Dementia: Living in the Memories of God
09 Sep 2016
The Michael Ramsey Prize, which is sponsored by the Lambeth Trust and administered by SPCK, was inaugurated in 2005 to encourage the most promising contemporary theological writing and to identify it for a wider Christian readership. This year the prize was awarded to John Swinton's Dementia: Living in the Memories of God at a ceremony at the Greenbelt festival. The Archbishop said, ‘It is a cross-disciplinary book that goes straight to the heart of tackling one of the most profound failures of our society - the failure to value people in other than economic terms and to see the dignity of the human person.’ The book is challenging, with a coherent theological approach and a clinical understanding. Dementia is one of the great issues of our society and Justin said, ‘He has done the church and our country a huge service.’
Muslims and the media
09 Sep 2016
A Muslim family were accused of being terrorists on their trip to Skegness. They won't be returning: they said, ‘It didn’t really bother us until a man shouted “terrorists”.’ A survey found a 326% rise in anti-Muslim hate crime last year. Is the media responsible for this rise in Islamophobia? The press regulator, IPSO, judged the Daily Star Sunday’s headline, ‘UK mosques fundraising for terror’ to be ‘significantly misleading’ - the mosques were not involved in any way. A week earlier The Sun was forced to acknowledge that its headline ‘1 in 5 Brit Muslims sympathy for jihadists’ was similarly misleading. The Times claimed Muslims were ‘silent on terror’. This allegation was unequivocally rebuffed by Theresa May and senior counter-terror officers. See:
Parents’ concerns about school
09 Sep 2016
TLG, a Christian education charity, reports that almost one in four parents are concerned about their child's progress in school as they return after the summer break. TLG polled 1,000 parents and found that 23% were most concerned about their child making the right progress. The main concerns were about their child being bullied, feeling unhappy at school and being exposed to inappropriate language, conduct or material. The concerns coincide with a decline in the overall proportion of children achieving A* to C in their GCSEs, (from 69% to 67%), and an increase in school exclusions. Pray for churches to do more to support parents who are concerned about their child's progress at school. Pray for the children needing appropriate resources for them at the local school. Home life has 80% of the influence on the child and school only 20%. Pray for parents to be encouraged to support their children more.
Pray for teachers as new school year begins
09 Sep 2016
Teachers have the enormous responsibility of imparting knowledge to our children, and their job is often difficult. Pray for their intuition and ability to keep peace in the classroom and peace between students and themselves. Ask God to help them to be gentle to each and every one of their students, balancing mercy and discipline in the right measure for all. Pray that no matter how tired or stressed they feel they will be able to give genuine praise as much as possible and constructive criticism in a manner that is acceptable to the young. Ask for God to bless the teachers in our nation that they remain conscientious enough to keep their lessons always interesting, recognising what motivates and be able to accept different individual’s limitations and not hold it against them. May they never judge their students too harshly, but rather be fair to all.
Rio Paralympics: the Great Britain team
09 Sep 2016
Great Britain will have a team of 264 athletes, competing in nineteen sports, at the Rio Paralympics. The British team has never finished outside the top five in the medal table. At London 2012, the members won 120 medals, including 34 golds, to finish third behind China and Russia - and hopes are high they can surpass that in Brazil. To watch an incredible three-minute all-music all-dancing ‘Yes I Can’ Paralympics video, click the ‘More’ button.
Theresa May: UK to lead world in free trade
09 Sep 2016
Theresa May said that the UK could become ‘the global leader in free trade’ as she faced calls to clarify the government's post-Brexit vision. Making a G20 summit statement, the PM refused to give a running commentary or ‘reveal our hand prematurely’ after Australia and the UK began preliminary discussions about a new trade deal. The Australian trade minister predicted an agreement between the countries. But, with the UK unable to sign deals while still in the EU, he said an agreement would not happen until the UK left the EU in 2019. Australia is earmarked as the first potential new trade partner for the UK once it leaves the EU. Addressing MPs, Mrs May said that India, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore were also keen to remove trade barriers. She pledged to ‘think through the issues in a sober and considered way. So we will not take decisions until we are ready.’
Shameful destruction of Belfast Jewish graves
09 Sep 2016
A gang of youths used hammers and blocks in an attack on the walled-off Jewish section of a cemetery in Belfast last Friday. Seventeen Jewish graves were destroyed in the organised attack. The Police Service of Northern Ireland is investigating the incident as a hate crime. Some of the graves dated back to the 1870s. Bishop Noel Treanor of the Irish diocese of Down and Connor said, ‘What a tragedy and blemish on our society that the long-present, beloved and treasured Jewish families of our community should suffer yet again such actions of disrespect and violence to the memory of their beloved dead; and the regrettable outworking of a latent xenophobia that stalks the minds of some.’
Praying for Scandinavian countries
09 Sep 2016
King’s Ministries is an apostolic-prophetic Ministry preparing the Body of Christ for the work of the Gospel and making the way straight for the Lord to come as a King to the Church, to cities and to nations. Many Scandinavian Christians believe God is strongly calling Nordic nations to gather to pray together for their nations and for the end time. We can join them in praying for God’s intercessory army to grow in cities and villages; may they destroy the altars and strongholds of evil. We can join them in continuous strong praise and worship in order to make breakthroughs both 24/7 and 24/365. For inspiring prayers and prophecies for Scandinavian countries, click the ‘More’ button below.