Pray for Syria, Turkey and the Kurds
Turkey views the Kurds as terrorists. A couple of weeks ago, they pushed into Syria to displace the Kurds from the border area, to create a 'safe-zone'.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the United States’ main ally in the fight against ISIS, has been in talks with both Russia and the US to protect the Kurdish people against the Turkish assault. The Turkish incursion has killed scores of people on both sides of the border and nearly 180,000 people inside Syria have been displaced.
The commander of the SDF is now holding discussions with the US government on keeping US forces in the region, as well as regaining control over territory they have lost since the Turkish military invasion began. Pray for the hostile actors in this volatile situation- the Turkish government and military, the Kurdish leaders and their militia, as well as the Syrian, Russian and US governments that a good and peaceful diplomatic solution can be worked out.
Pray for the tens of thousands of civilians whose lives have been uprooted and for effective and well- coordinated humanitarian relief to pour in to meet their critical needs.
Pray that the military operation by Turkey and all fighting would stop immediately.
Pray that God would intervene in a special way to resolve the current conflicts in His peaceful way.
We pray, Your Kingdom come on Turkey, Syria, and all Middle East regions!
Northeast Syria is home to a range of diverse ethnic and religious communities. The principal Kurdish region of Syria, it also hosts sizeable Syriac and Assyrian Christians communities. There are also Christian converts, especially among the Kurdish communities.
The stated objectives of Turkey’s military action in Syria are, firstly, to create a ‘safe-zone’ along the border by combatting Kurdish-led forces, and, secondly, to facilitate the repatriation of Syrian refugees from Turkey. The campaign does not seem to be motivated by a specific religious agenda, and there is little evidence to suggest that Christians are being specifically targeted. But Christians are deeply affected, along with other communities in the region. Shelling has led to multiple casualties, more than twenty villages have so far been seized and tens of thousands have fled the region.
Although not specifically a campaign against Christians, there are concerns Christian communities face particular vulnerabilities. Christian leaders are concerned that elements within Turkey’s forces and their Syrian opposition allies are pursuing Islamist agendas that are hostile not just to Kurds but also to any communities that are not Sunni Muslim. This fear would be compounded if the security of prisons holding extremists is compromised. They also fear that Turkey’s refugee repatriation plans, whereby Syrians who fled from other areas would be resettled in northeast Syria, constitute an intentional programme of ‘demographic engineering’ in the region, intended to boost the Arab Sunni presence to the detriment of Kurds and other communities such as Christians.
Syrian Christians request prayer that:
Political and military leaders, of parties involved and in the wider international community, will act with restraint and hope peace will be restored, human dignity respected and pluralism preserved and strengthened, in northeast Syria and the rest of the country, for the benefit of all ethnic and religious communities. Pray that Christian communities will not be intimidated but will find opportunity to be agents of reconciliation, wisdom and compassion for those bereaved or injured, together with all who have fled. Pray those suffering will find comfort, healing, peace and hope all and that all who are intent on violence will know the Spirit’s conviction of sin and respond to the Father’s offer of new life through the Son.
More at: http://meconcern.org/2019/10/11/syria-christians-request-prayer-for-northeast-syria/
Iraq protests:
There has been an upsurge of violence in Iraq as anti-government protests enter a fifth day, amid reports of bloodshed in the holy city of Karbala.
Reports say up to 18 people were shot dead by security forces there. However, officials denied anyone was killed.
In the capital, Baghdad, thousands of protesters have defied a curfew to demand jobs, better public services and an end to corruption.
Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi is under growing pressure to resign.
On Tuesday the influential Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr said he would join forces with another powerful politician, Hadi al-Ameri, to bring Mr Abdul Mahdi down through a vote of no confidence.
More than 220 people have died across the country since anti-government demonstrations broke out at the beginning of the month. A first wave of protests gave way to a brief lull, but fresh unrest began five days ago.
What happened in Karbala?
In Karbala - a major centre for Shia Islam - the situation remains unclear, but a number of medical sources and eyewitnesses, backed up by video footage, suggest at least 18 people were killed and hundreds wounded in clashes with the security forces.
