Emergency budget
The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s emergency budget has met a lukewarm response from some Christians fearful that its impact will be felt by those least able to afford it. The Chancellor presented the severest budget for nearly 30 years outlining tax hikes and painful cuts to public spending. Paul Morrison, a member of the Methodist Church’s Joint Public Issues Team, said the taxation burden should be put on the people who could afford it rather than those least able. Chris Sheldon, Deputy Chief Executive of Kingdom Bank, welcomed the efforts to reduce the nation’s massive deficit. ‘I am pleased to see that the government is taking the issue of balancing the country’s income and expenditure so seriously,’ he said. ‘It is a strong biblical principle that we should not spend more than we can afford and that applies to the country in the same way that it applies to individuals’. Pray: for us to balance the collective responsibility we hold to address the national deficit whilst protecting the most vulnerable. (Pr.1:3) More:http://www.christiantoday.com/article/emergency.budget.draws.mixed.reaction.from.christians/26157-2.htm
Moldova: Proclaiming the Gospel through sports.
This office received news of ‘Sports Ministry’ that is evangelising young people in closed countries. ‘Let me share news from a Christian ministry we are doing in Moldova through a sports club. We have 32 instructors teaching annually over 1500 students in Moldova, Afghanistan, Pakistan and United Arab Emirates. The first hour of the ‘sports’ training is inductive bible study and during 13 years many accepted Christ and are active in their churches and in the ministry in their own countries. As the founder and president of the sports club I examine all the students when they take their tests. At a recent exam in Moldavia for 30 students and their parents, reported that they seriously studied the Word as well as developing in the sport.’ The BBC reported world football has a generation of players bringing God onto the pitch, such as the Brazilian player Kaka who celebrates victories by revealing a T-shirt saying, ‘I Belong to Jesus’. Fifa would rather religion stayed out of football. Praise: God for ‘hidden’ ministries in the world, and ask Him to send out more workers into the sports harvest fields. (Mt.9:37)
Moldova: Proclaiming the Gospel through sports.
This office received news of ‘Sports Ministry’ that is evangelising young people in closed countries. ‘Let me share news from a Christian ministry we are doing in Moldova through a sports club. We have 32 instructors teaching annually over 1500 students in Moldova, Afghanistan, Pakistan and United Arab Emirates. The first hour of the ‘sports’ training is inductive bible study and during 13 years many accepted Christ and are active in their churches and in the ministry in their own countries. As the founder and president of the sports club I examine all the students when they take their tests. At a recent exam in Moldavia for 30 students and their parents, reported that they seriously studied the Word as well as developing in the sport.’ The BBC reported world football has a generation of players bringing God onto the pitch, such as the Brazilian player Kaka who celebrates victories by revealing a T-shirt saying, ‘I Belong to Jesus’. Fifa would rather religion stayed out of football. Praise: God for ‘hidden’ ministries in the world, and ask Him to send out more workers into the sports harvest fields. (Mt.9:37)
Saints on the street
Baptist churches have been encouraged to set aside a number of Sundays each year to get out into their neighbourhoods and meet people who would not normally come to church. The future president of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Revd Chris Duffett has launched an evangelistic project called Saints on the Street (St St). 'As the vast majority of people in the UK do not go to church, St St projects take church to the vast majority,' he explained. 'Our hope is that St St may become a vision for Baptist churches in the UK to set aside some Sundays in the year where the morning service is used to engage with people who wouldn't consider going to church.' Recently he invited shoppers in Peterborough to walk along a VIP red carpet to give them the message that God thinks they are 'Very Important People'. Forty copies of Mark's Gospel were given away. Praise: that this Baptist outreach may be effective in bringing the good news to the unchurched. (Isa. 52:7)
