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You are invited to join Christians from East London on the first Saturday of 2012 in a Prayer Walk of the Olympic Park. Saturday 7th January 2012 10.00am - 12.00 midday. The whole route is approximately 1.5 miles and it is expected that the prayer walk will take between one and a half to two hours, with stops for prayer at key points. Members of the More than Gold Prayer Team and others will be leading in prayer for the Olympics, Paralympics and the main Olympic site. No need to book - just turn up! Full details of where to meet, transport and parking can be found on the ‘More’ link. For those who are unable to attend please join them in prayer wherever you are.'
Pray: for all those who are coming together to pray that God would guide their prayers. (Ps.25:5)
More: http://prayerforum.org/news/national/olympic-park-prayer-walk/
Opposition to 9,500 capacity mosque and Islamic enclave of homes, shops and business units unveiled at recent site exhibition. This week sees the launch of a new campaign against the proposed 9,500 capacity mega-mosque at West Ham, close to the site of the Olympic Stadium and Park. Volunteers from the MegaMosqueNoThanks campaign started leafleting commuters at the nearby West Ham station and residents living in the area around the site of the proposed mosque. The campaign website will also be re-launched; see ‘More’ link. At a recent site exhibition, the Islamic sect behind the proposed mosque, Tablighi Jama'at, revealed a development that includes an eight-storey high mosque, 45 metre-high minarets, apartments, and retail and business units. Visitors were informed that the formal planning application is to be submitted imminently. ‘People think wrongly that the mosque project is dead but it has never gone away,’ said Alan Craig, leader of the MegaMosqueNoThanks team. ‘It went off the radar for some months but now it's back.’
Pray: for the success of this new campaign against a proposed mega-mosque by the Tablighi Jama'at sect. (Nu.10:9)
The first planning clash over what is known as the ‘Olympic mega-mosque’ is set to take place at a major public inquiry in the New Year. This inquiry is into the current use of the West Ham site of the proposed mega-mosque by separatist Islamic sect Tablighi Jamaat. A pre-inquiry meeting is being held on Thursday 11 November at Newham Town Hall. In February Newham Council ordered Tablighi Jamaat off the site which is owned by the Muslim group and is half a mile from the main 2010 Olympic stadium. They are currently and unlawfully using it for a temporary mosque and have erected buildings on site without planning permission. The website sensibly expresses reasons for opposition to the mosque’s construction. Pray: that the fomentors of anti-Christian bias in Newham will be restrained by law at the 2011 Inquiry. (Ps.7:9) More: http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/islam/olympic-mega-mosque-public-inquiry
Sometimes we wait the best part of a lifetime for God to lead us into a particular calling and sometimes He grabs the reins and puts everything into top gear. Justine Welby (soon to be Archbishop of Canterbury) began studying theology in 1989 after working 11 years for a French oil company. He has been a bishop for less than a year. His rise has been rapid and remarkable. He has the benefit of understanding commerce, and Mammon. He oversaw the parliamentary inquiry into banking standards and the Libor fixing scandal – earning respect from political circles. Things will change rapidly for him in his next position, no longer focusing his energies on a diocese and parliamentary enquiries. His future has become much more diverse and challenging.
Pray: for God to inspire and use Justin Welby's background to unite the Church of England on women bishops, gay marriage and the international Anglican communion. (Is.41:13,14)
More: http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10033178.Justin_Welby__The_oil_man_called_by_God/
Ofcom has clamped down on scantily clad singers and dancers appearing on TV before the 9pm watershed, in its new guidance for broadcasters. It comes amid much concern about the sexualisation of children, and follows a furore over sexually provocative dances on last year’s X Factor final. The move also comes as the BBC has reportedly cut some overtly sexualised dance moves from its Strictly Come Dancing show. In relation to music videos broadcast before the watershed, Ofcom gives guidance on issues including sexual images, clothing and dancing. The group, which has a statutory duty to protect young people, also cautioned broadcasters to take ‘particular care’ with ‘family shows’ – programmes that attract a significant child audience despite not being made for children. An editorial in The Observer backed the new guidance, saying it ‘is not prudery to believe that there is an adult duty to try to manage information on behalf of the children in one’s care’.
