Before we move on to look at the prayer topics for March, I found it interesting that the Evangelical Alliance published the results of their survey on education at the end of February. This online survey was carried out in November 2012 with 1,377 evangelical Christians responding (including me!) The full report can be read on their website. Now you all know how much I love statistics (gentle irony alert). Nonetheless, I found it interesting that:

* 45% of those responding said their churches pray regularly for their local schools
* 69% said that all schools should have regular assemblies with a Christian act of collective worship
* 84% agreed that sex education without a clear moral value framework is harmful
* 96% believed there should be more apprenticeships and high quality vocational courses suitable for less academic students

It’s easy to question the value of surveys, but since 73% of those replying had some significant involvement in education (either as parents, teachers, governors or some other involvement in education), clearly these people are at the sharp end of this discussion! Perhaps the most interesting (to me, anyway!) question in the survey was “What is the point of education?” These are the answers offered:

1) To help everyone to fulfil their potential as a human being (86%)
2) To ensure every person can think for themselves (78%)
3) To help build a healthy society where everyone is cared for and has a chance to contribute to the common good (73%)
4) To ensure all develop as caring people who value and treat people equally and respectfully, regardless of ethnicity, faith, gender, sexuality, ability or wealth (71%)
5) To equip people for a successful working life (59%)
6) To give everyone a rich cultural experience and interest in the world around them (58%)
7) To direct human development toward God’s objective for human beings – godliness of character and action (48%, of whom many were teachers!)
8) To shape a worldview which corresponds to Christian values and biblical understandings (41%, with students significantly lower than the average on this answer)
9) To ensure that the country has a skilled and productive workforce and a prosperous economy (39%) (interestingly, teachers weren’t as interested in this answer as most people!)
10) To help everyone to achieve high academic qualifications (17%, a surprisingly low figure, you may feel!)

Make what you will of these answers, but hopefully they will provoke thought and ongoing prayer for our schools. Some of the quotes included in the report are also worth pondering:
* “The hardest thing about education is the constant criticism that teachers get and then the constant questioning of standards that our pupils are achieving – it is demoralising.”
* “I object to statefunded schools inculcating any children with liberal humanism.” (Whether we realise it or not, this is largely what is happening in our schools – our children and young people need our prayers that they will see beyond the world’s belief systems which are presented as fact and understand that we all have the right to choose what we believe.)
* “I strongly believe in education for life and not just for academic study.”
* “Christian teachers have had a profound impact on my life in primary and secondary education, both as witnesses and in teaching a Christian worldview.”
* “I struggle to have a positive outlook on education. I think too much emphasis is put on academic achievement.”
* “Education has changed, it has become more prescriptive and unrelenting, there is less time to think and reflect.”

The report ends with some interesting conclusions and challenges. As we continue to pray throughout this year, it is worth thinking about and praying for these challenges:
1) The challenge is for Christians to understand and critique the educational practices which, in the name of neutrality, may be influencing children with the ideas of liberal humanism. While affirming the historic value of Christian education in the UK, we need to speak out for a genuinely open public space, where the Christian worldview can be expressed on equal terms with other faith-based and non-faith philosophies.

2) We also need to value teaching as a God-given vocation. This means supporting the teachers and students in our congregations by seeking to understand the pressures they face and praying for them. We should also encourage and support school governors and ensure that they are trained and equipped to work effectively in their vital role.

3) The challenge is to move on from mere grumbling to providing a better vision for schools and other educational institutions. Churches should take opportunities to build relationships and partnerships with local schools, and also to affirm the vision of the Christian schools with which they are linked.

4) The challenge for Christian parents, and for the church leaders advising them, is to prayerfully consider the educational options available to them on the basis that our children are not conformed to the pattern of this world, but are transformed by the renewal of their minds.

5) The challenge for us is to speak up for a fairer education system for all, and to become actively and practically involved in delivering such a system.

The overall conclusion of Steve Clifford (General Director of the Evangelical Alliance) is also worth pondering:
“Christians have both responsibilities and opportunities to be involved in education. Engagement is taking place through the teaching vocation, and developing stronger links between our churches and local schools. Church schools, new faith-based academies and independent Christian schools all have a role to play in this vitally important mission field. There is much about education in the UK to disagree with, but it is essential that we move on from grumbling to providing a clearer vision for Christian engagement. Helping children to grow towards a Christ-like character within a caring community should be a priority for us all.”

The Christian walk is all about following God. He leads; we follow. It sounds such an easy principle that I wonder why we struggle with it so much!

The Israelites, when travelling in the wilderness, moved when God moved. “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.” (Ex 13:21-22) Sometimes the Israelites stayed in one place for some time; on other occasions, they moved on quite quickly. It all depended on God and was, I imagine, rather disconcerting to the people at times. There was certainly no room for complacency!

