Lyndon Letter - Nov 2020 by CARE User

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We’d love to offer more places on our Leadership Programme and extend our Open ministry to support more women affected by miscarriage and abortion.

Lyndon Bowring CHAIRMAN

And we need to engage with, inform and mobilise a new movement of younger Christians. This year, CARE embarked on a number of new online initiatives reaching thousands of people, from; podcasts, prayers, devotionals and unique CARE Sessions focusing on important issues. Some of our normal activities have been restricted but these exciting innovations are proving invaluable in informing, equipping and encouraging Christians. So, if you’re able to give again, we’d be deeply grateful. Online donations are particularly helpful – if you can, please visit care.org.uk/donate, but if sending a cheque or paying by card suits you best, we’d be thrilled. Every CARE staff member engaged in processing donations and writing thank you letters prays for you. It's a real joy for me to add a personal message when a gift of £100 or more is made, and a privilege for me to pray for you and your family.

Jesus, our Rock of Ages In answer to Moses’ prayer, the Lord caused His goodness, mercy and compassion to pass before Moses. To protect him from the awesome sight of His glory, Moses was placed by God ‘in a cleft in the rock’ and His hand covered Moses until He’d passed by.’ Even though he’d already encountered the Lord in the most remarkable way for 40 days and nights on Mount Sinai, Moses still wanted to know God more! May each of us be granted a life-changing experience of increasingly knowing God through His Word, as we understand more of His ways. Let’s pray that we'll each be open to His mercy and goodness and that the eternal security and comfort of being hidden in the cleft of the Rock Christ Jesus. A new daily prayer of mine is; 'May I see You more clearly, love You more dearly, follow You more nearly, and know You more really day by day.' May His mercy, grace, peace and protection be yours over this Christmas season. Yours because He is our Emmanuel,

December 2020

Knowing God You may know that I try to make just one direct financial appeal a year for you to consider CARE after you’ve responded to family needs, your local church and other ministries close to your heart. No doubt you’ve received many calls for help during this unprecedented time of Covid-19, but your ongoing generosity is vitally important to us. Before I ask again for your continued support, let me share something with you. I wonder whether, like me, you are challenged by the question ‘How well do you know God?’. We know much about Him and how He works in our lives, our families, the Church and the wider world – but how well do we actually know Him? Exodus 33 describes one of the Bible’s greatest prayer encounters. God makes it clear that Moses has found favour with Him and so Moses asks just one thing: 'Please show me Your ways'. He longed to discover more of God's character, His words and acts.

Rev Lyndon Bowring Chairman

The awesome truth is that as Christians we’ve all found favour with God, through what Christ accomplished. Like Moses, we can humbly pray: ‘Lord, because I’ve found favour in Your sight, please reveal Your ways to me, by Your Spirit and through Your Word, to know You more!’

The ‘Quartet of the Vulnerable’

CAREORGUK

CARE.ORG.UK

We learn from Scripture that God’s ways include His passion for the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner and the poor – known as ‘the quartet of the vulnerable’. The Church has a history of being counter-cultural by caring for these groups of people. First-century Christians in the Roman Empire did not discriminate; they rescued widows from poverty, cared for abandoned new-borns, tended the sick, fed the hungry and took in destitute people.

This continued down the centuries and today it’s wonderful that local churches and Christian charitable organisations are still supporting and blessing the hungry, sick, dispossessed, oppressed and persecuted. This is especially important, during this pandemic, as those who are the most vulnerable have experienced immense suffering. CARE is primarily involved in advocacy, working with those in our Parliaments and Assemblies and others in authority to promote laws that truly value and care for people. We’re committed to protecting human life because we’re all made in God’s image and precious to Him. We must speak up for those who are voiceless and at risk: the unborn and their mothers; the frail and elderly; the trafficked victim; those with a gambling addiction; and children at risk from degrading material online. For us, these people represent today’s ‘quartet of the vulnerable’.

