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Prayer

Prayer Sheet June/September 2008

For St Cuthbert's

  • Special services and events - Saturday Night Alive (7 June and 05 July); Confirmation (22 June); 24 Hours of Prayer (25 June); Back to Church Sunday (28 September)
  • Door 2 Door Visiting programme
  • Keswick Houseparty (13-15 June)
  • Holiday Clubs for Younger People (4-7 August) and Older People (5-8 August)
  • Summer Camps especially SuperNova and Criccieth YFC Ventures
  • HOPE '08 events - both those planned e.g. Quiz Night 25 July; Outreach Weekend with David Banbury 26-28 September - and those being planned


Partners in Mission

  • St Mary's as the Upper Room is closed & work there commences
  • St John the Evangelist in Pamplona Baja, Lima, where Paul and Sarah Tester are based
  • Paul, Grace and Isobel Robinson as they move to Vietnam
  • Dean and Paula Finnie as they seek God's will for future ministry


For individuals and those in need

  • Those preparing for Confirmation or Affirmation of faith
  • Those bringing children for baptism inc. the families of George Osborne, Lois & Euan Mills and Zach and Joel Norcross
  • Those preparing for marriage inc. Alan Bonsall and Nicola Smith
  • Patches as he prepares for the Bishop's Panel in late July
  • Joyce and Ruth as they begin FFM
  • Next year's Careforce Workers Greg Melia and Matt Scott
  • For all who suffer and those who seek to care for them


AFRICA Bless the Lord,
And all you people and places,
From Cairo to Cape Town all,
From Dar es Salaam to Lagos all.
Here let all the works of the Lord
bless the Lord,
Praise and extol Him forever and ever.

All you BIG things Bless the Lord
Mount Kilimanjaro and the River Nile,
The Rift Valley
and the Serengeti Plain,
Fat baobabs and shady mango trees,
All eucalyptus and tamarind trees,
You hippos and giraffes and elephants Bless the Lord,
Praise and extol Him forever and ever.

All you TINY things Bless the Lord,
Busy black ants and hopping fleas,
Wriggling tadpoles
and mosquito larvae,
Flying locusts and water drops,
Pollen dust and tsetse flies,
Millet seeds and dried dagaa
Bless the Lord,
Praise and extol Him forever and ever.

Tanzania
Over recent decades, Tanzania has been an 'island of peace' in a troubled region and avoided the depths of famine experienced by some of its neighbours. However, it remains one of the world's poorest countries, heavily reliant on foreign aid. The country is roughly one third Christian, one third Muslim and one third indigenous religions. The island of Zanzibar is 99% Muslim. There are 120 tribes (with 120 languages), but no tribe is predominant.

Challenges faced by Tanzania
Poverty and Debt: Most villages lack clean water, schools and basic health services. One in six children die before the age of 5. More than 40% of the money earned through export goes to service debt.

Drought: There are food shortages for several months a year due to droughts - almost a third of the population is malnourished. Much time and energy is spent collecting water.

HIV/AIDS: In 2003 160,000 people died from AIDS. The virus has left 980,000 orphans. Life expectancy is 44 years and falling. Generally the church in Tanzania is silent about the issue.

Refugees: Almost one million refugees put an additional strain on food supplies, healthcare and education and can lead to interethnic tensions.

Kidayama Church
St Cuthbert's has effectively funded the materials that will build a church for the Christians of Kidayama - they are providing the labour and building it themsleves.

We are not able to gain information about the situation, but pray that they may have the perseverance to continue with the building in addition to all the other demands on them, that they may make wise decisions, and, as at St Cuthbert's, the building will not be an end in itself, but a place of mission to the community.

Pray for the work of Tearfund in Tanzania

  • HIV/AIDS pastoral counselling training. In the face of widespread denial, stigma and discrimination Tearfund is training pastors and lay people in counselling skills and helping them to develop prevention and care programmes in their home churches and communities.
  • Murgwanza Hospital primary healthcare. Working in the areas of malaria, oral and dental disease, vaccination, malnutrition and hygiene.
  • Water, health, and sanitation in the Diocese of Ruaha. The project covers 4 villages with poor access to water and only 1/5 of homes have an adequate latrine. The project has piped in clean water and is enabling 1200 villagers to build 1200 new latrine pits. In addition training in basic healthcare and hygiene is being given.


Tearfund Prayer Requests

  • Give thanks for peace and pray that this will continue.
  • Pray for sufficient rain to prevent drought.
  • Pray that the church may be effective in meeting the needs of the poor in Tanzania.


General Issues for Africa
The issue of good governance/corruption is pivotal for many African countries. Zimbabwe is just a particularly extreme example where the elected government thinks that it has the right to run things for its own benefit, not for the benefit of the citizens. As it also common for the government to directly appoint the judiciary there is little prospect of a corrupt minister being brought to trial.

Corruption is not simply a problem in its own right; it affects many areas of life. Money that should improve healthcare, education and developing employment is diverted elsewhere and these already difficult areas are deprived of the resources that they desperately need. Corruption is not confined to the top, low salaries virtually force many officials at all levels to seek bribes in order to live.

Unemployment levels are high, even for the educated, leading in turn to depression and suicide.

Pray that men and women of integrity will obtain positions of leadership, that the corruption culture will change, and that the churches will be a force for good, both in speaking out against wrong wherever it is found, and in sharing the gospel and the love of Jesus in practical ways.

Violence in South Africa
More than 40 foreigners have been killed in gang attacks in South Africa in the last two weeks. Several thousand terrified immigrants are now reported to have fled in search of shelter.

World Vision has delivered survival kits to displaced women affected by the violence. Food, baby items, blankets and sanitary products have been delivered to a community centre where more than 2,500 people have taken refuge.

Pray for the work of World Vision and for local churches as they support the victims of xenophobic violence.

Pray too that the government of South Africa would take more positive action in relation to the situation in Zimbabwe and the refugees who have fled from there.