Rupert Colville, the spokesman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said they were trying to get more information about the situation.
"We have received particularly disturbing reports on what has been going on in Karbala... In both those reports [United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (Unami) and an Iraqi government committee], they recognise that excessive force has been used."
He called on local authorities in the city to ensure security forces acted with restraint and investigate the shootings.
The local governor and the police chief in Karbala have denied any protesters were killed, saying that videos circulating widely that show protesters running away from gunfire have been fabricated.
What about Baghdad?
Thousands of demonstrators vowed to continue their protests in the city, filling up the Iraqi capital's central Tahrir Square on Tuesday.
At least 74 people were killed and 3,500 others were injured over the weekend as the protests resumed in Baghdad and elsewhere following a two-week pause that organisers said was designed to give Iraq's leaders time to respond to their demands.
Mr Abdul Mahdi has promised to introduce reforms but protesters remain determined to try to sweep away his government.
On Monday, security forces fired tear gas to deter any attempting to cross a bridge to the fortified Green Zone, which houses government offices and foreign embassies.
After the first wave of protests earlier this month, the prime minister promised to carry out a cabinet reshuffle and cut the salaries of high-ranking officials. He also said he would allocate $66m ($51m) to support the unemployed, set up training programmes for youths, and build 100,000 homes in poor areas.
Will the government survive?
The prime minister has consistently rejected demands by Moqtada Sadr, who leads parliament's largest bloc, to resign and hold snap elections.
Mr Ameri, who heads the second largest group in parliament, has previously backed the government. But on Tuesday he announced that he and Mr Sadr would "work together to achieve the people's demands".
Mr Sadr had earlier issued a public invitation to Mr Ameri to co-ordinate on a no-confidence vote in parliament.
More at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50225055
Pray: for a speedy resolution and that the politicians react positively in the best interest of the Iraqi people.
Pray: for restraint on both sides and an end to the excessive force being used by the authorities.
Pray: for the families and loved ones of the deceased.
Pray: for an end to the corruption that pervades the government and public services in Iraq.
Lebanon's prime minister, Saad Hariri, has announced he is resigning following almost two weeks of anti-government protests.
Mr Hariri said he had hit a "dead end" and would tender his resignation to President Michel Aoun.
Demonstrations across the country have brought it to a standstill. Banks, schools and universities have been shut as a cross-section of society called for the whole government to go.
Hundreds of thousands of people have set aside religious differences and political affiliations and taken to the streets to demand an end to government corruption, inequality and sectarianism.
There have been demonstrations from the northern and traditionally conservative city of Tripoli, through the capital Beirut and all the way to the southern city of Tyre.
Those taking part want the political class that has dominated the country since its 1975-1990 civil war to be overthrown.
Its current economic crisis is the worst since that period, with a black market for US dollars developing in the last month or so.
More at: https://news.sky.com/story/lebanons-pm-al-hariri-to-resign-after-anti-government-protests-11848399
Pray: that the issues of corruption, inequality and sectarianism can be peacefully resolved.
Pray: that the more militant organisations will not take advantage of this unrest.
Pray: for a just and representative government to be democratically elected.
Pray: that Lebanon shall be saved.
Chinese Christians in Anhui are said to be ‘outraged’ after their state-registered megachurch was demolished and their pastors arrested.
Demolition work (pictured) began at Funan County Christian Church on Friday, partway through a worship service. (More information and short video clip of the demolition here.)
Elderly church members knelt down in front of the church, begging officials not to destroy the building, says Release partner ChinaAid. Several fainted and required hospital treatment.
Pastors Geng Yimin and Sun Yongyao were arrested the next day on suspicion of ‘gathering a crowd to disturb social order’. Their church could seat up to 3,000 people.
ChinaAid Director Bob Fu says believers are ‘outraged’.
‘The Chinese Government is now ordering believers to worship in a remote endangered building which can only host a few hundred people,’ he said. Yet, ChinaAid says many Christians, including those in Funan, are too afraid to speak out for fear of more persecution.
