Prisons Week is coming up - 11-17 October

Save the date!

Make plans in your churches and community groups…

Join with us as we pray with Prisons Week this year - the theme for the week of 11th to 17th October is UNITED IN LOCKDOWN

Resources and materials to help you pray and support Prisons Week will be available soon!

Watch this space for further details…

For forty years now, Prisons Week has prepared prayer literature to enable the Christian community, through individuals and churches, to pray for the needs of all those affected by prisons: prisoners and their families, victims of crime and their communities, those working in the criminal justice system and the many people who are involved in caring for those affected by crime on the inside and outside of our prisons. Prisons Week raises awareness and generates prayer. It motivates volunteers to step forward and give their time and gifts, in prisons and in their own communities. It provides an annual focus and reason for Christians to work together, building capacity and motivation to make a difference for people who are out of sight and often out of mind.

On the radio! All across prisons in the UK... pray with us and the Prison Fellowship

This Sunday we are encouraged to pray with Prison Fellowship for the work and ministry of the National Prison Radio…

I recall giving a live radio interview from a poky little BBC studio in Oxfordshire some years ago! A nerve wracking, but rewarding experience.

The Interview was to share news about the youth mentoring programme I was a tutor and mentor for. The mentoring scheme was part of the work that the Youth Offending Team were doing in partnership with local Christian charities. As a result of the radio programme, many more mentors came forward to volunteer on the project. Hallelujah! All my radio broadcast nerves were worth it!

Radio can be a powerful medium to reach people. The Sunday morning service which the Prison Fellowship is hosting later this month has the potential to reach thousands of prisoners and to touch their hearts. May it be a blessing to all who tune in! (Sara Iles, FCG Media Support Officer)

So let us pray for the PF and their service and for all those who tune in…

Prayer for Sunday 23rd August -

Prison Fellowship is hosting the Sunday morning service that is broadcast on National Prison Radio today. Pray that those who tune in will be encouraged and challenged by what they hear. Amen

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers…

You can find out more about the work of the National Prison Radio HERE.

You can download the prayer diary for August and pray alongside the PF and partners HERE.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,

so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13

The Free Churches Group and our work in prison chaplaincy have worked with The Prison Fellowship (PF) for many years.

(image below from NPR and cover photo courtesy of Naadir Shahul at Unsplash)

Healthcare chaplains - on Zoom with cuppa for chat - Friday afternoons

There’s a lot going on for us all at the moment and finding space to chat and relax together can be challenging. Rev Meg Burton invites you to have a get together with herself and other chaplains, so bring a cuppa …

Join us if you can!

Meg, the Free Churches Secretary for Healthcare invites you each Friday at 4pm through Zoom. Healthcare chaplains welcome!

Zoom Meeting ID:870 5327 8978  Password: 669993

Meg says, “I will be there between 3.30 and 4.30pm if anyone would like to join me

for an informal chat about anything;

a chance to get together and chew over the week before you go home.”

You can find out more about the work the Free Churches does in the field of healthcare and download helpful resources HERE.

(photo courtesy of Nathan Dumlao at Unsplash)

Today is a big day!

Today is a BIG day!

Young people across the UK will be receiving their GCSE results.

As we will all be aware from the year’s events and particularly the media coverage concerning the assessment processes this year, it has been a challenging and complex time.

It has been a difficult time for children and young people, awaiting results, and being unclear of all the machinations about the protocol for grading this year. it has also affected parents and carers who have been worried about their families. It has been a hard time too for teachers, support staff, DfE, civil servants and examining bodies.

We pray for all of the teenagers who are getting their results today; let us pray…..

Loving God, be with each and every one of them as they look down the list of their grades, when their heart might be heavy with a grade lower than expected or as they leap for joy with a grade higher than hoped. We know, living God, that you are our teacher and our friend, with each one of us, through all of life’s up and downs… so be with all of those getting results and be their comforter and their companion. We pray especially for the children, young people and families in our own families and churches…

And dear God, we ask that you are with families, teachers and educational professionals throughout this day and going forward. Give them confidence, stamina and clarity to support those in their homes, schools, churches and communities.

We continue to uphold in prayer all of the conversations about next steps that teens across the UK will be having, after their results; for their sixth form and college options, for their vocational and academic pathways… Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers…

Amen

Date for your diary - Education Sunday 2020: 13th September The theme is: "A learning people in a time of change".

Date for your diary - Pray Day for Schools - 17th November 2020

(photo courtesy of Green Chameleon at Unsplash)

Racial justice / criminal justice - what could your church do? Find out on 22nd Sept

Free webinar - racial justice / criminal justice - what can your church do?

An online event is coming up on 22nd September from 6.30-8pm

It will be on the theme of racial justice / criminal justice and exploring what your church can do in light of these matters.

Key note speakers include:

Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover and Vanessa Jardine, Deputy Chief Constable of West Midlands Police.

To register for this event please see link HERE.

Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover

Vanessa Jardine, Deputy Chief Constable of West Midlands Police.