Friday Focus: Christmas HOPE
When the shepherds had seen the new-born Jesus, they spread the word and amazed everyone who heard their story. This month churches will be distributing the Christmas HOPE magazine door-to-door in villages, towns and cities, spreading the Jesus story and inviting people to church. How will you and your church be reaching out to people in your community this month?
(Catherine Butcher, Hope for Every Home)
Intercessor Focus: Brexit and Ireland
The problems over the Irish border dispute seem to have been resolved, after intense negotiations between London, Brussels, Dublin and Belfast. We can pray for God to bless everyone powerfully with the wisdom and discernment needed to bring about His purposes in all future discussions. May each nation prosper and flourish in its different Christian heritage. Pray that the UK will prosper as a result of what is negotiated in the days to come. Pray for Ireland, Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK to be in unity and not divided; pray for Stormont, Scotland’s parliament, and the Welsh assembly to work in co-operation with Westminster; pray for God to be the author of all lawmaking, boundaries and borders.
(Linda Digby – Prayer Alert Team)
Christmas outreach
As Christmas approaches, churches will be presenting carol services and other seasonal activities where the gospel is preached. Pray for God to anoint His people with powerful evangelism, and for the Holy Spirit to speak through the Church as she faithfully witnesses to the true gospel message. The Evangelical Alliance recently won an award for their website at the Premier Digital Awards. At this site churches can order from over 200 different outreach materials and ideas to inspire, equip and support the Church to make Jesus known. Pray for many thousands of unsaved people to realise this year that Jesus was born to give them a full life that never ends. Christmas can be a very lonely time, a time without hope. The Salvation Army has begun its 2017 Christmas appeal to raise awareness and finance for their work amongst the poor, vulnerable, and homeless. See:
Archbishop’s plea to Trump
Before President Trump decided to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he received last-minute pleas from many people, including the heads of Jerusalem churches and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Justin Welby wrote, ‘Mr President, we have been following, with concern, reports about the possibility of changing how the United States understands and deals with the status of Jerusalem. We are certain that such a step will yield increased hatred, conflict, violence and suffering in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, moving us farther from the goal of unity and deeper toward destructive division. We ask you to help us all walk towards more love and a definitive peace, which cannot be reached without Jerusalem being for all.’ For the full letter to President Trump, go to
