Lyndon Bowring, Executive Chairman of CARE
How to pray about the cost of living crisis
People across the UK are being hit by the cost-of-living crisis, especially those who are most vulnerable.
More than four million children are already in poverty which blights their lives. Those on low incomes are in a very precarious position as prices soar and wages remain stagnant. Taxes haven’t been so high since the 1950s, and Universal Credit for families could fall in value by over £500 per year.
It’s time for the church to rise up and act, and Christian-run debt advice, food banks, warm spaces and many other mercy ministries are making an enormous difference.
At CARE, we’ve been asking what part we can play. How can God’s ‘better story’ of wholeness, justice and protection for the most vulnerable become a reality? Of course, Christians’ first responsibility is to tell others about the gospel of salvation through Jesus but then we have ‘gospel responsibilities’ to care for the poor.
CARE’s roots are in the Festival of Light gatherings 50 years ago at London’s Trafalgar Square and in other cities throughout the UK. Tens of thousands of Christians joined together to speak up for truth and stand for Jesus. They were responding to the way the ‘permissive society’ of the 1960s opened the floodgates for laws that weakened family life, encouraged explicit and pornographic material and, with the 1967 Abortion Act, marked the start of the ten million death toll of unborn children and the suffering of the women involved.
Decades later, these issues remain at the heart of CARE’s work, along with others added along the way, such as encouraging support for those nearing the end of life, preventing online harm for children and helping human trafficking victims. Now we feel we must respond to the needs of the poor.
Poverty inevitably leads to other social ills. For example, family breakdown becomes more likely, and abuse and addictions take hold. Impoverished women, all too frequently abandoned by the father, may be more likely to opt for abortion, feeling unable to afford to care for a baby. Others are driven into prostitution and sexual exploitation.
As we listen and consult with parliamentarians and fellow Christian organisations working with churches in practical ways, CARE is aiming to take the long view on behalf of vulnerable people, suggesting realistic, hope-filled policies to the governments in Westminster and in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
But CARE's first step has been to produce a ‘Ten Ways to Pray’ resource, which you can download here. And if you don’t regularly receive the CARE Prayer Diary you can access that that too!
This article first appeared in the February 2023 edition of Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.
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