Student loans and debt
20 Oct 2017
Former education secretary Nicky Morgan will lead an inquiry into the rising costs of the student loans system in England and its possible replacement by a graduate tax. The investigation is needed because of the steeply rising levels of debt carried by graduates after leaving university. It will run alongside similar hearings on personal finance by the House of Lords economic affairs committee. A recent report from the Gambling Commission found that some students have £10,000 gambling debts. A 24-year-old who got into gambling at university said, ‘It went from spending a few days after coming home from lectures and going onto my laptop to suddenly saying no to going out with friends, maybe saying no to going to uni. I think you can be very vulnerable. I'd never budgeted before, and money was a whole new concept to me.’ See also:
Austria: election result
20 Oct 2017
The commanding victory of populist parties in the national election will reverberate beyond Austria. Sebastian Kurz, when foreign minister, closed routes through the Balkans for immigrants, and his party spearheaded laws banning full-face Muslim veils in public spaces. His political rise follows the far right gaining influence in Germany last month. Nationalist and anti-immigrant forces across the EU are feeling emboldened by the vote, which could bring the Islamophobic Freedom Party to power in a coalition government in Vienna. The People's Party want to fine migrants who refuse to attend integration and language classes, but the Freedom Party calls for dropping such classes completely. It has also pledged to deny migrants access to welfare payments altogether. If the two parties became coalition partners, Austrian politics would take a seismic shift to the right.
Gender: times are changing in Europe
20 Oct 2017
Children are dealing with questions like ‘You look like a boy or girl, but do you feel you really are a boy or girl? You can choose who or what you want to be’. On trains in the Netherlands the announcer no longer says ‘ladies and gentlemen’, but ‘travellers’. Many churches avoid the gender-neutrality topic, hoping they will not have to deal with it; in other churches the ‘law of relativism’ has entered and everything is possible. Christians believe that God created man and woman, and marriage is for a man and woman. We are living in a broken world, but when the brokenness becomes the normal standard, we should be awake as a Church and stand up and fight. There is more going on than we can see with our natural eyes and our pastoral hearts.
Albania: prayer needs
20 Oct 2017
In this Islamic country, only 0.4% of Albanians are evangelical Christians; 14.3% live below the poverty line, and there are over 8,000 refugees. We can praise God for the relatively good sense of unity and peace among people of different religious faiths, and the Church continues to grow. Many claim that concentrated intercession is responsible for Albania’s openness to ministry. May a prayer movement be raised up within the country, to pray for all the region. Pray that unsaved members of Christians’ families will come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. There are three complete translations of the Bible in Albanian: one literal, one paraphrased, and one Catholic. Pray for widespread use of the Scriptures.
South Africa: pray for an end to the drought
20 Oct 2017
South Africa is experiencing a devastating drought in five regions; rain is urgently needed in many other areas. In some areas this drought has been going on for nearly 5 years. Every day farmers watch their livestock dying, fields withering, and harvests going to waste. Visiting these regions and seeing the reality of the situation is traumatic. Jericho Walls have produced prayer guidelines for intercessors to use as they pray for the end of the drought. Congregations and prayer groups all over South Africa have been praying every Sunday, and also in a seven-day 24/7 prayer watch. When disasters occur, God looks for someone to stand in the gap. We can join the intercessors and pray, using the prayer guide at:
Syria: mission opportunities as country rebuilds
20 Oct 2017
Syria needs to be rebuilt. The economy needs to be re-established. New jobs and new opportunities need to be created. Business people from China see this as a golden opportunity to do business and make money, an opportunity to sell their products, technologies and services. The risk is high, but they are willing to come. Are Christians willing to say yes to this challenge? Are believers willing to say that we will take the risk, step out in faith and see a nation restored? This is the moment and the opportunity to help in the reconstruction and rebuilding of lives and communities, while having the opportunity to share God’s love in Syria’s time of need.
East Africa: starvation in refugee camps
20 Oct 2017
Famine continues, and refugee camps in Kenya and Uganda continue to fill. Church leaders in Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan have launched another desperate appeal for food aid to keep refugees and churchgoers alive until Christmas, after enduring an 18-month-long period of droughts, famine and conflict. Archbishop Stanley Ntagali of Uganda said, ‘The numbers and the need are overwhelming. I appeal to you all to help us so that we can help these helpless people, the refugees from South Sudan.’ The refugees, having fled famine and conflict in their homeland, are now living in Camp Rhino, northern Uganda. Most of their food aid is provided by Barnabas Fund, working through the Church of Uganda. Every day, 300 refugees from South Sudan arrive in the camp. The numbers have risen to 120,000, and are predicted to go even higher. A large proportion are women and children.
Bhutan: 780,000 have never heard of Jesus
20 Oct 2017
There are 77 different people groups in Bhutan; most of them speak the official language, Dzongkha, but each group has its own mother tongue. Buddhism is Bhutan’s religion, and 72 of the 77 people groups have never heard of Jesus Christ. Even though Christianity is outlawed in Bhutan, Christian Aid assists brave missionaries who seek to serve the Lord there. Just beyond the border, in Nepal, an indigenous ministry offers training for native gospel workers and leaders. The sessions are held in tents on rented land. Pray for a God-sized shield of protection to cover this brave group of ministers who are giving their lives more fully to the harvest in Bhutan. May they grow in wisdom and understanding and come to know God more deeply. See also: