Prayer Alert News: UK, Europe, and Worldwide

Mike Pilavachi, Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin, and four Irish priests were all awarded the MBE in the New Year’s honours list. Pilavachi, who founded the Soul Survivor movement, has been honoured for his services to young people. Bishop Rose, who is now bishop of Dover after serving as chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons for nine years, was recognised for services to young people and to the CofE. The award also went to Northern Ireland’s singing priests (Frs Eugene O’Hagan. Martin O’Hagan, and David Delargy) for their music and charity work, and to Fr Stephen McBrearty in recognition of his prison chaplaincy work. In addition, Wynne Roberts, a hospital chaplain, received the British Empire Medal for charitable services after raising £250,000 for charity since he began his Elvis tribute act six years ago.

Praise: God for using these people to be blessings to so many. May they continue to be appreciated. (Proverbs 31:31)
More: premierchristian.news/en/news/article/mike-pilavachi-bishop-rose-hudson-wilkin-elvis-tribute-chaplain-included-in-new-year-honours-list

In a rare move, police stepped in to stop Muslims attacking Amir Masih, a Christian sanitation worker, after he was falsely accused of ‘blasphemy’. The charges were dropped immediately after police investigations found that the pages of the Quran which he had in his possession were found in a rubbish bag he collected from local homes as part of his duties. Amir took the pages to a Muslim-owned shop to confirm whether they were from the Quran, but was accused by the shop owner of being an ‘unclean rubbish collector’ and dragged to the local mosque. The imam made a loudspeaker announcement that ‘a blasphemous Christian had been stopped’, calling on other imams to punish him and burn local Christian homes. But police stepped in and saved him from harm and possible life imprisonment.

Praise: God for this police action. Pray that it indicates policy changes which will begin to bring justice to Christian communities in Pakistan. (John 16:33)
More: barnabasfund.org/en/news/prayer-focus-update-december-2019

Pray for Brexit leavers and remainers to end enmity and rebuild a genuinely United Kingdom. Boris Johnson has an 80-seat majority; may his government members speak with strong voices in Brussels and achieve God’s purposes for our nations. There is a possibility that we will leave the EU without a deal on World Trade Organisation terms. May we be philosophical: Britain has been through worse in the past and moved on. Many promises were made before the election. Pray for the new government to reignite the North of England while keeping to its promise not to increase taxes (see also next article). Pray for enough new houses to be built on brownfield sites to end the housing crisis. May the promised 31,000 nurses and 20,000 police officers be recruited, trained and used by God to build a safer, healthier society. Pray also for local elections on 7 May to bring people back to voting on local issues, not national ones.

Pray: for God to give our politicians grace and a fresh flow of Holy Spirit influence for 2020. (Psalm 85:12)
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Government officials could face exams in a bid to end an environment where civil servants change jobs regularly and ‘almost no one is ever fired’, in an organisation of which some say ‘failure is normal’. Number 10 is planning a string of changes to the structure of government, with several departments set to be merged or rebadged in the early months of Boris Johnson’s administration. Rachel Wolf, the Tory manifesto author, said officials should expect to be kept on projects where they ‘know the background’. In a move that could anger civil service unions, she hinted at a ‘rethink of incentives, numbers and pay’ in the organisation. She is urging Downing Street to oversee a wider change in the organisation, saying civil servants were currently too focused on ‘stakeholders’ and not the public, with too many officials seeing special interests as their customers. For information about a government reshuffle, go to

Pray: for the civil service shake-up to enable the government to deliver on its promises and flow in God’s purposes. (Philippians 2:4)
More: www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/conservative-party/news/108795/civil-service-woefully-underprepared-reform\

Olubunmi Diya is mourning after her daughter Comfort (9), son Praise-Emmanuel (16), and husband Pastor Gabriel (52) drowned in a hotel swimming pool on Christmas Eve. Olubunmi said she believed something was wrong that must have made swimming difficult for them’, and that they were somehow dragged into the middle of the pool. The hotel owners issued a statement stressing that exhaustive investigations by the police confirmed that the pool was working normally and there was no malfunction of any kind. They also cited the police statement that ‘the tragic accident was due to the lack of swimming expertise of the victims’. Olubunmi said that they were able to swim. Her family is not satisfied with the idea that it was a simple accident, and may open a parallel investigation into the deaths.

Pray: for clarity around results of tests on water purification and recycling systems, for integrity to be the plumb-line of investigations, and for God’s comfort for the grieving family and congregation. (Job 33:32)
More: premierchristian.news/en/news/article/hotel-operator-insists-pool-deaths-of-pastor-and-children-was-a-tragic-accident

Conservative peer Charles Moore, as a guest editor on Radio 4’s Today programme, said the BBC has a liberal bias: ‘What I am objecting to is preaching.’ He said the BBC is a secular church which tells us what we ought to think about things. Mr Moore had difficulty trying to get information about climate change onto the programme, even though he was the guest editor and should have had a free rein. He said the obstacles came because of bureaucracy and the fact that Roger Harabin, the environment editor, is ‘so biased’. Nick Robinson defended his colleague, stating the BBC is regulated by Ofcom. The director of Affinity, a network of UK churches, said that he has ‘a lot of sympathy’ with Mr Moore; BBC intolerance of any other view causes questioning and framing of questions to be based on a number of presumptions.

Pray: for news to be honest and objective, bringing information without bias or presumptions. (Matthew 7:1)
More: premierchristian.news/en/news/article/bbc-accused-of-being-secular-church-preaching-climate-change-brexit

Between April 2017 and December 2019, Kent police investigated 109 children for possessing, or threatening with, an offensive weapon or blade at school. Two children, aged seven and nine, were not prosecuted for knife-related offences because they were under ten – the age of criminal responsibility. The most common age group for suspects was 14- to 15-year-olds. Five adults were also investigated for having knives on school premises. These figures follow similar disclosures by the majority of forces in England and Wales; numbers are much higher in places like London. An October investigation found that thousands of children had brought weapons to school, with some suspects as young as four. Pray for churches, support workers, and social services as they seek to help overwhelmed parents juggling busy lives with badly-behaved children and teenagers.

Pray: for education authorities to support teachers with updated behavioural policies for troubled pupils. (Proverbs 1:10)
More: www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/seven-year-old-caught-knife-3694438

Britain’s personal debt mountain is growing. Households borrowed an extra £20bn on credit cards and have £45bn more personal debt than they did a decade ago – an increase of 25%. In 2019, total unsecured debt (credit cards, personal loans and overdrafts) was £225bn. A decade ago Britain was near the peak of cheap credit-fuelled debt binges. Many hoped that personal debt would be reined in. This has not happened. Borrowing increased as wages failed to keep pace with inflation. These statistics do not include secured borrowing such as mortgage debt or student loans, which increases the figure substantially. Experts believe the personal debt surge is due to credit becoming cheaper towards the end of the decade. StepChange, a debt charity, recently estimated that across Britain, over three million people fell behind on an essential household bill in the last 12 months.

Pray: for the new government to bring in much-needed reforms to help people relying on credit for day-to-day living expenses and unable to pay more than the minimum repayment. (Matthew 6: 19)
More: www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-7798071/Personal-debt-mountain-Britain-grows-45bn-decade.html

CofE staff are being given ‘unconscious bias training’ in a bid to see an equal gender split across its leadership by 2030. The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, said, ‘I certainly think that having women as priests enables different types of conversations that probably wouldn’t happen if you’re a man. My background as a nurse means people often talk to me in a different way.’ The presence of female leaders within the Church has risen in recent years, with the number of women in senior leadership positions doubling between 2012 and 2017. Of the 115 UK bishops within the Anglican Church, currently 25 are women. However the door is still closed for female priests within the Catholic Church.

Pray: for the change to cultivate a more diverse range of communication within the church. (Psalm 68:11)
More: premierchristian.news/en/news/article/church-of-england-trains-staff-to-discourage-bias-against-women

UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab expressed ‘serious concern’ about a possible miscarriage of justice by a Cypriot court convicting a British teenager of lying about being gang-raped on holiday. The 19-year-old originally told police she was raped by twelve Israeli youths. She withdrew her complaint two weeks later, saying she was ‘forced’ to do so by police who left her ‘scared for my life’ and who did not record the interview; it was her word against theirs in court. The alleged attackers have returned home, while she faces jail and a fine. The case raises questions about Cyprus’s treatment of victims of sexual assault. Protesters claim the Cypriot authorities ‘always find a reason not to believe women who claim they have been raped’. The teenager has been contacted by others who were ‘forced to remain silent’ during similar experiences. She will be sentenced on 7 January.

