[5th Week “Micah Sunday” Prayer]
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. (Matthew 24:6-8)
Continue reading Praying for Mended Relationships in the Time of Instability
The 71st Session of United Nations General Assembly kicked off on 13th of September, where Summit for Refugees and Migrants will be held next Monday, with another summit about the refugees held on Tuesday. Representatives of different nations and NGOs are following the discussions closely although they are not anticipating something overly positive. Meanwhile they still hope that the members of UN would be reminded of their leading roles in solving the global refugee crisis and in acknowledging the human rights of the refugees.
Continue reading Tear Down the Walls that Reject the Refugees
[ ‘SHARE’ Jul-Aug 2016 ] STEP INTO THE WORLD
In 1991, CEDAR was born with a Christ-guided vision to alleviate global poverty, during which the rise of globalization and the internet had made the vision ever approachable.
Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” (Matthew 26:11) The outlook of poverty seems positive as the population under poverty has decreased from 1.9 billion to 840 million in the past 25 years. Yet during the same period, our workers at CEDAR were overwhelmed by cases where the environmental conditions and resources were still degrading for the underprivileged, due to over-extraction from other countries, climate changes, and civil wars. For some of the people we came to know, safety and dignity were such a luxury when $1.25 USD was all they have. The poor is still here with us, often as a deflating thought.
CEDAR is involved in equipping the local church leaders, seminary students, and believers of Yunnan China to personally care for the marginalized families. Axing Du (name obscured) is one of such victims not welcomed by the society.
Continue reading Community Services of Yunnan Churches: Walking with the Marginalized
Thailand holds thousands of migrant children in detention each year, causing them physical and emotional harm, Human Rights Watch said in a report released in early September. Child migrants and asylum seekers are unnecessarily held in squalid immigration facilities, suffering in filthy, overcrowded cells without adequate nutrition, education, or exercise space.
Continue reading Thailand: Thousands of Migrant Children Detained
[ePrayer – Pray for CAR]
Recent conflict has left thousands dead and 800,000 people homeless in Central African Republic (CAR), while 250,000 fled to neighbouring countries–Cameroon, Chad, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. More than half the population, about 2.5 million people, are in urgent need of food, water, sanitation and healthcare.
The latest chapter in CAR’s history of violence dated its cause in December 2012, when Seleka – a coalition of predominantly Muslim rebel forces – was formed, and it eventually brought the president Francois Bozizé down from power in March 2013. Under the governance of Michel Djotodia, who is the leader of Seleka claimng himself the President of CAR between March 2013 to January 2014, rebellion and waves of lawlessness are seen, and in the absence of police and other state security forces, the largely Christian population in villages across the north has to form self-defence units called ‘anti-balaka’.
A lady seeking refuge in a Catholic sanctuary told her story, that Seleka forces came and razed her entire village, murdering her husband, slashing other family members with a machete and killing five of her neighbours. However, the self-defence units are no less vicious that the former rebels. ‘The anti-balaka came and attacked our house at 5am. They caught my husband on the veranda and sliced him on the head, the side, and the back with a machete when holding him’, another lady added.
A new interim president, Catherine Samba-Panza, was elected in January 2014 and has called on all sides to show their support for the interim administration by laying down their arms.
Tearfund UK, a member of Integral Alliance*, told us that the needs are just overwhelming. ‘The people are trying to survive from these horrific experiences against the historical context of very high vulnerability due to chronic poverty, marginalisation, neglect and exploitation. Needs for clean water and sanitation, healthcare, food security, shelter and protection are real and immense. Trauma is widespread thus psycho-social needs are huge given the recent gratuitous violence. There is and will be a need for peace-building and reconciliation at all levels of this now deeply fractured society, pointing to a need for long term engagement for real change and transformation.’ [Tearfund UK(1), Tearfund UK(2), IRIN(1), IRIN(2), IRIN(3),]
Meditate on Scriptures:
‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ Matthew 6:9b-10
If you were born in the midst of war and conflict, and if you witnessed, even suffered from violence and cruelty, would you stay or go?
If you hear about the devastations caused by warfires and are told about the dire state where the masses there are in, will you do something or not?
We often pray, ‘May your kingdom come!’ but have we prepared ourselves to participate in this heavenly project? Let us continue praying, ‘May your kingdom come’ but at the same time prepare ourselves to participate in it, in prayer as well as action!
Pray for CAR:
* Integral Alliance is a global alliance comprising of 19 Christian relief and development agencies, working together to deliver a more effective response to poverty worldwide. CEDAR is one of the member agencies.
