Mental health: 40 seconds of action
World Mental Health Day was 1 October. This year it was supported by the International Association for Suicide Prevention. Every forty seconds, someone commits suicide. ‘40 seconds of action’ raises people’s awareness of the frequency of suicide, and the role that each of us can play to help prevent it. In the UK one in four adults will have mental health problems at some stage in their lifetime. For every suicide, there are twenty suicide attempts. These have an impact on families, friends, colleagues, communities and societies. Pray for a proactive church to support vulnerable people with mental health challenges wisely. 20% of the UK population will suffer from depression. Pray for more friends, neighbours, and relatives prepared to stand with the sufferers with compassion and support them through their crisis.
British IS fighters taken into US custody
Two of the so-called ‘IS Beatles’ have been taken from a prison run by the Kurdish militia in northern Syria to a secure location controlled by the US. El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey are accused of being part of an IS cell which kidnapped and murdered Western hostages. The pair are from London, and Mr Trump described them as ‘the worst of the worst’. He said the decision to remove them from Syria had been taken ‘in case the Kurds or Turkey lose control’. The announcement came after the USA withdrew its forces from the region this week. See world article - Syria: praying into turmoil.
Controversy in Cornwall
Philip de Grey-Warter, vicar of Fowey for 17 years, resigned from the Church of England and on 6 October started his own church in the town. The new church community, Anchor, will be run under the auspices of AMiE (Anglican Mission in England), a mission society established by GAFCON to multiply and strengthen healthy Anglican churches in England, assisting in evangelism and Biblical teaching. It intends to pioneer 25 AMiE churches by 2025. GAFCON is a global movement of conservative Anglican clergy who aim to restore the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion. Mr de Grey-Warter decided to leave the CofE when the House of Bishops allowed the baptism liturgy to be used for those who are transitioning gender. He denied that the new church is homophobic, and posted his story online . See also
Europe: persecution of Christians
News from across Europe in recent years has been bleak at times. Politicians and pastors have been investigated for ‘hate crimes’ simply for teaching or quoting from the Bible. We have seen medical professionals lose their jobs because they did not want to be complicit in practices that went against their consciences, and we have seen families risk losing their children because they sought to bring them up in accordance with biblical principles. Christians who fled persecution in the Middle East found themselves facing harassment and oppression in European refugee camps, painfully similar to what they left behind. Attacks on churches have risen; last year, in France alone, on average two churches were desecrated every single day. Our God of redemption can turn things around; pray that He speaks to those who are persecuting Christians, like Saul, that they may come to know Him for themselves. May He comfort all who are suffering persecution across Europe.
