish all our plan. Please, keep as in your prayer for 2015, then God can open door for us to help Children and Youth grow in God is Ministry.
Thanks and still united in prayer.
Desire Kajabika
+243 99422 3575
Skype desire.kajabika
Goma-DR Congo
Will you help to shape the Destiny of Australia?
WE ARE MEANT TO BE "THE GREAT SOUTHLAND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT" AND IT ALL STARTS WITH PRAYER!
Every revival in history has been birthed in prayer.
Australia has a rich Christian Heritage. You can also find out more at www.chr.org.au
Since the middle of last century there has been strong prayer for Revival and Transformation in our nation. In 2001, Brian Pickering, through the Australian Prayer Network (APN), started to bring prayer people and groups together on the internet, and that has opened the door to a new communication system which has made it possible for us all to find each other and communicate better. We have been able to pray into the future of our country in a more coordinated way.
So many prayer groups have sprung up all over the country, and yet we have no way of knowing how many people are actually praying; sometimes people get discouraged when they don't see answers to their prayers, and they give up. In 2015 we are hoping to remedy this with a special plan.
THE LORD IS CALLING TOGETHER A PRAYER ARMY IN 2015
It is all about "connecting the dots" and using modern technology for HIS Kingdom business.
In 1998, God gave me the word PRAYERNET, and in 2008, He showed me a picture of the world covered by a net, which is now the emblem for my 'Global Prayer Connections'...
We are just about to embark on the 2015 National Day of Prayer & Fasting followed by the 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting, which have the theme DESTINY and a focus on Delighting in the Lord. See www.nationaldayofprayer.com.au and www.40daysofdelight.com.au for more details.
It will be a good time to start this initiative in conjunction with these events. Individuals are right now being asked to organise small gatherings around Australia as pre-events in the week leading up to the National Day of Prayer & Fasting on Sunday 15 February which is observed in The Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra and in local churches all around Australia. You can register to be involved in this, as an organiser or an attender of a pre-event, on the National Day of Prayer & Fasting website. It will be then natural to gather as a local group regularly through the 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting from 18 February to 29 March 2015. The 40 Days website will have a list of groups meeting too so others can join you.
A NIGHT OF PRAYER FOR AUSTRALIA
The Australian Prayer Network is again this year calling its member Churches, Prayer Groups and Individuals to a night of prayer for our nation to be held on Sunday 25th January 2014, the eve of Australia Day. In 2014 Australians of all denominations gathered in local communities across our nation to join in this national night of prayer. Timing and venue for each gathering across the nation is at the discretion of the organiser and prayer gatherings do not have to be registered with us. Falling on a Sunday evening this year we expect that many Churches will use at least some of the prayer points during Sunday services on 25th January as we ask God to guide our nation into the year of 2015.
Due to the many hundreds of requests we receive each year for prayer points which can be used on the night, this year we have uploaded them to our website so that those who are holding prayer gatherings can download them for their use. There is no copyright on the material which may be freely used/reproduced (with acknowledgment to the Australian Prayer Network as the source) as required. Please go to our website at www.ausprayernet.org.au to download the material. Thank you for your support of this initiative to undergird our nation in prayer on our national day and at the beginning of another year.
Brian Pickering
National Coordinator
Australian Prayer Network
Source: Australian Prayer Network
GOD'S POWER IS UNLEASHED - WHEN GOD'S PEOPLE PRAY
Annie Cathcart - Toowoomba Regional Prayer Coordinator
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
This report offers a brief overview of the EXPOSED - shining a light on corruption - campaign. EXPOSED was a first of its kind - a truly global Christian response to corruption, supported by Christians from 176 countries, with a thousand public gatherings, close to 150,000 individual signatures, a powerful Open Letter from some of the world's most prominent Christian leaders, representing a billion believers, and a clear engagement with the G20.
The rationale
EXPOSED was a limited duration global Christian campaign that sought to address the problem of corruption, especially as a cause and consequence of poverty, on the global, national and local scale.
It stressed that corruption happens everywhere - in north and south, among rich and poor and in all institutions. Despite the extent of corruption, EXPOSED also wanted to bring a message of hope - that change is possible and that God's values offer a standard for all communities.
The EXPOSED campaign emerged from discussions with many southern and northern groups that expressed concern that good governance was crucial in delivering on poverty goals. It was formed by a coalition of Christian ministries and organisations and aimed to make a strong link between poverty and corrupt practices, which are a major barrier to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's).
The campaign had Isaiah 51:4 as a key verse, "I bring my teaching to the nations; my laws will bring them light. The campaign aimed to bring the discourse around corruption and poverty into the mainstream of the global Church's preaching, theology and action.
Campaign goals
The campaign aimed to empower local action, as well as engage international policy via the G20. It promoted practical steps for ethical behaviour in business, government and the Church and aimed to see Christians as advocates and practitioners of justice and transformation.
The campaign aimed to be accessible to those of other faiths or no faith[1]. This attitude is most evident in the partnerships with the United Nations Millennium Campaign and Transparency International, as well as the engagement with the G20 and C20. However, because of the limited duration of the campaign, a decision was made to focus primarily on mobilizing and engaging Christians and Christian groupings as a constituency. EXPOSED was a campaign about corruption but some of the issues under discussion like tax evasion are not actually illegal so the campaign material made the point that some behaviour is legal but not ethical - that we wanted to establish God's standards of integrity. It's not clear that this nuancing was always understood, but most supporters could see that behaviour by some multinationals is just plain wrong...