Pray: that God will bless His people in Funan and provide a new building for them. Pray that they will grow in unity and faith through this ordeal.
Pray: for the immediate release without charge of Funan pastors Geng Yimin and Sun Yongyao. Ask God to comfort those who were distressed by the demolition.
Praise: God that Christianity is growing fast in China, despite intense persecution. Sources quoted by ChinaAid estimate that there are now more than 100 million Christians in China.
(Source: China Aid)
Israel’s sitting prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, for the second time since April 2019, has been unable to form a coalition government. He returned his mandate to do so to President Reuven Rivlin on Monday 21 Oct. 2019.
Rivlin has since called on Netanyahu’s rival, Benny Gantz, who heads the Blue and White bloc, to try and form a coalition of at least 61 seats in parliament over the next 28 days. It is widely held that Gantz will be unlikely to fare any better than Netanyahu. If he does fail to form a government, an unprecedented third election in one year will take place in 2020.
The prime minister claimed in a video statement that he tried to bring Gantz to the negotiating table to “prevent another election,” but said Gantz “refused time after time.” (JNN)
PRAYER REMINDER: INTERCEDE FOR ISRAEL’S NEW GOVERNMENT TO BE EFFECTIVELY FORMED SOON:
Once again, the call goes out for intercessors and prayer groups to intercede in this vitally important issue. Pray that Israel's leaders will be able to form a strong and stable government and that a third national election, will be avoided. The damage to Israel as a result of soon repeated elections would be immense.
The direct cost alone would be approximately 700 million shekels, a sum that equals the entire annual budget of the Science Ministry. The indirect price-tag for going back to the polls again would cost the Israeli economy more than 2 billion shekels. This would only be part of the consequences of such an outcome lengthening the current political impasse.
For close to a year now Israel has been unable to carry out important procedures. Senior officials in the various ministries have said the government is “treading water.” They report that new programs cannot be approved, serious processes cannot be conducted and long-term plans cannot be adopted.
The Ministry of the Economy cannot progress with reforms to lower the cost of living. The Interior Ministry is holding back major projects needed by local authorities. The appointments of senior officials – judges, the police chief – are frozen. Diplomatic processes with a direct impact on Israeli security, such as President Trump’s peace plan, have been deferred. Everything is on hold. (JNN)
Source: www.visionforisrael.com
More at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50167387
Indigenous tribes see the Catholic church as a key ally in the ecological fight – and an unprecedented synod is focused on how to stop the destruction.
by Dan Collyns in Puerto Maldonado
A hundred years ago the Harakmbut people were nearly wiped out.
Inhabitants of a vast jungle region where Peru intersects with Brazil and Bolivia, the tribespeople were enslaved by rubber barons and murdered en masse, only surviving thanks to the help of Dominican missionaries.
Now a new threat of extinction looms, and once again they are appealing to the Catholic church.
As wildfires and de-forestation drive the Amazon rainforest towards a tipping point beyond which it cannot recover, Yesica Patiachi, a Harakmbut leader from Peru, is heading to Rome to take part in an unprecedented synod of Catholic bishops from across the region.
Although she is not a practising Catholic, the 32-year-old schoolteacher sees the church as a key ally to save the rainforest.
“Eden is here in the Amazon and we are destroying it,” she said. “We cannot pray to God when we are destroying his creation.”
Starting on Sunday, bishops from the nine South American nations that share the Amazon will meet in the Vatican to try and muster the spiritual and earthly forces to pull the world’s largest rainforest back from the brink of destruction.
One of the synod’s organisers, Father Peter Hughes, said the three-week gathering would set out a new view of ecology based on Christian faith in God as the creator of a “common home”. Hughes said the Catholic church should firmly place itself alongside the region’s indigenous people and defending their territorial rights and way of life.
“The life of the [Amazon] people is intrinsically, inherently part of the territory. If the territory is injured, the people are injured,” he said.
