I believe the influence of Christianity on the British Isles (including Ireland) has been historically proven as incredibly significant to the culture and survival of our people. Since the earliest years of Celtic Christianity, including the founding of monasteries in Iona and Lindisfarne in the 6th and 7th Centuries, there has been a strong Christian spirituality which has indwelled our people.
A recent BBC 2 programme on the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, presented by Lord Melvin Bragg, stated that it was the principles contained within the world's best seller which established the democracy and freedoms we enjoy in the Western Democracies.
These hard won freedoms and institutions are often built upon by people who then ignore why they were established in the first place, and we lose the foundational truths to our cost and detriment. In our nation there is the beginning of a marginalisation of Christians and the values which in genuine good conscience many will not abandon. However, when the Christian Church is pressurised, she shines the best.
As I travel the UK and talk to many Christian leaders, there is a recognition that churches are beginning to work together for the collective good of the faith. Whole cities are beginning to focus on city wide prayer movements for the sake of God intervening for the welfare of their communities.
When we established a Cross Rhythms radio station in Plymouth, we already had experience of a city wide prayer meeting in Stoke on Trent which started at the same time we got our radio licence there. Great favour was shown to an organisation called Saltbox run by Lloyd Cooke and Robert Mountford, which 'connects the dots' of all the volunteer work done in that city by faith groups.
We invited Lloyd down to Plymouth when we launched Cross Rhythms here, and he shared the vision of the 'Faith Audit' which Saltbox had carried out. They documented the massive infrastructure of social welfare provision made by faith groups, especially the Christian church.
Following Lloyd's presentation, we established an organisation called Plymouth Saltbox, in collaboration with Chris Clewer of Churches Together in Plymouth. In 2009/10, we carried out a Faith Action Audit (FAA) in Plymouth.
The University of Plymouth Social and Public Policy Research Group was commissioned to carry out the Audit. The results were encouraging, showing over 450,000 volunteer hours worth at least £2.7 million being poured into the city every year by faith based groups.
The report said this is 'a massive underestimate of the level of work being done by faith based groups, as only 35% responded and we used the Minimum Wage as our benchmark'. It showed that the majority of those hours are made up by the Christian faith, plus contributions from Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh and others.
Plymouth Saltbox is now working hard to build on the FAA, so that those volunteer services can be best used for the good of the people of Plymouth.
As a Christian faith-based organisation, they value the prayers of fellow believers. There is a day of prayer in June for those who want to see the love of God practically impact Plymouth and its people. Christians in the city are urged to look out for the publicity for this event, come along on the day, and ask their ministers to support it.
Christians believe that prayer is the place where we receive empowerment from God to live lives, individually and collectively, that bring God's quality of abundant life to those around us in our communities. A recent news item said that Plymouth was likely to be the worst affected city in England in terms of per capita job losses in the Public Sector. Now is the time for Christians to rise up in their faith, and a city-wide prayer movement, married to practical demonstrations of the love of God, would surely be a great way to see Heaven's values overturn the world's problems.
