UCB Broadcast April 2007
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. 
Week of Prayer for Parliament and Whitehall 20-27 May 2007
Each year the Week of Prayer for Parliament and Whitehall brings together Christians to pray for God’s blessing on politics and government in the UK.
Run by Christians in Parliament - the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Christian community in the Palace of Westminster, and Christians in Government – the network of Christian fellowships in Government departments and ministries, it is supported by the international prayer movement 24-7 Prayer.
It has a clear focus on praying for (and not against) those who have responsibilities relating to governing the UK such as MPs, Peers, Ministers, Civil Servants and Parliamentary Staff, from the cleaners to the cooks to the clerks.
The week represents an opportunity for individuals and Christian churches, denominations, organisations, prayer networks, charities, and home groups to engage in concerted prayer.
Pray for those who lead our country such as MPs, Peers, Ministers, civil servants and parliamentary staff.
Pray that they might make wise decisions and think fully about the consequences of those decisions.
Pray for Christians working in Parliament and Whitehall. Pray that their presence in Westminster would be felt and that God would continue to use them to influence those in power.
Pray that God would raise up a generation of young people seeking to make a difference through politics.
Perhaps you could join us at one of the prayer walks in Westminster during this week of prayer. MPs and Parliamentary staff really appreciate prayer from Christians across the nation. You could organise a prayer meeting at your home church, focussing on Parliament and politics?
Please log unto Christians in Parliament or email parliamentandwhitehall@24-7prayer.com for more information.
As the week of Prayer for Parliament concludes, thousands of Christians will meet at West Ham’s football ground, Upton Park, to celebrate the Global Day of Prayer on Sunday 27th May. See www.globaldayofprayer.com for more information.
Religious Persecution: Turkey
Three Christians were found murdered at a publishing house that distributes Bibles in Turkey on Wednesday 18th April. The killings occurred in Malatya, a city in central Turkey.
Malatya Governor Ibrahim Dasoz said that two of the victims found at the publishing house were found dead and a third died in hospital. They had all had their throats cut and their hands and legs were bound. One victim was German, another Turkish and the nationality of the third person is as yet unknown.
The publishing house had previously suffered attacks from nationalists who accused it of preaching Christianity. Christians make up less than 1 per cent of Turkey’s 70 million people and have increasingly become targets amid hostility towards non-Muslims in Turkey despite its official secular status.
Please consider writing to Mr Ian McCartney MP Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office who has responsibility for Human Rights.
His address is:- The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2AH (www.fco.gov.uk)
Please also consider writing to the Ambassador of Turkey, His Excellency Mr. Akin Alptuna, 43 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PA
Please pray for the families of those murdered and for the thousands of Christians in Turkey who suffer persecution as a result of their faith.
Christian Unions
A petition has been started on the Prime Minister’s website calling for the Government to support the rights of University Christian Unions to have only Christians on their leadership.
This is in response to CUs in Exeter, Birmingham and Edinburgh being banned from using Student Union facilities because they will only have Christians serving on their Executive committees.
The Evangelical Alliance has been strongly supporting UCCF, the University and Colleges Christian Fellowship on this issue.
Pray that Christians may be allowed to remain in leadership of Christian Unions.
Please consider signing the petition
Asylum seekers and conversion to Christianity
“How many disciples did Jesus have and can you name them all?”
“How do you prepare a turkey for Christmas day?”
“What will happen around the world at the second coming?”
How would you answer these questions?
They are among the questions asked by the Home Office of asylum seekers who have converted to Christianity and are now facing religious persecution if sent back to their country of origin.
Few applications of religious asylum have been successfully granted in cases where asylum seekers have converted from another religion to Christianity. As a result Christian asylum seekers living across the UK are forced into destitution.
In March 2007 the Joint Committee on Human Rights called the support system for asylum seekers “a confusing mess”. MPs sitting on the committee criticised the Government’s seemingly deliberate impoverishment of asylum seekers as a means to force them to return home.
The report said: "Many witnesses have told us that they are convinced that destitution is a deliberate tool in the operation of immigration policy”.
The Evangelical Alliance parliamentary officers have been visiting churches and member projects who are answering the call to serve the widow, the orphan and the stranger by providing activities, housing and support for asylum seekers. We are extremely concerned about asylum seekers being forced into poverty.
In June we will be hosting a conference on the issue of asylum seekers’ conversion to Christianity and the injustices in the immigration system.
A report of the meeting, including stories of churches and asylum seekers, will be published in July.
Please pray for the plight of Christian asylum seekers in the UK.
If you have any more information or testimonies our report writing team would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact them at pub-aff@eauk.org
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. If you have any questions please e-mail the public affairs team at pub-aff@eauk.org
Share
EAUK.org
