St. Mary Magdalen Intersessions for Outreach

To give the organisations we support a greater profile it has been decided that it would be good to pray for them during our Intercessions each Sunday and we would ask for your help in doing this.

The Outreach Group have drawn up a list of the 13 organisation which we support, pairing an international one with a domestic one.

The aim is that we will pray for a pair each month - To help you in forming your prayers the Outreach Group have provided some prayer pointers for you to include as you feel appropriate. These are as follows ….

June

The two organisations we will be praying for in the Intercessions during June, are the ‘Acorn Christian Healing Foundation’ & ‘In Ministry to Children (IMC)’.

March

Cecily’s Fund

Working to bring education to orphaned children in Zambia.
One in five of all Zambian children are orphans. Many orphans cannot afford to go to school, but education is vital if they are to have a better future. Education gives them hope.

The Fund

• enables around 10,000 children to be supported right through school to the final grade, buying shoes, clothing and school books etc.
• gives funds to educate Zambia’s youth to stay free from AIDS
• helps train educators

The picture of AIDS in Zambia is grim.
The scale and scope of the Zambian AIDS pandemic is appalling. Whilst most of those infected with HIV are adults, the impact of AIDS is felt by the whole community: from the youngest orphaned child to the oldest grandmother working to care for her grandchildren. The latest statistics (released by UNAIDS in August 2004) show that in Zambia:

• 16.5% of adults between 15-49 are HIV positive. In the Copperbelt region, where we work, rates are even higher.
• Zambians have the lowest life expectancy in the world - just 37.5 years.
• There are over one million orphans in the country (1,100,000) most of whom have been orphaned by AIDS (630,000).
• Almost one in five children in Zambia is an orphan.
  Orphans are not a new phenomenon in Zambia, but the scale of the problem is. In the past, aunts and uncles took the orphaned children of their sisters and brothers into their own homes. Now, all too often the aunts and uncles are also dead, or too poor to help.

In response to the AIDS crisis, the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria has gathered significant sums of money, and Zambia will get its share, but this money is not likely to be used to fund education. We believe that education and health education remain the only practical long-term anti-AIDS strategy which Africa can afford.

(From Cecily’s Fund website - cecilysfund.org)

The King’s Arms

Prayer pointers:

• for the Christian Union at Petersfield School attended by about 40 young people
• for the Anger Management mentoring that Bill Pearce runs
• for help for Bill who spends many hours producing applications for grants and other funding
• for all the young people aged 8 to late teens who visit the King’s Arms on a regular or sometimes irregular basis

The King’s Arms, is a project set up with funding provided by 'Petersfield Area Christians Together' to provide a safe and friendly venue for the young people of the town to go, during weekday evenings. The venue is primarily centred around a non-alcoholic pub, including the usual facilities such as pool tables, table football, music, and console games. As well as the pub facilities, the centre also provides other community options such as:

• A Cyber Café
• After School Homework Clubs
• Counselling Services, including anger management groups in the local school

The King’s Arms has been set up as a Charitable Company by the Christians of Petersfield to provide a facility in which young people can meet together in a safe environment. (Registered Charity 1087176) We will always listen to the needs of our young community, and put into action what they want if at all possible, or give reasons fully if they can not be achieved. There will be opportunity to find counselling if any young person needs it, from people qualified to meet that need. The King’s Arms will always seek to advance the education of any youngster who visits the facility, by providing after-school clubs or youth evenings where educational talks or competitions are given or advice sessions are held. We shall always be actively involved in cooperating with the local education authority and local schools in order to offer mentoring/ befriending to any pupils who require it, and to provide work and life experience at the King’s Arms if the school believes it would benefit any individual. The King’s Arms will always promote Christian values by encouraging our young people to participate in activities that involve commitment to helping those worse off than themselves, by the youngsters themselves being involved in fundraising and the raising of awareness.

(From www.thekingsarmsonline.co.uk and The King’s Arms Prayer Bulletin in church)

February

Home-Start Butser

• For all the families supported by Home-Start Butser.
• For children currently undertaking medical treatment.
• For the Home-Start Volunteers, that they may be given the grace to help their families in difficult circumstances.
• That Home-Start Butser may be given the resources of both volunteers and finance to continue to support families who are experiencing difficulties.
• That we may continue to have the courage to confront adversity and the strength to support others.
• Trish (Home-Start Butser)

MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) www.maf-uk.org

• For the people affected by the current crisis in Kenya, and pray for safety for pilots flying people and supplies in and out of the danger areas
• Give thanks for a new MAF aircraft in Madagascar which enabled 100kg of Bibles in the Malagasy language to be flown in
• For pilots in Papua New Guinea flying in supplies of food for people affected by floods
• For people to come forward for key accountancy positions in MAF worldwide
• For protection for wives and families of pilots often living in remote areas, and so many charities depend on the MAF flights for their continuing work