Organizers insist that the church is not simply fighting for its share in the market of souls. Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the president of the synod, said this week that the Amazon was facing a crisis in which ecological problems were inseparable from social issues.
To find a solution, the world must hear “both the cry of the earth and that of the poor”, he said.
Additional reporting by Angela Giuffrida in Rome
From https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/05/amazon-rainforest-catholic-church-synod-vatican
Pray: that the plundering and destruction of these natural resources will stop.
Pray: for the voices of the indigenous people to be heard and acted upon.
Pray: for the people of the Amazon region whose lives and livelihoods have been affected.
This is now the third year of Stop Child Witch Accusation’s (SCWA’s) Standing in the Gap annual prayer campaign for children accused of being witches.
Multiple thousands of children worldwide experience unspeakable abuse because they are perceived to be witches. But we give thanks to God that we are beginning to see change as the understanding, attitudes and practices of those in churches and local communities are being wonderfully transformed through Bible-based teaching and training, and the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit.
God is also graciously responding to the prayers and intercessions of our praying friends, bringing longed-for breakthrough that goes above and beyond human effort.
Thank you so much for joining us in this year’s Standing in the Gap prayer campaign, as we pray over the next three months for God to bring even greater breakthrough into this issue and for his deep healing and restoration to impact communities affected by it. To help guide your prayers, here is the link to the second prayer bulletin: https://stop-cwa.org/posts/prayer-campaign-3b
Let’s continue to pray with expectancy at what God will do through our prayers, by his grace and to his glory!
Pray: For all children to be able to live, learn and grow freely, without dark influences on their lives.
Pray: That any powers of darkness and malevolant spiritual influences will flee from these precious Children of God, in Jesus' name.
Pray: Protection over the vulnerable and those who seek to advocate for them.
Global Outreach Day is a Global Missions Network that calls the Church worldwide to focus on praying and sharing the Gospel with the un-churched in the month of May each year.
This coming year, May 2020 the vision is to mobilise 100 million people in united prayer.
We are calling this initiative Go2020!
Already, Christians in 250,000 churches across 140 nations are part of this global outreach strategy to pray and witness towards the fulfilment of God's great commission.
IPC's Exec and Leadership Team member, Tom Victor and a number of colleagues will be taking part in the upcoming World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly (WEA). Thousands of leaders representing national church networks in 130 nations will gather in Jakarta, Indonesia from November 7th-13th 2019.
Please pray for them as they share the GO2020 vision and the GO2020 Kids vision in different plenary sessions and seminars.
Pray: for Werner Nachtigal and Beat Baumann, Go 2020 Global Leaders, as they network with others at the WEA.
Pray: for Bishop Efraim Tendero, global leader of the WEA as he encourages his colleagues to participate in Go 2020. Bishop Efraim is a big champion of Go 2020.
Pray: for Tom Victor as he works with others at the WEA to mobilize for Go 2020 Kids.Pray: for Candy Marballi as she teaches the Prayer Covenant for Children at the WEA.
Pray: for Rick and Becky Olmstead as they lead a 4 to 14 Window Workshop at the WEA. Pray for them also as they provide overall leadership to the 4 to 14
Window Global Movement.
Pray: for God to raise up strong Go 2020 Kids national and regional leadership teams to mobilize and implement the vision around the world. Write down the revelation and make it plain on tables so that a herald may run with it. (Habakkuk 2:2)
Pray: for God to anoint key leaders in technology and communications as we work on the digital platform to empower children to become Go 2020 Kids.
Pray: for God to raise up and call to himself millions of children around the world as “prayer filled - multiplying disciples” for Go 2020 Kids. Jesus told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Luke 10:2)
More info and sign up for GO2020 at: www.go2020.world/prayer
Let’s also be lifting up Dick Eastman who is a keynote speaker at the WEA - for favour with his Oikos strategy as they contend to see the gospel reach every home in every nation in the next 20 years!
We pray also for John 17 unity and oneness across the leadership of the WEA, the nations and the generations that will be attending!