Pray for our youth
This spring and summer across the British Isles, church members have been spending time and energy organising and preparing for youth camps and events in their locality. Now that the schools have closed for summer holidays, we can pray for the young people attending these camps. May they hear the Christian message in their hearts and not just receive head knowledge. Pray for an anointing from heaven to fall on every volunteer running these outreaches. Pray that they do not become fatigued physically or emotionally in the fast-moving environment of youth activities. Pray for God to renew their strength daily as they disciple their various age groups. Lord, be near this generation growing up in an era of stimulation, confusion, and social media. May You be the most real thing to them in a culture that offers temptation with things that look beautiful but are, in reality, empty.
Drag Queen story time for three-year-olds
Parents have concerns over ‘highly inappropriate’ drag queen story time sessions for children as young as three. The Story Hour summer tour starts next week, performing to as many as 3,000 three- to eleven-year-olds at sixty public libraries in England and Wales. The sessions include reading children’s books about same-sex relationships. Outraged parents wrote to their local councils expressing their concerns about the highly sexualised events. Their letters, co-ordinated by the Family Education Trust, say, ‘Drag shows are adults-only entertainment and not suitable for school-age children’. The letters also criticised promotion of radical gender ideology and stated, ‘To try to blind children to a most basic fact of human existence is a form of child abuse. Children who experience gender identity issues need careful and sensitive care, not wholesale indoctrination.’ In response Drag Queens organised online fundraising for ‘Mermaids charity’, which promotes puberty-blocking drugs and surgery for children who are confused about their gender.
Bishops’ voting options at Lambeth Conference
650 Bishops from across the Anglican Communion are debating at the Lambeth Conference if marriage is solely between a man and a woman. The once-a-decade conference ends on 8 August. There is now a three-way choice of voting options around homosexuality being incompatible with scripture. Originally bishops were asked to reaffirm a resolution of the 1998 Conference which considers homosexuality as ‘incompatible with scripture’. Now they can not only affirm it or abstain; they can vote against. This revised outlook has the potential to divide the church. A poll commissioned by the Ozanne Foundation found a clear majority of Anglicans believe that same-sex marriage is right, despite the church’s refusal to permit it. See
Our next Prime Minister
The two remaining candidates for leader of the Conservative party and our next Prime Minister are now criss-crossing the country engaging with party members and setting out their policies. This is a difficult and dangerous time for the UK. Boris Johnson lost his position primarily due to a lack of integrity and honesty - lack of ‘righteousness’. Proverbs 14:34 says, ‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.’ Whatever we may think of the candidates and their politics, we all must pray, as Paul exhorted Timothy, for ‘those in authority’ so that we may ‘live peaceful lives’. Scripture reminds us that even one person’s intercession can change God’s mind. The prayers of many affected the future of the UK during WW2. Today tens of thousands of people are praying over and for our ‘rulers’. We can trust Him to take all our prayers and through them reshape the future of our Government, Parliament, and nation for His purposes.
