As the title suggests, the booklet tells the story of the nativity in a simple and straightforward way for adult readers. It’s suitable for giving away at church events, carol services and the like, and we’ll be making matching posters and invites for downloading in the next few weeks.

• Pray for Christians starting university this autumn; that they would settle well into student life, find a church and be confident in their witness for Christ.
• Pray for Christian Unions as they put on events during freshers week, giving students the opportunity to hear the gospel. Please pray that their hearts and minds would be opened to the Bible’s life-changing words.
• Praise God for the opportunity to spread the gospel throughout the nations as hundreds of overseas students arrive in the UK. Pray that they would be welcomed and befriended.

To find out more about UCCF’s work, please visit www.uccf.org.uk.

Scenes of the natural disaster in Pakistan have flooded our TV screens these last few weeks. Those affected are dispossessed of their homes, hungry and vulnerable to disease and infection. As Christians we know that we should give generously to help relieve the suffering, but it is not only the recipients of generosity that gain. This passage helps us understand why.

There are a couple of points worthy of consideration. Firstly, it is not sinful to possess wealth – but the consequence of the pursuit of wealth can bring out the worst in us, and this is borne out in our present day culture. The competitive nature of our society actively encourages us to yearn for possessions of a material kind, and we can mistakenly believe that any means to achieve those ends is justifiable.  Selfishness, greed, exploitation and even theft can be portrayed as defensible in pursuit of the cultural dream.

The second point, however, helps us to regain perspective, for we learn that material values are not relevant in the Kingdom of God. What is important to Jesus is what we do with our wealth, for these actions reflect the motivation of our hearts. Acts of kindness and compassion are neither finite nor measurable in material terms, but they are the very qualities that shape our character, and thus enable God to reflect his glory to a fallen world.

Linsi Phillips – SGM Lifewords

We’re also putting the finishing touches on our new booklet for adults, The Christmas Story. Watch this space for more details very soon!

Bukavu, on the shores of Lake Kivu

Last year Interact magazine featured our work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where SGM Lifewords has been partnering with Wycliffe to develop materials for schools. This month sees the first training sessions, with local teachers introduced to the Choose Life curriculum that has been so effective in Kenya.

Staff from the Lifewords office in Kenya are travelling to the DRC to run a series of two-day workshops, visiting several towns in the North and East of the country, including Bukavu, Uvira, and Bunia. The three week tour should see over two hundred teachers equipped to use Choose Life in their classrooms, bringing the Bible’s life words to thousands of children across the region.

It has taken several years to build up to this point, so it is exciting to actually see Choose Life hit the ground in DRC. But it hasn’t been an easy trip to plan. A referendum on a new constitution takes place today (August 4th) in Kenya, and with the history of recent political conflict, there is a risk of further instability. Please pray that the vote will be peaceful, both on the day and as results are announced, and that travel will not be disrupted. Shipping materials into the DRC is also difficult, so please pray that the booklets and training manuals will pass through customs without incident. Finally, please pray for the staff as they travel, for their health and safety, and strength on what will be quite an adventure.

Photo: Philkin

• Praise God for the large number of Life Changing Words subscribers who daily read selected portions of God’s Word. To help subscribers to encourage others to use the service, SGM Lifewords have created a number of new resources at www.day.lcwords.com. Please pray that as a result many more people will become aware of the service and gain encouragement and inspiration from it.

• Praise God for the translation of Day By Day into Romanian, Ukrainian and Italian. Please continue to pray for people to assist with new translations into Arabic and Turkish as well.

• Praise God for recent orders from churches all across Europe preparing themselves for summer outreach activities. Please pray that SGM Lifewords Inspire resources will be put to good use. Pray also for the work underway to prepare resources for Christmas and for God’s guidance and creativity for those involved in this.

• CEA is planning a new website to help those looking to find out what Christians believe. Please pray for the website designers and creative team as they put the website and its contents together.

• Pray that the website will provide a good interface for conversation, and that website users will use the opportunity to ask questions, to receive Bible resources, and to reflect on their inner life and faith.

• Almost every day, someone contacts CEA asking for prayer. Thank God for this opportunity! Ask that many enquirers will be drawn towards God as they experience answered prayer, and the care of others praying for them. In the UK, the SGM Lifewords staff team is committed to praying for CEA enquirers. If you’d like to join us, email cea@christianity.org.uk with the message “I will be a prayer partner” to receive a weekly email with details of specific enquiries and prayer requests.

• Over the last ten years, nearly 15,000 children have been individually counseled as part of Pavement Project. Give thanks for each one of these children who has had the opportunity to experience the love, care and transforming power of encounter with Jesus.

• SGM Lifewords’ Creative Director for the UK, Steve Bassett, has recently returned from Brazil, where he has been filming Pavement Project at work. Please pray for the UK team as they work to edit the material ready for release later this month. We hope the films will help UK churches particularly to engage with Pavement Project, to join in the PP10 celebrations this year, and to support the ongoing work of the programme. You’ll be able to view the films online, or order a DVD shortly.

• In April this year, heavy rains led to mudslides in the city of Rio de Janiero that resulted in over 10,000 people being made homeless, including 4,000 families who had to be moved from their homes for their own safety. Further floods last month caused more damage in the North East of the country. With reconstruction work now underway, please pray for resources and support to be made available to help resettle those who have lost their homes.

• Please pray for SGM Canada staff preparing for visits and presentations in churches. Pray that as they communicate something of their work, relationships with partners will be strengthened and pastors and congregations will be encouraged to engage afresh with the Bible.

• Give thanks for the research into Bible engagement being conducted by SGM Canada. The research findings are being circulated among Canadian ministry leaders and generating constructive dialogue.

• Praise God for the many Inspire Bible resources that SGM Canada partners (individuals and churches) are ordering and using. Pray that as people receive God’s Word in this way the Holy Spirit will speak to them, bringing transformation.

• The SGM Lifewords global family is committed to providing creative Bible resources to people irrespective of language or personal circumstance. The European team is planning to expand the popular resource Day By Day into several new languages including Arabic, Romanian and Turkish. Please pray for God’s provision for the funding to produce and print these new resources. Pray that as Day by Day is translated into these new languages, it will enable even more people to encounter the Bible’s life words for themselves.

• With summer fast approaching, many churches across the continent are putting in place plans to reach out to their local communities. From barbecues and picnics to holiday camps and festivals, there will be many opportunities for people to connect with the Bible’s life-giving words. The Tourist Service Team in the Netherlands is just one of many ministry using SGM Lifewords’ resources this summer. They will be working alongside Dutch Christians to run outreach events for tourists visiting traditional churches there over the summer. Please pray for their work; and for all those seeking to reach out with God’s Word this summer.

• An SGM Lifewords supporter in Katowice, South Poland, writes: “I would like to thank you all very much for the resources we got from you. They proved very useful in our ministry. Many people had an opportunity to hear what it means to belong to God – and some have even experienced it for themselves! People have been especially touched by your booklet called Who Am I?” Give thanks with us for this testimony, and pray that SGM Lifewords Inspire resources will continue to be a blessing to those who order and use them.