Micah Challenge Prayer & Reflection – Oct. 20, 2006

Welcome! We hope you will enjoy using these reflections with us!

Reflection

‘I thought of the worrisome life that I led. Carrying paper, washing clothes for the children, staying in the street all day long. Yet I’m always lacking things. ….But the poor don’t rest nor are they permitted the pleasure of relaxation.’

These words are taken from the ‘Beyond All Pity’ the famous diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus diary, a mother who lived in a large slum in with her three children (Extract attached)

Please meditate on the following words of wisdom from Proverbs, where honoring God, respect for all of God ‘ s created human beings and justice seem to be inseparable.

‘ A poor man ‘ s field may produce abundant food, but injustice sweeps it away. ‘ (13:23)

‘ Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all. ‘ (22:2)

‘ You insult your Maker when you exploit the powerless; when you ‘ re kind to the poor, you honour God.. ‘ (14:31- from The Message)

Prayer

Please pray:

• Praise God for a tremendous response to the ‘ STAND UP ‘ campaign over the last weekend. Micah Challenge organized church participation around the world.

‘ We have not just broken the stand up record but it looks like we will have the biggest ever number of people to set any world record! In just one day a breathtaking 23 and half million people in more than 100 countries around the world have set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of people to “STAND UP AGAINST POVERTY”. ‘ (Global Call to Action Against Poverty, 17 Oct. 2006)

• In the ‘ STAND UP ‘ campaign started in the morning of 15^th October 2006 in churches throughout the country. This was possible through the Micah Challenge which is a member of the national Civil Society Taskforce on the MDGs. Over 1.5 million Christians participated in Micah Sunday by standing up against poverty.

• In , the ‘ Stand up ‘ weekend started with a seminar held on which was attended by 52 church leaders. The topics that were discussed were the role of the church in nation building and governance, a Pentecostal perspective on advocacy and governance and Christian Advocacy and Governance.
  • Over 500 churches are expected to have participated in ‘ STAND UP ‘ .

  • On Tuesday October 17, Micah Challenge Sierra Leone joined the GCAP coalition in the march across the streets of Freetown for the World Poverty Day where human chains were formed and pledges read out.

• Please pray that these activities ultimately will contribute to people like M Carolina Maria de Jesus (see above) and the over 510 Million hungry people in Asia (see statistic below) and in other parts of the world.

Meditate on the Statistics

As you spend time in prayer and reflection, you may like to take a moment to silently understand with your heart the focus statistic we will include each week (see below). We are hoping that you will find this series of statistics a useful reference in preparing presentations.

Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Target 13: Address the special needs of the Least Developed Countries

‘ While in developing countries of the region [Asia-Pacific] the proportion of the population living below the $1-per-day poverty line is 22 per cent, for the LDCs (Least Developed Countries) it is 38 per cent. Indeed, across the region there is still evidence of extreme deprivation…. Asia still has more hungry people than any other region of the world – over 510 million. ‘

Source: Asia Pacific Human Development Report 2006, UNDP

Yours in Christ,

Regine, Jill and Michael

Please see List of Prayer Reflections

http://www.micahchallenge.org/global/prayer_resources/documents/SearchableFridayPrayerReflections.xls

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