Pray: for the health and wellbeing of the girl. May Dominic Raab, a former lawyer, achieve justice for her. (Exodus 23:1)
More: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/30/dominic-raab-expresses-serious-concern-possible-miscarriage/

Despite their ability to connect us to others across the globe, mobile phones may undermine the benefits we derive from interacting with those across the table at mealtimes. Pope Francis wants us all to switch off our cell phones and socialise during dinner, and research backs him up. Researchers have grown increasingly concerned about the psychological and social consequences of excessive smartphone use, and some restaurateurs have taken matters into their own hands by instituting cell phone bans or offering diners discounts if they surrender their phones. In a recent piece of research for a psychological journal, participants felt more distracted during mealtimes when their phones were present, thus decreasing their enjoyment of time spent with friends and family. Also, incidents of head and neck injuries related to cell phone use have risen steadily over the past two decades.

Pray: for families to hear and support the Pope’s case against screen time at dinner time and learn to communicate better. (Psalm 133:1)
More: www.marketwatch.com/story/pope-francis-wants-you-to-put-your-smartphone-away-in-2020-scientists-say-youd-be-wise-to-take-his-advice-2019-12-31

Hudson Valley towns, north of New York, have seen an influx of Hasidic Jews in recent years, and they have been suffering violent attacks following a deadly 10 December shooting rampage at a kosher market where six Jewish people died. New York City police received at least six reports of attacks in one week. Mayor Bill de Blasio promised an increased police presence in neighbourhoods with large Jewish populations. In London, anti-Semitic graffiti were daubed on a synagogue and several kosher shops during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. The graffiti showed the Star of David and ‘911’, referencing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that Jews are responsible for the 9/11 terror attack or Kristallnacht, the organised nationwide attack on Jews which began in Germany on 9 November 1938. In November newspaper headlines stated that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe, riding a wave of nationalism. See also

Pray: for God to protect His people and bring an end to the growing surge of violent attacks and graffiti. (Isaiah 54:17)
More: worldisraelnews.com/5-stabbed-at-chanukah-celebration-north-of-new-york-city/

On Christmas Eve British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert started an open-ended hunger strike in protest at being sentenced to ten years on espionage charges. She wants, at the very least, to be moved from solitary confinement, where she has been since October 2018. On 30 December British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe said she would go on hunger strike in solidarity with Kylie. Just before Christmas, Kylie wrote to the Australian prime minister, pleading for ministers to do more to secure her release. A third dual national, Fariba Adelkhah, is also on hunger strike. The French government has summoned the Iranian ambassador over her detention. A government spokesman rejected the publicity they are receiving, saying Iran would not submit to political games or propaganda. Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and many other imprisoned dual nationals in Tehran believe they are political hostages.

Pray: for God to watch over and sustain these desperate women who feel they have nothing left to get noticed, nothing left to lose. (Psalm 31:16)
More: www.theguardian.com/news/2019/dec/29/zaghari-ratcliffe-to-go-on-hunger-strike-for-fellow-detainee-in-iran

New South Wales declared a week-long state of emergency in response to escalating bushfires. Ask God to give strength and wisdom to Australian military aircraft and vessels and to US and Canadian ‘specialist aviation resources’; may there be clear, unconfused communication between different agencies fighting fires and saving lives. Ask God to bless those providing humanitarian assistance, upholding them in all they do. Pray for wisdom and sensitivity to those carrying out evacuations of whole communities in the coming days. May God protect the thousands of volunteers deployed to help struggling emergency services. May He comfort those who once lived in the 1,200+ destroyed homes. Thousands are fleeing a vast ‘tourist leave zone’ in the largest relocation ever. May calm minds replace panic and fear. Pray for cut-off towns where supplies are running low and people are living in fear of flames spreading across their communities. May God bring wind direction changes and rain to take the worst of the fires away from towns and farms.

