NEWS RELEASE
Tuesday 6th March 2012 1000
ARCHBISHOP OFFERS PRAYER FOR THE MEDIA
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, and BBC Radio Four presenter the Revd Richard Coles have written prayers for the media.
Their prayers are featured on the Church and Media Network’s website alongside other resources to encourage churches and individual Christians to pray for the media on Sunday May 20th.
Andrew Graystone, Director of the Network explained: “This call to prayer is part of our response to the intense discussion of media standards over the past twelve months. The media is under pressure as never before with financial constraints and many illegal and dubious practices being rightly brought under the spotlight.
We don’t condone any of these practices. But we know that at its best the media performs a vital role in our society, giving a voice to the voiceless, holding the powerful to account, keeping people informed and highlighting wrongdoing. As Christians, we want to affirm the vast majority of journalists and others who work in the media who are doing their best to work to high ethical and professional standards, and to pray for them.”
The Network has called for churches to mark Sunday May 20th as a Day of Prayer for the Media, and to include the local, regional and national media in their regular prayers. The charity has also encouraged churches to engage better with the media, telling them about their activities and giving them feedback on what they broadcast or publish.
The Network has published advice on how churches can pray for the media – including asking their local media what they would like prayer for – and has produced its own Prayer for the Media, written by Peter Crumpler, former Director of Communications for the Church of England’s Archbishops’ Council.
People who work in or with the media have been invited to submit their own prayers on the website, www.churchandmedia.net/prayerday.
The Archbishop of York’s prayer reads:
Lord Jesus Christ, you speak and bring all that is seen and unseen into being: we give you thanks for the gift of the media to reach the far flung places of the earth with messages of hope and life. We give you thanks for those who risk their security and even their lives to expose injustice and to bring news of hope. May they strive to be the bearers of good news, that all people may come to know the abundant life for which we have been created; and yet more wonderfully redeemed in Jesus Christ. We offer our prayer in your name, in the power of the Holy Spirit for the glory of the Father. Amen.
For more information:
Andrew Graystone, Director, The Church and Media Network
07772 710090 or andrew@churchandmedia.net
Full details of the Day of Prayer can be found at www.churchandmedia.net/prayerday
