Youth: peer to peer evangelism
‘Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.’ Recently 100 evangelists and leaders gathered at Lambeth Palace to launch Advance 2020. 100 budding evangelists (ages 11-18) are to be trained by a wide range of ministries and denominations to prepare for 2020 and a ‘reaping year’. As the country goes through what will surely be two difficult years politically, they want to be ready to offer the hope only Jesus can give through a new generation of gifted evangelists. From 30 November to 2 December, a new Youth Evangelism event will begin to train young evangelists; all attendees will be given a free ticket to the National Youth Evangelism Conference (see ). Here they will be further equipped and empowered to be God's youth leaders in evangelism with and to young people.
Commons abuse 'tolerated and concealed'
Disturbing cases of bullying and sexual harassment have ‘long been tolerated and concealed’ in the House of Commons, according to a report by Dame Laura Cox QC, who said there was a culture of ‘deference, subservience, acquiescence and silence’. She said the procedures for protecting staff were inadequate, and that ‘broad cultural change’ was needed. The inquiry was commissioned following a BBC investigation earlier this year. Dame Laura described the House of Commons as a ‘stark reminder of how bad things used to be. No workplace is immune, but the culture in which it has been able to take hold in the House of Commons and the ineffective mechanisms for dealing with it make this a particularly serious case.’ Now that the nature and extent of the problem is exposed we can pray that all alleged sexual harassment by members of parliament is fairly dealt with according to new policies, procedures and personnel.
Fracking restarts in Lancashire
Fracking for shale gas has begun for the first time in the UK since it was linked with earthquakes in 2011. Energy firm Cuadrilla confirmed that the controversial process had started at its site in Lancashire after a legal challenge failed. Cuadrilla insisted the process was safe and would be of ‘enormous’ benefit, leading to tens of thousands of jobs if successful. After at least three months fracking two horizontal wells, they will then test to see if the gas flow is commercially viable. If it is, up to 20 wells could be built. Protesters call it a toxic industry and an environmental disaster. Cat Smith, Labour MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood, tweeted, ‘Future generations will look back at this and wonder why we didn't heed climate change warnings’. Many believe the process of hydraulic fracturing of the earth’s crust in the UK is taking an enormous risk of triggering earthquakes.
Right to life
On 23 October, Diana Johnson MP will bring forward a motion to Parliament under the ten-minute rule. Her proposal is to introduce abortion access in Northern Ireland, but in reality it would remove all the current legal safeguards around abortion, with drastic effect. Abortion campaigners want to remove sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Persons Act. This would have the effect of making the Abortion Act 1967, along with all the legal safeguards it provides, void through to at least 24-weeks. Abortions could happen for any reason, without any legislative protections or safeguards for women or the unborn.