Pray: for local authorities carrying out forced evacuations, road closures, and all that is needed to keep residents safe. (Psalm 18:6)
More: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-50969088

France, Germany, and Britain have told the UN’s secretary-general that Iran has developed a ballistic-missile system capable of delivering a nuclear weapon in violation of the Security Council resolution. A letter from those countries, plus Russia, China, and the USA, stated that the development of such missiles was inconsistent with the resolution endorsing a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and urged Tehran not to pursue activity related to such missiles. Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the letter ‘a desperate falsehood to cover up European countries’ miserable incompetence in fulfilling their commitments to the nuclear deal. He said, ‘If Britain, France, and Germany want a modicum of global credibility, they can begin by exerting sovereignty rather than bowing to US bullying.’ Pray for Iran’s church leaders amid the upheaval. They are praying that God will give them strategies to use the current unrest to advance His kingdom.

Pray: for Iran’s nuclear programme to adhere to civilian energy purposes, and for fresh negotiations towards a workable way forward that adheres to the UN resolution. (Psalm 2:1,2)
More: www.ipcprayer.org/ipc-connections/item/12527-europeans-scold-iran-for-developing-nuclear-capable-projectiles.html

South China’s Morning Post editor prophesied: ‘There is no Happy New Year ahead for Hong Kong, just endless protest chaos for the foreseeable future. Get used to it because nothing is changing, nobody is coming to the rescue, and no one has any panacea for the most destructive and debilitating social and political crisis since the city’s return to China. Wreck and repair, rinse and repeat: that’s been the new normal for more than six months and the lid has been blown off the Pandora’s box of Hongkongers’ pent-up problems and frustrations. Hong Kong’s revolution is sliding into terrorism with home-made bombs. There will be scattered protests on weekdays while most citizens go about their daily business, occasional mass rallies to mark some anniversary or another of the hate-China / destroy-police / despise-government campaign, and regular outbreaks of violence and anarchy over weekends and public holidays.’ Let us pray that this gloomy prophecy will not be accurate and that God will miraculously end a frightening situation.

Pray: for a prompt, peaceful resolve by all in authority to bring about positive change in 2020. (Psalm 7:9)
More: www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3043779/no-happy-new-year-ahead-hong-kong-just-endless-protest-chaos

Dr Maged presents The Coach, an Arabic TV programme on SAT-7. He said there’s a lack of awareness of how to raise children in a healthy way in North Africa. Many cultures are based on a patriarchal model where women and children are not encouraged to speak up, share an opinion, or disagree with the male head of the family. Many parents use parenting techniques of beating, shouting and intimidation. This is where The Coach steps in, discussing the parenting issues that many families face. The programme encourages healthy, open conversations between parents and children, preparing them to cope with the world and helping them feel safe within the home environment. Children can express themselves or admit to a mistake without the fear of being beaten or belittled. It is clear that the programme is making a real-life impact in Arab families. Dr Maged’s end goal is for healthy parenting to become the norm for parents.

Pray: for more marriages and families in the Arab world to grow in gentleness and reflect God’s love. (1 Corinthians 13:4)
More: www.sat7uk.org/overturning-major-problem-arab-world/?dm_i=5CCD,4RFC,1YQ05T,GWRH,1

Around the world in 2019, corruption sparked demonstrations and toppled governments in what should be a wake-up call for leaders to follow through on their commitments and make good on old promises as well as new, meaningful resolutions. Corruption is deepening the crisis of democracy in many parts of the world. Countries with higher rates of public sector corruption have weaker democratic institutions, depriving citizens of political rights such as free and fair elections and the right to protest. Many protested and, losing patience, took to the streets demanding that their governments serve public interest. We may see more protests in the coming year unless political leaders take urgent steps to eradicate corruption and make their countries a liveable place for all citizens. In over 100 countries, people can turn to Transparency International chapters for advice on long-lasting and inclusive approaches to strengthen their democracies.

Pray: for God’s inspiration and direction for established chapters and independent organisations fighting everything from small bribes to large-scale looting. (Proverbs 11:1)
More: www.transparency.org/whoweare/organisation/our_chapters