From the very start of the campaign, there was a clear understanding that addressing corruption can contribute towards the eradication of extreme poverty. Two frequently used statistics during the campaign stressed this link:
- $1 trillion goes missing each year due to corruption
- tax evasion robs US$160 billion from Africa each year - 25% of the continent's GDP and more than the total Africa receives in development aid
- it's estimated that 230 little children die each day in developing nations due to corruption
What EXPOSED looked like around the world
EXPOSED had two phases - during the week of 14-20 October 2013 the campaign aimed to involve 100 million people in 100 countries to participate in three campaign actions:
sign the Global Call to end corruption addressed to the G20 leaders and to be presented in Brisbane Australia in November 2014.
organise or join a Global Vigil against corruption.
take personal or collective action against corruption (for which 'toolkits' were developed for churches and business).
The second phase concentrated on the journey to Brisbane for the G20.
A total of 176 countries were involved in the 2 phases and millions were reached by direct communications, media articles and updates from partners. 1,000 Vigils were held in over 50 nations - hundreds were registered on the EXPOSED campaign website and there were many more that were not formally registered.
Other highlights of the campaign included a 1000 strong march against corruption in Cape Town, a Lent Bible study series called '30 pieces of silver' that was produced by the Bible Society and used throughout the world, eighteen letters to ambassadors ahead of the G20 meetings in Australia[2], a meeting of 200 Christian leaders in the Republic of Benin to take a stand against corruption, the trillion dollar note and one-in-a-million actions, an open letter from campaigners in Malaysia to their Prime Minister, an act of public witness and engagement with the state in Nepal, prayer gatherings in Toronto, Canada, and a service of public witness at St Paul's Cathedral in London, as well as the world's largest 'Mock tax haven' in Brisbane just before the G20 meetings.
A total of 147,902 people signed the 'Global Call' to end corruption.
Impact
Throughout the 2 years of public campaigning, millions learnt the extent, complexities and injustice of the problem around the world.
Prayer was a key focus with prayer guides produced for October 2013 and November 2014, which were used by many thousands. It is difficult to assess the impact of prayer but two examples may be evidence of God's intervention - the money that flowed into the campaign just when it was desperately needed and the fact that Micah Challenge gained one of the rare media accreditation passes for the G20.
The campaign reported 32 stories of hope and transformation to be examples of what can be achieved. Some stories had a big impact across the world - Bishop Zac in Uganda, Goodwill Shana in Zimbabwe, the face of corruption in Switzerland, the elections in Malaysia, whistle-blower Michelle Harding in South Africa, Gisella Schneider on missions work in Africa, work across Nepal on integrity, and Haiti's rural corruption watchdogs.
It was heartening to see campaigns develop clear and defined national policy asks (often in practical coalitions with groups like Transparency International (TI), Tax Justice Network (TJN), Public What You Pay (PWYP) and Tearfund). The international asks of EXPOSED were designed collaboratively with Tearfund, Christian Aid, PWYP, TJN as well as Micah Challenge. The process worked well - thanks to the expertise of partners who contributed staff time.
There were significant policy wins at the G20. Leaders committed to on-going work to addressing all the policies at the heart of the Campaign - global tax dodging and corruption.
There are still more steps to take but that is the beauty and curse of the G20 - it is small enough to have honest discussions but large enough for those discussions to end in general promises that need meaty detail at the national level.
G20 nations have agreed to share tax related information with each other and have established high level principles for ensuring that more is known about the true owners and beneficiaries of anonymous companies and trusts. In a bid to consider the interests of low-income countries, the G20 have also communicated plans to support the administrative skills and systems of developing countries' tax systems through 'capacity-building'.
It was possibly confusing to talk about tax issues, which are not technically corrupt. The broader message of integrity and God's ethical standards did however help to focus the campaign messaging a great deal.
EXPOSED had action at its heart. Some partners understood this but few were comfortable to be in campaigning mode. Heartening participation came from Nepal, UK, Malaysia, South Africa, France, Germany (in 2013) Australia (in 2014), Bangladesh and Benin. All these were led by Micah Challenge.
Conclusion
The EXPOSED campaign was the largest and most significant campaign of its type to date. It was able to mobilize an unprecedented number of persons across the world in a short space of time, to witness and act against corruption. However, its true impact is difficult to measure concretely at this early stage and there are some areas of disappointment. It would be good for a comprehensive review to take place in 2015. And it will be interesting to see how issues of governance and integrity feature in the ongoing work of partners in the years to come.
Praise God for the excellent work of the Exposed team on this arduous and challenging assignment. Let's pray that this effort will continue to bear much fruit around the world.
'We encourage people to pray for the safety of these families and for these kids'
http://www.wnd.com/2014/12/christians-on-verge-of-extinction-in-iraq/
Report: ISIS beheads 4 Christian children
http://video.foxnews.com/v/3938474276001/report-isis-beheads-4-christian-children/?#sp=show-clips