Hello and welcome to the Parliamentary prayer update. My name is Gareth Wallace and I work in Westminster for the Evangelical Alliance Public Affairs Department.
Party Conferences
Once again the Political Party Conference season has arrived with the Liberal Democrats meeting in Brighton, the Labour Party in Bournemouth and the Conservative Party in Blackpool. Please pray for the political leaders and members of our major political parties as they gather to discuss and decide policy and strategy for the year ahead.
Pray that they would develop policies that honour Christian principles and address effectively the problems facing the UK today.
The various Party Christian Fellowships are also taking a lead role in their party conferences and warmly invite you to attend their Party Conference services.
The Liberal Democrat Conference Church Service took place on Sunday 16 September at Dorset Garden Methodist Church which was attended by both Liberal Democrat conference delegates and local church members. The sermon was given by Martin Turner, Chair of LDCF.
Please pray that this service will have encouraged Liberal Democrat conference delegates to continue engaging with the political process.
On Sunday 23 September the Labour Conference Church Service takes place at 10.00am in Punshon Memorial Methodist Church, Exeter Road, Bournemouth which is directly opposite the conference centre. The sermon will be given by the Rev Dr Leslie Griffiths (Lord Griffiths of Burry Port.)
Finally on Sunday 30 September the Conservative Conference Church Service takes place at 9.45am at St Johns Church, Cedar Square, Blackpool. The Conservative Christian Fellowship welcomes everyone to attend the church service at party conference.
Please pray that these services will be a time of encouragement and blessing for Christian politicians and party members.
Asylum Report
Asylum seekers should be treated fairly and with respect. That is the conclusion of alltogether for Asylum Justice: Asylum seekers’ Conversion to Christianity, a study by the Alliance’s Parliamentary Research Assistant Jennifer Coton.
Together with a number of member organisations and other Christian groups, the Alliance is working with the Home Office to ensure the questions asked to test asylum seekers’ faith are appropriate and that information about safety for Christian converts in countries like Iran and Afghanistan is up-to-date. Advice for MPs and church leaders and details of organisations working in this field are included in the report.
The report was mentioned on Channel 4’s Dispatches programme on Monday 17 September. Please pray that these potentially life or death issues around conversion, persecution and freedom of religion will be increasingly understood by the British Public.
If you would like to obtain a copy of the report it is available online for free. If you do not have access to the web please phone me on 0207 207 2129 to order a hard copy of the report at a cost of £5 which covers our printing and postage.
Please pray for Christians throughout the UK who work tirelessly in churches and organisations helping asylum seekers and refugees. Please pray for them as they campaign and seek to serve the stranger in their midst.
Please pray that the report alltogether for Asylum Justice would make an impact and that changes to asylum decision-making regarding faith testing would prevent Christians from being persecuted.
Gambling Prevalence Study
On Wednesday 19 September the Gambling Commission launched its Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007. The Gambling Act recently came into force in September 2007 allowing for considerable liberalisation of gambling in the UK.
This survey was part of the Government’s long promised research into gambling and will be used as a baseline study to measure the social impact of the Gambling Act.
The Evangelical Alliance has been working constructively with the Government and the Gambling Commission for many years, putting the case for children and the vulnerable, including sitting on the Gambling Commission advisory group. The Evangelical Alliance pressed Tessa Jowell during a meeting in February 2004 that “a baseline prevalence study is needed."
The Gambling Prevalence Survey demonstrates that gambling is an industry unlike any other and can lead to addiction and financial ruin for a significant proportion of participants.
Please pray that the Gambling Industry will not undermine the Gambling Prevalence study. It is in their interest to prevent the public from seeing that their industry blights people’s lives with gambling addiction.
Please pray for the hundreds of thousands of people who are addicted to Gambling. They are not simply statistics, their lives and the lives of their families have been blighted by their addiction. Pray that they might receive the understanding and help they need to break free from problem gambling.
Further Prayer and Action
For further insights on these and other issues The Evangelical Alliance Public Affairs department produces a monthly parliamentary magazine, PQ, and a monthly ‘Prayer and Campaigns’ action and prayer sheet. Both of these are available on our website along with topical political briefing material. If you have any questions please e-mail the public affairs team at: pub-aff@eauk.org.
