Homeless charities’ links to Home Office
17 Mar 2017
Leading homeless charities were criticised after fresh revelations about their links to the Home Office. A report from Corporate Watch said that several homeless charities, including St Mungo's and Thames Reach, are ‘collaborating’ with the Home Office to remove foreign rough sleepers from the UK. Among the documents referred to in the report is a St Mungo's policy paper stating that if clients are not engaging with their service their details will be passed on to immigration enforcement teams by outreach workers. The refugee and migrant group Ramfel said it had become abundantly clear that there was more than a close collaboration between homelessness agencies and the Home Office. This is an issue of trust and confidence and if homeless people on the street cannot trust those that claim to be coming to assist them, then the meaning of charity needs a serious rethink.
EU citizens in the UK
17 Mar 2017
EU citizens in Britain are the victims of ‘political games’ and their rights must be the first item in the exit talks, the European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator has said. Guy Verhofstadt called for the fate of those three million EU nationals, and of British ex-pats, to be settled before negotiations on the rumoured £50bn ‘divorce bill’. Mr Verhofstadt said the EU parliament would agree a resolution soon after the Article 50 exit clause is triggered in the next few weeks, which it would expect to guide those talks. Otherwise the parliament could exercise its right to vote down any eventual deal agreed between the UK and the European Commission. ‘We vote no - that is possible,’ he said. MPs recently overturned a Lords’ amendment to the Brexit Bill urging the Prime Minister to give a unilateral guarantee that EU citizens will be able to stay in Britain.
Poundland’s 'OMG' slogan
17 Mar 2017
OMG stands for Oh My God. Poundland has a nationwide advertising campaign using 'OMG'. Many believe the advert blasphemes God's name and sends the message that God has no space in our national life except to advertise bargain products. A supporter of Christian Concern contacted them after seeing the advert. Christian Concern suggest complaining to Poundland if they share this concern. Points to raise could be: a) finding the advert offensive because OMG treats God's name as an advertising gimmick; b) for millions of UK Christians, God's name is holy and due reverence and respect; c) our nation is historically Christian, and many of the freedoms we enjoy result from the influence of God's people living out their faith in society - OMG suggests that God is no longer a serious part of our national life; d) other religions have a presence in the UK, and would Poundland consider running a slogan treating the name of their gods or gods in the same way?
Scotland: named person scheme
17 Mar 2017
John Swinney MSP, Deputy First Minister and cabinet secretary for education, has outlined his intent to relaunch the controversial Named Person Scheme. The Scottish Government was compelled to rethink its approach following the success of the No to Named Person Coalition, which argued before the Supreme Court that the scheme was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. CARE also raised concerns that the scheme is an unwelcome intrusion which will undermine parental authority and potentially misuse private data; in practice, parents are best placed to take care of their children. Mr Swinney has not clarified whether the scheme will be proactive or will be responsive to parents’ needs. Whilst CARE is pleased that there has been a consultation on how data will be shared, there has been little attempt to define key terms in the bill which could potentially lead to huge discrepancies in its operation.
The election has seen changes in how Stormont will look in the future. People have gone, party allegiance has shifted for many, and the outlook for the governance of Northern Ireland is uncertain as talks begin to form a power-sharing executive. The former first minister Arlene Foster will lead the Democratic Unionists into negotiations aimed at rebuilding power-sharing. She wants the discussions to deliver a new regional government, and vowed to work with all parties to achieve that. Sinn Féin and its leader Michelle O’Neill also insist that they want the negotiations to succeed. Many believe the prospect of the parties reaching a power-sharing agreement in the three-week timeframe imposed by Northern Ireland secretary of state James Brokenshire appears remote. If that deadline passes, the Government must either call another election or put Stormont in cold storage and reintroduce direct rule, which nationalists strongly oppose.
Thy Kingdom come
17 Mar 2017
We recently highlighted THY KINGDOM COME 2017, launching a time of prayer from 25 May to 4 June. It is gathering momentum - not only in the UK but worldwide. An updated website is now live with more information on this call to pray individually, as families and as churches together, from Ascension Day to Pentecost. The site has a wide range of excellent resource material which can be downloaded and copied free, or bought if people prefer. Pray for awareness to continue to grow, through networking ministers and prayer groups talking to other local churches about joint prayer times. Pray for the communities of praying people to explore new ideas and ways of engaging people in prayer across their communities, towns and cities. The theme of the ten days is 'Praying that people come to know Jesus Christ'.
Fake news
17 Mar 2017
When prayer becomes intercession, we need to know what we are interceding for. It sounds simple, but this is one of our greatest challenges in today's society. We are bombarded with information and we often have neither the time nor the ability to check the facts. Even as Christians we can be cocooned in our own cultural, religious or denominational bubble where we only believe what agrees with our own views. As intercessors for Europe, we need to be aware of the realities of what is called a 'post-truth' society, where fake news becomes fact and what is popular and self-satisfying becomes my truth. The good news is that as Christians we have an open heaven and a God who wants to guide and correct us. We can be fervent in prayer as we navigate the minefield of information and opinions out there. We can look outside our bubble.
Wycliffe work in Europe
17 Mar 2017
The Roma people, often referred to as Gypsy, are originally from India and now live scattered all over the world, especially Europe. After attending a training workshop, Marlute works with a Roma man on a OneStory project in a Central Romani dialect in Romania. OneStory works with mother-tongue speakers to develop and record worldview-sensitive, chronological Bible story sets. The whole project will take about two years. The team has drafted several Bible stories and is testing them. New-Neighbour-Bible.org was recently launched by Wycliffe Germany. The website provides information about Scripture resources in the languages spoken by the people arriving from other nations now living in Europe. Links to Bibles, Bible stories, videos and audio recordings are listed for the languages of Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Resources for other countries will be added soon. Pray that churches and Christian refugee networks will find out about and use this site.