Prayer Sheet December / January 2007 / 2008 - St Cuthbert's

St Cuthbert's

• St Cuthbert's Calling as it is distributed
• Special services during Advent & Christmas: Carols by Candlelight, ACORNS, Old School Nursery, Edinburgh Close, Carol singing at The Printers, All Age Nativity, Around the Crib, Midnight Communion, Christmas Day
• Planning and thinking for HOPE '08 that it would be used of God
• Guidance for the Monday 'OK Club' - now at the planning stage
• Further progress in 'systems review' and organisation
• A sense of unity & purpose, as well as thankfulness, as we seek to move forward together as church. God has been very good to us!

Other Churches

• The ongoing progress of the Upper Room project at St Mary's
• The seven churches of Cheadle and Gatley as we seek to work together and as we share in the week of Prayer for Christian Unity - this year celebrating its 100th Anniversary - from 18 to 25 January

Children and Youth

• Give thanks for the enthusiasm + many & varied ministries of Andy, Patches & Zoe, as well as our large team of volunteers & leaders
• Local schools inc. Meadowbank, Cheadle Heath Primary and The Kingsway where St Cuthbert's is involved in various ways
• Bernard Baylis & others as they launch an after school club for Secondary School age young people in High Lane after Christmas

People in need

• Those children being baptised / dedicated along with their respective families: Toby Lightbown & Amelie Rodgers
• The bereaved, ill, housebound & dying and our Pastoral & Bereavement Visiting Teams as they seek to care for them.
• The homeless, refugees & all who lack the essentials of life

Global Poverty
HIV
A baby is born with HIV and five people die of an AIDS-related illness every minute. This is preventable. Millions of children are orphaned when their parents die from AIDS, often leaving them to care for their families and become the head of the household. Similarly many grandparents are left to care for grandchildren when the parents die.

Pray

• For orphaned children and those who have become head of a household, that they will get love and support
• For local churches who support those living with HIV; that they will transform stigma and discrimination into acceptance and love
• For elderly carers looking after families; that they will not be overwhelmed by the task and receive support from the church

Climate Change
The UK government's new climate change law is due in the autumn. In December there is an international climate change conference to negotiate new targets to replace the Kyoto protocol when it expires.

Pray

• For those who face floods or drought, and for those whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by the destruction of the environment.
• That the UK government's climate change law will be strong enough to dramatically reduce our emissions
• That governments use the conference in December to start negotiations on a new set of targets that will be widely adopted and have significant impact

Disaster Response
In August, hurricane Felix hit Nicaragua killing more than 90 and destroying thousands of homes. Thousands were also forced to flee their homes in Honduras. 70,000 people in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe were helped by Tearfund during the 2006 food crisis. In 2002, during Malawi's drought, the Living Waters Church, supported by Tearfund, trained its Pastors in food management and the use of drought resistant crops.

Pray
For local churches in Honduras and Nicaragua as they provide food, shelter and recovery from the disaster

• For the Living Waters Church as it continues to work, and that more churches will rise to the challenge of providing for their communities in disaster situations
• For Tearfund's work with their partners and communities in preparing for disasters
• That national governments will give priority to disaster- risk reduction in their countries
• For Tearfund's vision to mobilise 100,000 local churches to provide practical relief when disaster strikes

Trade Injustice
Unfair trade rules mean that people in poor countries are missing out on earning a fair wage. Tearfund is working with churches in the UK and Europe to enable them to speak out on behalf of communities who are affected by unfair trade rules.

Pray

• For the Secretary of State for International Development, Douglas Alexander, that he works to ensure that the world's poorest get a fair deal in trade negotiations
• That farmers in poor countries will see a steady demand and fair prices for their products, so that they can provide for their families

Water and Sanitation
Every day 5,000 thousand children die from water related diseases. Tearfund is working to dig wells in remote parts of Mozambique, and with communities in Bangladesh to improve the quality of their water supply. Cholera and diarrhoea is linked to poor quality water supply.

Pray

• That the water supplies now provided in Mozambique will be looked after, and that skills in health and hygiene will lead to improved health
• For Tearfund partners in Bangladesh, (Joyramkuru, Lamb, Koinonia and the Salvation Army) and that the health of the most vulnerable to disease will be improved through their work
• That health departments around the world will be active in improving water supplies and eradicating diseases linked to contaminated water.

Barnabas Fund
1 in 10 Christians live with persecution These people are our family.
While they are the one in ten, we are the other nine. We live with freedoms they are often denied, such as to worship together in public, own a Bible or even repair the roof of the church building.

Algeria
Ministers' wives from eight churches were able to attend a 5-day training course in health education, medical care and first aid, with support from Barnabas Fund. This will enable the women to offer basic medical help to sick or injured Christians, who are sometimes refused help from local Muslim medical personnel because of their Christian faith. Pray that the women will remember all that they have been taught and be able to use it effectively.

Zimbabwe
Christians in Zimbabwe are finding themselves increasingly treated with suspicion by the authorities. Even gaining permission to hold a meeting to pray for peace can be a very difficult task. Pray that Christians will not be intimidated but that as the crisis in their country deepens, so, too, will their faith in God. Pray that they will be salt and light in this troubled land.

Saudi Arabia
An Egyptian Christian surgeon working in Riyadh was seized by the Saudi religious police, who insulted him in front of his colleagues and patients, handcuffed him, shackled his legs and drove him away. They searched his home, accusing him of being a Christian missionary. Although he has now been released, pray for the many other expatriate Christians living and working in Saudi Arabia. They can face much harassment, especially if they are found praying and worshipping together.

Iraq
The 2,000-year-old Church in Iraq faces extinction at the hands of Islamic extremists. According to some estimates, more than a million Christians, two thirds of the Christian population, have left the country since 1990. Many of the refugees are in neighbouring Syria and Jordan where they struggle to find accommodation, food and other basic needs. Of the Christians who remain in Iraq, many have moved to the relatively safe Kurdish areas in the north, but have no means to support themselves there. Pray for the witness of those who remain, for their safety, and that the refugees will obtain the material support that they need.