Pray: for all media leaders to recognise their responsibility and duty to protect children and young people from such sexualisation. (Pr.4:5)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/ofcom-issues-warning-over-risque-pre-watershed-tv/
An international report exposes Britain’s moral failure on family values. The study found we have the worst record on teenage pregnancy in Europe with more children living in one-parent families than any other European country. More of our single mothers are unemployed and on benefit than anywhere else on the continent, largely because we hand out so much in benefits. Britain’s rates for divorce and out-of-wedlock births are among the highest in the Western world, and our mothers are among the oldest, putting their health and that of their baby at risk. Critics said the UK is paying the price for its promotion of sex education to ever younger children and that, since the permissive society of the 1960s, so few value the institution of marriage. The OECD’s gloomy report is the first to highlight Britain’s poor record. Pray: that your church’s voice is strong in persuading the nation that the family unit is the cornerstone of society. (Ps.119:130) More: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1297268/Britain-European-capital-broken-homes.html?ITO=1490
The number of 18 to 35-year-olds contacting the UK's leading gambling advice service has risen for a third consecutive year. GamCare's figures show more than 60% of their calls in the past 12 months were from that age group. It says smartphone and online betting are playing a big part in the rise of young people developing gambling problems. In total, 8,813 people contacted GamCare for help over the last year. That's a rise of 8.1% compared to the overall number getting in touch in 2011. Although the total number of callers stayed the same for 2012, there has been a rise each year in the 18 to 35-year-old category. Adam Brown, 24, from Long Eaton in Derbyshire, says he first gambled when he was 19 starting with occasional visits to a betting shop. Adam says using his smartphone to gamble was ‘disastrous’ and it became an addiction.
Pray: against the spread of gambling amongst the young and that the use of smartphones may be controlled. (Tit.2:12)
The number of lone parents is rising by a rate of more than 20,000 a year with ‘devastating’ consequences for children and adults alike, warns the Centre for Social Justice. In a report, the CSJ says the number of lone parents will pass two million by the time of the next election. The increase is not being fuelled by divorce but by the surge in cohabitation. Since 1996, the number of people cohabiting has doubled to nearly six million but cohabiting parents are three times more likely than married couples to separate by the time a child is five. The number of lone parents increased by almost a quarter between 1996 and 2012. Britain has one of the highest rates of family breakdown in the developed world, with a quarter of families with dependent children being headed by a lone parent. Around a million children are growing up without any contact with their father.
Pray: or less family breakdowns. And for lone parents and their children to establish sound relationships compensating for any loss of stability and family breakdown. (Ps.79:6)
More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/number.of.lone.parents.rising.by.20000.a.year/32814.htm
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) the number of civil ceremonies dropped by almost a fifth to just 7,169 in the UK in 2008, compared with 8,728 in 2007. The latest figure is a drop of more than a half since 16,106 ceremonies in 2006, the first full year after the law was changed. The number of true wedding ceremonies is at a record low as more and more couples cohabit and it seems the civil ceremonies are proving less popular than their supporters had hoped. When Government officials drew up the new laws for civil partnership they estimated that five per cent of the population was gay or lesbian and predicted that 62,000 gay couples would register in the first five years of ceremonies. The ONS published the number of ‘divorces’ for the first time. There were 180 dissolutions last year. Pray: for the church’s sacrament of marriage to remain as the bedrock of true committed relationships. (Ac.14:22) More: http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article6738671.ece
A new publicity campaign by the NSPCC aims to help prevent sexual abuse of children by encouraging people to report their concerns. The recent allegations against Jimmy Savile and others have exposed many tragic cases of sexual abuse against the young, says Peter Watt, director of the NSPCC. 'We are concerned that, as many of his victims were abused in the 1970s and 80s, child sex abuse could be seen as more a problem of the past. Furthermore, we are worried from the findings of the case that people don't know where to turn to for help in reporting child abuse, or hesitate to report abuse until they feel 100 per cent certain it has taken place. That's why we're launching a new ad campaign encouraging people to contact the NSPCC if they are concerned about a child. Our advert aims to remind people that child abuse remains a widespread problem and children are still abused today.
Pray: for all measures that will help to make child abuse a thing of the past. (Mk.9:42)
More: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/17615