Pressure mounting on parents in lockdown
16 Apr 2020
This pandemic has sparked a childcare crisis for 3.9 million UK working parents, stuck between the closure of formal childcare and the abrupt withdrawal of informal care provided by relatives and friends. For those fortunate enough to work from home, it means a child or two making an unexpected entrance during a crucial work call. Pray for peace to flow through the homes of families with children facing endless days of lockdown. Pray also for parents navigating a total redesign of working patterns while trying to care for children who are more likely to be anxious, unwell, or fed up with restrictions. Nurseries and day care centres are now closed. Pray for lone parents, or families with disabled children or children with special educational needs, now that they can no longer attend daytime care.
Rural food lifeline for vulnerable
16 Apr 2020
Families in rural England are totally dependent on volunteers delivering food during the coronavirus crisis. Many households face long journeys to buy food - more difficult if they are self-isolating. Catherine Boyes’ son has cystic fibrosis and she is shielding him by staying home. She says, ‘Without these deliveries my children would starve.’ The mother of six, living on a farm on the edge of the North York moors, struggled to get a regular delivery from a supermarket due to surging demand and is reliant on the Pickering Help Network to deliver supplies. Pauline Hewitt, delivering food, said, ‘There is a real sense of fear and panic among some people about how they are going to get their shopping in an area like this. We have spent a lot of time reassuring people that whatever happens, we will deliver a weekly supply of food.’
A call to pray in unity daily
16 Apr 2020
At 3pm on Good Friday, thousands stood in the street outside their homes to pray against the negative effects of coronavirus and for restoration and healing in the land. The National Day of Prayer and Worship team are now calling Christians to join a 24-hour prayer chain to run through April, May and June until there is complete victory and tangible answers to our prayers. 1,000+ churches have already chosen a prayer slot. The target is for 2,000 churches to choose a day when they will pray for 24 hours. Individuals or small groups can also pick an hour slot when they will pray. To register to pray at a certain time, click the ‘More’ button, go to the specially prepared website, and choose a date. No amount of time you give is too small or too big.
Christian’s fruit and veg stall for neighbours
16 Apr 2020
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.’
A deal is agreed
16 Apr 2020
The Eurozone is in a deep recession. Unemployment figures are spiking to unprecedented highs and debt levels are soaring. It is an economic crisis on a scale not seen since the Second World War, or the Great Depression. Onlookers have watched individual countries retreat into national self-righteousness and mutual finger-pointing in a very un-united attitude that threatens the survival of the EU and will not solve anything. Then, finally, after weeks of wrangling, EU finance ministers managed to reach a deal - to the relief of most. Let us pray that the €500 billion package to help countries hardest hit by the pandemic will succeed in implementing an economic plan. See also
Wildfires are just over a mile from the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant and a disposal site for radioactive waste. Over 300 firefighters are working to contain the blaze. A toxic cloud rises within sight of the carcass of Chernobyl’s Unit 4 nuclear reactor, the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history. Greenpeace said that the fires were larger than Ukraine’s official estimates and could pose a health risk, saying, ‘A fire approaching a nuclear or hazardous radiation facility is always a risk’. Flames could reach abandoned vehicles at the former plant, causing mighty explosions and spreading toxic fumes and unleashing radiation into the ground near the reactors. The fumes could sweep across vast swathes of Poland, Belarus, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova. All are vulnerable: see
Northern Uganda: a call for intercession
16 Apr 2020
A missionary writes, ‘May we beg for your redoubled prayers as a “Double Whammy” threatens our communities. The Ugandan lockdown seems to be stemming Covid-19 and has just been extended for 21 days. Very tough on children; folk barely earning enough to eat; Sudanese refugees with 30% cut in rations and unable to plant more than a few vegetables; and the elderly with no one to help them. But many have spent lockdown in the fields, preparing to plant. Rains have begun and seeds are beginning to grow. This morning I rode my bicycle past fields of young beans and groundnuts. However, another threat hangs over us now. The locusts experienced in January have bred and millions of young are growing and devastating crops, trees, and cattle fodder. The military and everyone are concentrating on Covid-19. The locusts are spreading towards the huge refugee settlements and West Nile. Massive hunger could weaken the population, and we really wonder what might follow.’
Despite relentless caution from medical workers battling the virus in hospitals, President Hassan Rouhani’s government pressed ahead and reopened sectors of the economy deemed to be less vulnerable in the face of the disease. The project saw public transport, with strict protocols, resume normal activity. However, overcrowded buses and metro wagons prompted the government committee tasked with fighting the virus in Tehran to warn that it would only be a matter of days before the megacity was rocked by an exponential infection growth. Now the media are reporting that at least three Iranian provinces are experiencing a resurgence of coronavirus. ‘We are playing a chess game with coronavirus,’ said health minister Saeed Namaki. An updated government report stated that at least three provinces (including Qom, the initial epicentre) are currently grappling with a resurgence of the pandemic.