Our pick of the week's news to inform your prayers.

Society & Politics

• HSBC offers 10 gender-neutral terms for customers: The bank’s move is drawing criticism, including from gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, for going too far and risking ‘confusion, misunderstanding, ridicule and backlash’. Read more here.
• UK journalists point to the Bible and our Judeo-Christian heritage: In The Telegraph this week, Tim Stanley criticised the West’s silence over Christian persecution as stemming from a lack of willingness to recognise its own biblical heritage (read more here and here), while Radio 4 presenter Roger Bolton has declared that the BBC is ‘dangerously out of touch’ with religious people. Meanwhile, Melanie Phillips argues that we must take our inspiration for Brexit from the first Passover - or ‘Jexit’.
  
• Words of Jesus to feature on London buses: Until 24 April the ‘Quote Jesus’ campaign will see the Lord Jesus’ words, including key Gospel quotes, emblazoned on 75 London buses. Read more here.
  
• What if Britain had been occupied by the Nazis? Well, part of it was: Following the cinematic release of Another Mother’s Son, the Times of Israel recalls how Jews were treated in the Channel Islands, the only British territory to be occupied by the Nazis during WWII. Read more here.

World Scene

• French evangelicals call for prayer cover ahead of national election: Ahead of the voting at the end of April/beginning of May, the European Evangelical Alliance has called for international prayer support for a country deeply divided, wracked by fear and suffering from secularist restrictions on religious freedom. Read more here.
  

Israel & Middle East

• Christianity on the rise in Yemen despite persecution: Open Doors reports that the Church in Yemen is growing and strengthening in the face of adversity. Read more here.
  
• Egyptian Coptic priest thanks and forgives ISIS bombers: Fr Boules George of St Mark’s Church, Cairo addressed the Islamist attackers with an inspiring message of Christian love and forgiveness. Read more here.
  
• Israel treats thousands of Arabs in hospital: Though little-reported in the Western press, Israeli hospitals routinely treat thousands of Arabs from all over the Middle East. Read more here and here.
  
• Israel shuts border crossing to Egypt: Following the Palm Sunday attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt, Israel shut the Taba Crossing until the end of Passover, citing the high likelihood of ISIS planning attacks on Israeli tourists. Read more here.

Upcoming Events

• Prom Praise at the Royal Albert Hall (22 April): International gathering of both classical musicians and worship leaders, with a Gospel message. Find out more and buy tickets here.
• ‘Watch and Pray’ Day of Prayer (24 April): 10:30am-3pm, World Prayer Centre, Birmingham. Click here to find out more.
• Unbelievable? The Conference (13 May): London. World-class Christian apologists and evangelists show how Jesus is “the answer to life, the universe and everything”. A Premier event. Find out more and book here.

Recommended Sources

At Prophecy Today UK we are aware that the world is moving very quickly and it is difficult to keep up with all the latest developments – especially when the material circulated by our mainstream media is increasingly far from reality and definitely not devoted to a biblical perspective!

Though we are not a news service, we want to help keep you informed by passing on updates and reports as we are led. This will be a selective, not an exhaustive, round-up, which we hope will be helpful for your prayers. Click here to browse our News archive.

We also recommend the following news services for regular updates from a Christian perspective:

• Christian Concern (UK)
  
• Christian Institute (UK)
  
• JNN News (Barry and Batya Segal, Israel)
• Family Watch International
• Barnabas Fund
  
• Kehila News (Israel)