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.

Two 175 mph tornado storms touched down in Tennessee killing 24 people, sending 150+ to hospital, leaving tens of thousands of families and businesses without power, and collapsing hundreds of structures. Let us pray for the hundreds of families assessing the damage and tragedy, dealing with heartache, and facing a future of hardship. Pray for adequate aid and provisions to be made available for the many displaced people in shelters. The state’s governor has asked the White House for federal assistance. Donald Trump tweeted that the government is standing with Tennessee and monitoring the situation. Ask God to continue to strengthen the scores of people helping families who lost their homes in the storms. Complete strangers have been picking up debris and helping families go through the rubble. See

On 15 February WHO prioritised support for thirteen African countries whose fragile health systems are already overwhelmed. It is critical to detect coronavirus early to prevent spreading within communities without the treatment capacity. Since 3 February African countries have been receiving technical guidance and advice on how to limit human-to-human transmission, so that they isolate and provide appropriate treatment to affected people. An Africa task force has been working with the WHO, screening points of entry, controlling in health-care facilities, advising on infection prevention and clinical management of people, laboratory diagnosis and community engagement. On 5 March five African countries had coronavirus - Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Senegal, and Algeria. See

About 750 Christians from the Yao people group gathered recently for fellowship, worship, prayer and mutual encouragement. The believers, who spread across three different countries, had never gathered for worship in such a large group. Though many of them were very poor, they had saved up beans and maize to contribute to meals during the conference. Some of them made their own instruments and incorporated traditional dance into the worship. ‘It was beautiful,’ an observer said. A group who had experienced a lot of persecution in their village decided to take their village chief, a Muslim, to the conference. Afterwards, he decided that he and the whole village would follow Jesus. The Yao people have been predominantly Muslim since Islam’s introduction in the early 19th century. Malawi has the highest percentage of Muslims in southern Africa.