Bishop calls on Christian MPs to rebel over gay marriage
The Rt Rev Mark Davies, Bishop of Shrewsbury, urged politicians to help protect the ‘God-given meaning of marriage for the sake of all generations to come’. He also criticised the idea that ‘progress’ should mean a ‘continuous shifting’ of society away from its Christian foundations – just days after a landmark legal ruling against prayers being said at council meetings. The Bishop’s intervention comes just weeks after reports that more than 100 Conservative MPs could vote against David Cameron’s proposals on same-sex unions.The Bishop said that the ‘timeless institution of marriage’ was recognised as a key building block of society, including by non-Christians. For politicians of Christian conscience this will be a moment to resist the leadership of their own political parties together with every parliamentarian who recognises the Judeo-Christian foundations on which our society rests. (See also Prayer Alert 06-2012 & 05-2012)
Pray: that the Government will listen and respect the views of the Church and others who recognise the importance of marriage. (Ps.85:8)
Another Welfare Reform Bill defeat for the government
The Government has lost a record eighth vote in the House of Lords over its plans to severely cut and restructure the British welfare system. An amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill, overturning a move to cut payments to specific council tenants with one spare bedroom, was carried by ten votes. The bill is now due to go back before the House of Commons, with the Government defiant but a huge swathe of political popular and public opinion - including charities and others making up Mr Cameron's 'Big Society' - wishing to see significant changes. The latest amendment, tabled by crossbencher Lord Best, would limit the impact of a ‘bedroom tax’, so that disabled people, war widows and foster carers with more than one spare bedroom would be exempt from a proposed £14 cut in housing benefit. It passed by 236 votes to 226, reports the BBC.
Pray: for the Government that they would have wisdom in making just decisions for all those who are affected. (1Ki.3:9)
France: Evangelical churches attracting youth
The atmosphere is like a pop concert in the Montparnasse area of Paris. Hundreds of young people sing catchy songs, waving their arms in the air, while a group plays booming music on stage. This isn't a pop gig. The Australian-born Pentecostal church ‘Hillsong’ planted a Paris church in 2005 and its congregation’s grown from a few dozen people to around 900 at each of its two weekend services conducted in French and English. On a recent Sunday, the 1,000-seat Théâtre Bobino (where the church holds its main services) was nearly full. This youthful, enthusiastic, multi-ethnic crowd is in sharp contrast to the diminishing French Catholic churches and represents the rise of the evangelical movement as a whole in a country that is officially secular. Census figures report 600,000 French members of evangelical churches, with 460,000 regularly practicing their faith - a ten-fold increase from 1950.
Pray: God will reproduce His message of truth and life to the youth of Paris across all of France. (Ro.10:14)
France: Evangelical churches attracting youth
The atmosphere is like a pop concert in the Montparnasse area of Paris. Hundreds of young people sing catchy songs, waving their arms in the air, while a group plays booming music on stage. This isn't a pop gig. The Australian-born Pentecostal church ‘Hillsong’ planted a Paris church in 2005 and its congregation’s grown from a few dozen people to around 900 at each of its two weekend services conducted in French and English. On a recent Sunday, the 1,000-seat Théâtre Bobino (where the church holds its main services) was nearly full. This youthful, enthusiastic, multi-ethnic crowd is in sharp contrast to the diminishing French Catholic churches and represents the rise of the evangelical movement as a whole in a country that is officially secular. Census figures report 600,000 French members of evangelical churches, with 460,000 regularly practicing their faith - a ten-fold increase from 1950.
Pray: God will reproduce His message of truth and life to the youth of Paris across all of France. (Ro.10:14)
