Nationwide Christian Trust celebration
Prayer image prayer Guide for Parilament and the Nation

Disability: 3 November-9 November

There are more than 7.6 million disabled people of working age in the UK. However, only 51.3% are in employment, compared with 81.4% of able-bodied people. The Government has set itself an ambitious target of 4.5 million people with disabilities being in employment by 2027.

The Disability Discrimination Act, which came into force in 1995, places a responsibility on employers and service providers to make “reasonable adjustments” to enable buildings to be more disabled friendly. This may include the provision of entrance ramps and disabled toilets. For the purposes of the Act, a person has a disability if he or she has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

This Act has now been repealed and replaced by the Equality Act 2010, except in Northern Ireland where it still applies.

PRAY for those disabled people of working age who would like to be in employment. THANK GOD for the increasing number of churches that are now accessible to disabled people.

News of the week

  1. Air pollution in New Delhi has risen to more than 25 times the safe limit. In recent years, the city has failed to control worsening levels of air pollution. Farmers burning crop stubble in neighbouring states are a major contributor to the high pollution at this time of year. The problem is made worse by vehicle and industrial emissions. One of the consequences of such high pollution is that Delhi residents have a reduced life expectancy of more than a decade. In 2018, it was named as the most polluted capital city in the world.

Pray for Delhi residents, particularly children, who are suffering because of the toxic air. Pray that long-term solutions can be found to deal with this serious issue, which happens annually.

  1. The new House of Commons Speaker was elected on Monday. He is Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who is MP for Chorley, in Lancashire. Sir Lindsay replaces John Bercow who spent ten years in the role. Speakers must be politically impartial, which means Sir Lindsay will be required to resign from the Labour Party in order to carry out his role. They are also required to keep order in Commons debates and call MPs to speak. Sir Lindsay was one of seven candidates who were originally in the running to succeed Mr Bercow.

Pray for Sir Lindsay as he takes up his new role. Pray that he will be seen as impartial and will take the welfare of Commons staff seriously.

  1. The baby goods and clothes firm Mothercare has gone into administration, putting 2,500 jobs at risk. The administrators have said there will be a phased closure of all its 79 UK stores. Mothercare said it was in continuing talks over possible UK concession stores and using the brand to sell goods online. It is also looking to move its UK pension schemes across to its international business. This would enable them to help preserve benefits for scheme members. This well-known High Street name has been making a loss for a number of years.

Pray for all those employees affected by the store closures, that they can find suitable alternative employment. Pray that members in its UK pension schemes will have their benefits protected.

  1. Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson is stepping down from his role and will not stand as an MP in the general election. Mr Watson says he will continue campaigning for the Labour Party and the decision was "personal, not political." Mr Watson has often been at odds with the Labour leadership and faced an attempt to remove him at the Labour Party conference in September. An enthusiastic Remainer, Mr Watson was also at odds with his own constituency of West Bromwich East, which voted 66% for Leave at the 2016 referendum.

Pray for Tom Watson as he decides on his next move. Give thanks for his work in fighting anti-Semitism within the Labour Party.

  1. Here at the Nationwide Christian Trust, John Coles will be speaking at our Men’s breakfast on 16th November on the subject of ‘Daring to be Different.’ Amy Boucher Pye will be speaking at our Ladies Day on 21st November on the subject of ‘Living in Christ.’ We also have Margaret Bale speaking at our Pastoral Training Day on 26th November on the subject of ‘Journeying with Grief.’

Pray that the men attending the breakfast on 16th November will be challenged and encouraged. Pray that those who are led to attend the events on both 21st and 26th November will be blessed and refreshed by the day.

Disability: 3 November-9 November

Please use these prayers both in your individual and church prayer times to hold the nation and its leaders before God in prayer and with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

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