The Widow May we never overlook the pain of experiencing the death of, or separation from, a life partner or other loved ones and ask God to show us how we can best support those who are bereft. There are also heart-broken women who’ve lost a child through miscarriage or abortion. CARE’s unique ministry ‘Open’ provides training in pastoral care for those affected by this and supports women through retreats. We thank God for many testimonies of His mercy. During 2020, CARE worked with MPs to counter pro-abortion moves to use the Domestic Abuse Bill to make abortion even easier in England and Wales. Thankfully, this failed – but it could succeed during the Bill’s passage through the House of Lords. CARE also assisted Fiona Bruce MP to challenge the government proposal to introduce On 9 March 1974, Carole’s life changed forever. permanent permission for women to take She had an abortion, aged 17, and was frightened abortion pills at home, first introduced as a and confused. ‘The consequences for me were temporary emergency measure during immediate. I hated myself’, she said. Covid-19. We are thankful that they’ve But, 46 years later Carole booked into CARE’s agreed to hold a consultation and enquiry ‘Open’ retreat about healing from abortion. On about the safety of this. arrival she said to God she could only go in ‘if He was holding her hand’. ‘Everyone was very caring and understanding. It was difficult working through issues, there were many tears’. Carole knew God forgives, but that was hard to accept because she couldn’t easily forgive herself. An incredible moment came during a session in which she placed stones, symbolising those she needed to forgive, into a circle of string that represented her life. ‘I went from the word ‘trapped’ to the word ‘free’. I’ll always be sad but the shame and guilt I’d carried for so long are no more’. The experience was incredibly ‘freeing and healing’. Carole adds, ‘if you’re thinking of having an abortion, please – there are other options. I found abortion's not an easy way out. It’s a heartache that lives with you.’

This has been a painful year for Christians in Northern Ireland, with new legislation effectively allowing abortion on demand. We’re now considering ways to mitigate the harm and assist MLAs in ensuring at least some protection is provided for unborn babies with a disability. Many would-be mothers also grieve alone because the father of their aborted child could not or would not stand by them in their time of need. Listening to many who serve in pregnancy care centres has made us realise that if more fathers of unborn children promised to support the mother come what may, numbers of terminations would dramatically decrease.

The Fatherless So, the fatherless include millions of aborted babies who’ve never seen the light of day. And, for many living children there is no loving and active dad in their lives. Worldwide, an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year – many into sexual exploitation. CARE has worked steadily to change the law to provide care for these young people. We’re encouraged that one success is that, since 2018, scores of children and young people have received protection and support from Northern Ireland's new Independent Guardians service. Another chilling peril affecting children is the easy access to extreme pornographic material online. CARE has consistently campaigned for age verification on all such websites. The 2017 Digital Economy Act did make this a legal requirement but unfortunately, three years on, this crucial measure still hasn’t been implemented. Recent polling showed that most people in the UK want the Government to remedy this at once. We’re determined to keep up pressure to protect vulnerable young people from online harm.

The Foreigner Many individuals who’ve entered the UK illegally have been trafficked into modern slavery – they are amongst the most vulnerable in our society and need all the care and protection we can provide. CARE continues to support Lord McColl and his excellent Modern Slavery Bill calling for more effective support for victims of trafficking who’ve escaped. We pray the Government will carefully consider and be mindful of the Bill’s proposals. We've also assisted Lord McColl in his efforts to ensure confirmed victims receive continued support when the UK leaves the EU, through amendments to the Immigration Bill.

Lord McColl outside Parliament

The Poor The ‘poor’ includes problem gamblers addicted to this pernicious trade. Over £2 billion is spent on online gambling in the UK and the number of problem gamblers has risen sharply during the Covid-19 crisis. Currently, CARE is urging the Government to impose levies on betting companies to fund more support for problem gamblers. Among those who are living in poverty, let’s not forget the estimated 70,000 women and girls working in prostitution in Britain – a great many of whom are coerced into sex work and likely to experience major problems in their lives. CARE has always been very concerned for these people, looking for ways to protect them under the law. We’re thrilled that in 2017 the Scottish National Party conference passed a resolution to criminalise those who pay for sex. CARE continues to engage with the Scottish Government and MSPs across the board. We're campaigning for the buying of sex from vulnerable women to be made illegal in Scotland, England and Wales, as it is in Northern Ireland.

Heartfelt thanks We constantly thank God for His faithfulness to CARE. We’re so grateful to supporters like yourself who give willingly and generously to us. This is a wonderful reflection of another of God’s ways – His amazing generosity – so may He richly reward you! There’s much more to be done; we want to enlarge our Public Policy team to assist more politicians and others engaged in issues facing our society and commission much-needed research.