Nor is there room for complacency with us. Chris Tomlin’s song ‘I Will Follow’ echoes the idea of Exodus 13:
“Where you go, I’ll go
Where you stay, I’ll stay
When you move, I’ll move
I will follow…” (Chris Tomlin, ‘I Will Follow’)
Chris Tomlin, ‘I Will Follow’

Jeremy Camp, too, in the song ‘Without You’ looks at this theme of our following:
“I’ll walk beside You
As you lead me through still waters for my soul
I place my hope in all You are,
And I know You’ll guide me
To places where there’s beauty to behold
There’s no other place I’d rather be, no

And I won’t make a move
Without You,
I won’t make a move
Without You
Right by my side
So I will wait for You
To lead me to
Any place where You need
I won’t make a move
Without You
Without You.” (Jeremy Camp, ‘Without You’)
Jeremy Camp, ‘Without You’

Paul tells the Romans “those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” (Rom 8:5) To the Galatians, he talks about being led by the Spirit and keeping in step with the Spirit (see Galatians 5), which is, I suppose, the New Testament equivalent of following the pillar of cloud or fire! Nonetheless, I don’t think it’s quite as easy as having that outward, visible sign to follow! Now we have that still, small voice within us, leading us and guiding us; now we have to learn to recognise the voice of the Shepherd if we are to follow. Sometimes that is not easy, but the principle still remains: where God leads, we follow. Socrates said, “The end of life is to be like God, and the soul following God will be like Him.” Perhaps we need to keep the end point in view, for the scenery en route will surely change!

Prayer is a recurring topic for our church currently. Dave spoke from Acts 12:1-17 last night about what happens when a church prays. Here, the church was praying for Peter who was imprisoned by Herod. To their surprise, God worked in the supernatural to release Peter from imprisonment! Prayer not only changes situations, but changes us!

Do we really believe great things can happen when we pray? 2 Chronicles 7:14 reminds us of the part we have to play (to humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face) and the part God plays (pouring out blessing and healing). God hears us when He prays; He actively listens to us (Ps 116:1-2).

When we pray,
1) the supernatural happens. Peter was guarded by 16 soldiers and was shackled in chains, but he walked free from the prison!
2) the surprising happens. The church, despite their prayers, were surprised when Peter arrived back at the house of prayer. So often, we pray in half-faith, not really expecting God to do what we are asking!
3) the saving happens. Deliverance happened to Peter and as we pray, deliverance and salvation will be seen. In past revivals, there have always been those praying faithfully for the preaching of the Word as people are being saved. Do we pray for this too? Do we take the responsibility to pray for our meetings, for those bringing the Word to us, for those listening to have open hearts and listening ears?

Acts 12:5 tells us the church was earnestly praying for Peter. They were fervently praying and persevering in prayer. We need to seek God with all our hearts (Jer 29:13) and pray without ceasing. There needs to be personal prayer and corporate prayer (see Matthew 18). Let’s rededicate our prayers lives to the Lord and really pray.

Remember the prayer map I was telling you about here? I left the story with the frame completed and the board waiting to be filled with photos and the map. Once that was done, this is what it looked like:

However, given the amount of time taken to make the board and frame, it should perhaps come as no surprise to discover that actually getting the map to church proved quite a headache! Basically, the map was too big to fit in our car… and, as it later turned out, in anyone else’s! Undaunted, Garry set about making a frame for the frame so that it could be transported on our roof-rack:

The map duly arrived at church:

It features photographs with the street names of some of the streets:

It also has coloured stickers that are co-ordinated to our prayer topic for the month (in February, this has been local schools)as well as the prayer requests for that topic:

The prayer map is now in place in the foyer and this evening, we will be writing prayers to stick on the board to complete it. Each month, we will add new stickers as we pray for new areas of Goldthorpe and we will change the prayer requests and the prayers to keep the map up-to-date.

The Women’s World Day of Prayer meeting will be held on Friday 1st March. This year, we will be praying for France and the theme of the service is ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’

The local service will be held at the Salvation Army church on Straight Lane in Goldthorpe and will start at 6 p.m. Representatives from all the local churches will be sharing the readings and there will be refreshments served after the service. All are welcome to attend – including men and children!

Further information on WWDP can be found here and further information about France can be found on the France Mission website here. As always, it’s good to have real people to pray for; France Mission supports a number of missionaries working in evangelical churches in France, so if you want to personalise your prayers, this is a good place to start!

France Mission was founded in 1957 and now has over 60 churches in nine regions of France. France Mission’s churches tend to be small (under 100 people), democratic in structure, informal in style, and distinctly non-ecclesiastical in their premises, with converted shops, banks, garages and factories pressed into service. Of France Mission’s 125 missionaries, 14 come from the UK. Since 1970, when there were around 900 evangelical congregations, church growth in France has been spectacular, with over 1,400 new churches being added in the last 40 years. A new evangelical church is now planted somewhere in France every ten days!

As with many European countries, immigration is high on the political agenda. Because of its links with North Africa, there are many North Africans living in France and the Muslim population is growing there, often resulting in tensions and unrest. This year’s WWDP service looks at the diversity of the church and at Christ’s command to love all people, no matter what the nationality, so is very relevant to the women living in that country.

Stephen spoke from 1 John 1:4-10 this morning about the light of God. Light can be dazzling and dominating, but it can also be subdued (think of candlelight and how this ‘sets the tone’ for romantic meals!) Sometimes dimmed lighting is necessary (eg to protect the tapestries in the stately home Stephen visited this week), but that makes it difficult to see the splendour and grandeur of the works on display.

In God, there is no darkness at all; He is light. Are we walking in the benefit of God’s light or do we have a dim vision, in shadow, of glory concealed? In a light box, different shades of colours are revealed more clearly and we see colour and light in all their fulness. How much of God’s light are we in? How many shades can we see?

God’s light illuminates the path we take (Ps 119:105) and enables us to walk through darkness (“when His lamp shone on my head…by His light I walked through darkness”, Job 29:3). We need to know God personally so that we can walk in the light, as He is in the light, and so that our fellowship with Him and others is untainted.