Prayer Hub

Scotland’s Sunday school survey

09 Jul 2015

The Free Church of Scotland’s Youth Committee has published a report from the denomination’s largest-ever Sunday school survey. Entitled ‘Pointing to Jesus’, the committee wants to help Sunday schools and other youth groups point children to Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. The report intends to equip teachers with new ideas to connect the never-changing message of the Bible to the ever-changing world in which the children of this generation are growing up. Every Sunday there are over 1,100 children attending, with numbers virtually the same over the past five years (nominally up). The Mission Board chairman said, ‘Transitioning children from Sunday school attenders to those who are part of the worshipping congregation is absolutely vital. The last thing we want is for children to reach the end of their time in Sunday school with an inability, through lack of exposure, to sit through church services.’

Number of young homeless is 'more than three times the official figures'

09 Jul 2015

The true number of young people who are homeless far exceeds government figures, according to a major new study by housing experts at Cambridge University being released on Monday. Some 83,000 homeless young people have had to rely on councils and charities for a roof over their heads during the past year - more than three times the 26,852 young people recorded in homeless figures released by the Department for Communities and Local Government. There are 35,000 young people in homeless accommodation at any one time across Britain. The research said, ‘The worryingly high levels of young people using homelessness services across Britain is a minimum estimate, and it is likely that in reality there are more homeless young people accessing support across the UK’. The study was commissioned by Centrepoint and comes amid warnings that Britain is heading for a housing crisis.

Keeping Sunday special - back on the agenda

09 Jul 2015

George Osborne has announced an 'Enterprise bill' for the autumn which will include provisions for handing over decisions about Sunday trading rules to local mayors and councils. It's out for consultation. Our society still has one day when families can have more time together on a day that's theirs, instead of one of them having to work, and when law acknowledges ‘profit isn't everything’. Currently large stores can only open on Sundays for six hours (a concession won by campaigners against the liberalisation of Sunday trading laws in 1994). This means small family-run shops have some protection against the march of the megastores. It means that for those who have to work, days can be shorter. It means that communities in busy shopping districts have time to recover and to breathe before they're hit by waves of consumers again. See also THE MILL GATHERING STATEMENT at http://wpc.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/The-Mill-Statement-Apr-2015.pdf

Outreach to Muslims

09 Jul 2015

Horizons International, Frontiers, Mahabba and Marathana are just four of the many organisations God is using to develop Christian outreach initiatives into Muslim communities in the UK. God wants all the nations to know Christ, and He has brought thousands upon thousands of Muslims from a variety of nations to our doorstep in recent years. Now Christians are learning to interact and share their faith through friendship evangelism with these immigrants. Christians are learning through various teaching models how to empower their witness to Muslim neighbours, work colleagues, and fellow-students in schools. See also http://www.engagecourse.org/