We held our fifth meeting on 17th September at Shipley Baptist Church.
What does Jesus say about the Kingdom and the Church?
We read Matthew chapter 16 verses, 15-18, Matthew chapter 13 verses 24-30 and verses 36-43 and asked what Jesus says about:
- the World
- the Kingdom
- the Church
Observations about the Church are in orange and the Kingdom are in red. We also tried to draw a venn diagram of how they overlap, recognising that:
- The Church are the people of the Kingdom.
- The Kingdom is bigger than the Church: it includes space, the natural world and anywhere where God's will is being done.
We also ate cake:
Some Good News
The rain has been excellent news for our land, in particular the way that it has come gently at first rather than in floods.
We heard about the origin of the Pray and Fast for the Climate movement:
- Typhoon Haiyan brought devastation to the Philippines just as the climate negotiations were beginning in Warsaw in November 2013. Filipino delegate Yeb Saño, despairing both at the devastation of his country and the slow progress made by world leaders in reaching any kind of progress towards a new agreement on tackling climate change, announced he would fast either until the end of the two week conference or until real progress was made. He has continued to fast on the first of every month and his example has led to the international ‘Fast for the Climate’ movement.
- In 2015 Christiana Figueres, UN Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), asked people of faith to pray for world leaders and their negotiators to reach a meaningful global climate agreement – and with much rejoicing this was agreed in Paris December 2015.
The "Contains Strong Language" poetry festival in Bradford this weekend has several sessions with an eco theme, for example:
- Laurel Prize workshop: Ecopoetry’s Cutting Edge (Saturday 2-4, £25)
- Sustainability Panel: Future (Sunday 12:30 free)
Pray!
We prayed for:
- Peace, particularly in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.
- In Sudan, pray for the army forces and the RSF to agree to the ceasefire plan proposed by US, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt on Sept 12th.
- Farmers in Rwanda:
- 80% of the Rwandan population work in agriculture
- Unpredictable weather, limited market access, poor agricultural practices and lack of money are issues that hinder farmers’ success. The Rwandan government has developed a digital platform that connects farmers to local traders, giving them better access to markets. Pray for the Tearfund team as they work to make the platform more accessible and appropriate to the needs of smallholder farmers.
- Pray for self-help groups run by Rwandan churches.
- Bradford:
- Pray for the eco-poets at the Bradford 2025 sessions this weekend
- Home Energy West Yorkshire is offering loans between £5,000 and £20,000 for energy efficiency projects - pray for people to make good use of them!
- COP30: Pray for countries to submit bold NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions, national emissions targets) before the conference; so far only 31 countries have submitted their targets.
- Earthquakes in Afghanistan:
- Pray for comfort for those facing the loss of loved ones, homes and livelihoods
- Pray for help to reach those who need it most in time
- Pray that God gives Tearfund’s local staff and partner staff strength, safety, wisdom and the resources required to respond to this emergency.
Our next meeting is on Wednesday 15th October at 7:30pm at Shipley Baptist Church again, you can use this Facebook event to advertise it.
