Displaying items by tag: British Isles

The UK is the sixth richest country in the world, yet poverty affects one in four children. Growing up poor means children miss out on warm clothes, school trips, or even having friends over for tea. Poverty impacts children’s health and educational outcomes. Leaving school with few qualifications translates into lower earnings over the course of a working life. Poorer childhood health results in more complicated health histories later in life, again influencing earnings and overall life quality. On 3 April the BBC reported that malnourished pupils with grey skin are filling their pockets with school canteen food due to poverty, and hunger is particularly apparent after the weekend. A Nottinghamshire headteacher said, ‘When you take poorer children to an event, you see the difference between them and children of the same age from affluent areas. It's the grey skin, the poor teeth, poor hair, they are thinner.’ Children are neglected because their families can’t afford food, heating or even bedding. See also

The deadline for registering to vote in this year’s local elections is 17 April, and many young people who could not vote in the last election are now eligible to do so. There are young adults in our churches, families and towns who do not yet understand the times we are living in. They do not realise the potential for change that can be achieved through understanding local issues, or how their votes can influence the lives of many.

The Bishop of St Albans, a leading campaigner for measures to limit the harm done by Fixed Odds Betting Terminals, has responded to the Gambling Commission recommendations. He supports reducing maximum stake on machines to £2, from the current £100 level. The Commission recommended limiting the stake to about £30, leaving it up to the Government to decide the final figure. Bishop Alan said, ‘Any stake higher than £2 does not go far enough to protect the most vulnerable, their families, and communities. Ministers must put the interests of those affected by them ahead of concerns about tax revenue or the powerful gambling lobby. We desperately need gambling regulations that are ordered, sensible, and caring for the vulnerable. I hope the Ministers will be courageous and reduce the maximum stake to £2.’

Paul Song, 48, was a prison chaplain but claims he was forced out of his job at Brixton prison after the new Muslim managing chaplain there accused him of holding 'extreme' views. He had worked at the jail since 1998; he had started running Alpha courses and the Just10 course, all with the blessing of the former senior chaplain Reverend Phillip Chadder. The demand for the courses over the years was considerable. Mohammed Yusuf Ahmed, who took over as managing chaplain in 2015, told Song he wanted to 'change the Christian domination' at the prison and that the courses he taught were 'too radical'. Pastor Song, a respected AOG Pastor from South Korea, also leads the Shepherd Church in London. He is being advised by the Christian Legal Centre, which said, ‘To call this Christian who has served without a blemish for almost twenty years an extremist defies belief.'

Young girls are still being sacrificed on the altars of multiculturalism and political correctness. A recent Sunday Mirror story says that child grooming is still going on after all the outcry in recent years, and police are still failing to act. Authorities don’t keep details of abusers in Asian communities for fear of ‘racism’. Council staff view the abused children as ‘prostitutes’ not victims. Recently police failed to investigate a complaint five times until an MP intervened. The number of victims in Rotherham’s child sexual exploitation has recently risen to 1,510. The worst examples are of criminals being excused because of their culture; a Muslim man in Nottingham who raped an underage girl was spared prison after the judge heard that he had been taught in an Islamic faith school that women are worthless. Islamic values were used by a judge to undermine the fundamental principle of one law for all. See also https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britains-worst-ever-child-grooming-12165527

23 March is day 720 of Nazanin Zaghari-Radcliffe’s confinement in Evin prison, nicknamed ‘The Iranian torture factory’. In September she was approved for early release, but Boris Johnson’s comments caused Iranian authorities to believe she was a spy and new charges were made. Her situation became political news, generating a petition of 1.5+ million signatures for her release. Mr Johnson visited Iran ‘to leave no stone unturned’, but an Ayatollah’s fiery Friday sermon described him as a ‘liar and clown’, leading to demonstrations across Iran and the UK. Inside the prison phone calls to and from Nazanin by family were banned and medical visits were cancelled. Just before Christmas, she was told she was ‘eligible for parole.’, but this came to nothing. Nazanin is a Christian suffering post-traumatic stress, being cruelly treated physically and emotionally; pray for her spirit to be strong. See also the article ‘Under Islamism’ in the World section.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, speaking to an independent enquiry, has warned that child sex abuse by priests will 'destroy the Church' if it continues, adding the Church of England's current safeguarding powers to protect children 'probably needs re-looking at'. In cutting terms Welby warned that those who didn’t protect children would 'answer on the day of judgement'. 'That probably doesn't mean much to some people here’, he said. 'But I think about that every day. Those who do children harm would do better to have a millstone put around their neck and be thrown into the sea rather than face the judgement that God will give them. The reputation of the church, the reputation of a person, the reputation of an institution, is as nothing compared to the call to obey God in Jesus Christ in the way we love and care for people. Everything that goes against that will, in the end, destroy the Church.'

Europe’s march towards a post-Christian society has been starkly illustrated by research showing that a majority of young people in a dozen countries are not following any religion. A survey of 16- to 29 year-olds found that in the UK only 7% identify as Anglican and 10% as Catholic. Young Muslims, at 6% and rising, are on the brink of overtaking those who consider themselves part of the country’s established church. The UK figures were partly explained by high immigration - one in five Catholics in the UK was not born in the UK, neither were most of the Muslims. The figures were in a report, Europe’s Young Adults and Religion, by a professor of theology who said, ‘The new default setting for faith in the UK is no religion, and the few who are Christians see themselves as swimming against the tide.’

Many intercessors believe we are on the tipping point of a spiritual awakening in the Church, a time to change what we say, do, and pray into God-anointed actions, words, and prayers that bring powerful change to our communities. For anointed talks by Malcolm Duncan at the recent ‘Time 2 Turn’ conference for intercessors, click on the ‘More’ button to download the podcasts. He reminded us that the word of God brings restoration, so we must preach the word faithfully. He said that if God's people do not humble themselves, do not pray by the power of His Spirit, do not seek God's face in every decision, and do not turn from compromising His word, then He will not hear their prayers and will not heal their land. We have entered a season to turn in obedience to life-changing prayers and actions.

Easter is a great opportunity for evangelism. Pray for the body of Christ across our nations to recognise every opportunity to talk to the people they meet regularly about Easter’s actual meaning. Pray for each church denomination to be anointed by God to go where He sends them. Pray for a fresh Holy Spirit enabling so that God’s people do all that He has called them to do, and for the Church to use all its resources to impact with power the lives of those who do not yet realise the price Jesus paid for them. May each Easter service be an occasion of supernatural discovery of biblical truths. Pray also for church-based courses and initiatives like Alpha to explode onto the social scene, building influential life-changing bridges in communities not yet touched by Holy Spirit-led evangelism. May the Church see prayer and mission powerfully united, achieving amazing results.