Micah Challenge Prayer, November 10, 2006

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

Reflection

Today’s reflection is a letter written by Micah Challenge Council Member Steve Bradbury to the Treasurer of Australia calling on the G20 to address poverty. The G20 will meet in Melbourne, on November 18-19, 2006.

‘Over the two days the G20 is meeting, more than 50,000 children will die from poverty-related causes; 2,800 women will needlessly die in pregnancy or childbirth; and more than 16,000 people will die as a result of HIV and AIDS.

Moreover, I know that you share my conviction that each and every person represented in these evil statistics is someone made in the very image of God. I am confident that, like me, your humanity and faith is challenged by their suffering. My plea to you is to take a lead role in confronting this continuing tragedy.’

In 1. Timothy 2: 1-4 we are encouraged to pray for our political leaders.

If your country is a member of the G20, please also consider writing to your Treasurer or Chancellor.

Prayer

Please pray:

§ For the G20 meeting in November 18-19, 2006.

o Pray for the finance ministers attending the meeting that ‘their humanity and faith will be challenged by the suffering of the poor‘ and that poverty and pro-poor decisions will be made.

o Pray for your country’s finance minister as she/ he decides on what for and how your country’s budget is delivered.

§ For Micah Challenge meetings in , and in the next few weeks.

o Pray for final preparations in these countries and that all key people will be able to attend the meetings.

§ Considering the statistic below: please pray for health professionals in Africa and South East Asia who work under difficult circumstances.

o Please pray for God’s blessing and wisdom on the decisions they make in regards to the patients they work with and treat.

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 5: Improve Maternal Health

Indicator 17: Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel

‘WHO recommends a minimum ratio of 100 nurses for every 100,000 people, but many poor countries do not even come close: In Central African Republic, Liberia and Uganda, for example, the ratio is less than 10 nurses per 100,000 people, as compared to more than 2,000 nurses per 100,000 people in Finland and Norway. The average ratio in Europe is 10 times that of Africa and South East Asia .’

Source: State of the World’s Population 2006, UNFPA

http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2006/presskit/docs/factsheet_women.doc

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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