Praying for Thames Gateway

(Thurrock, Basildon, Castlepoint, Rochford, Southend)

Please pray for the following -

Between 2001 and 2021 it is planned that 43,800 new homes will be built

(Thurrock – 18,500, Basildon – 10,700, Castlepoint – 4,000, Rochford – 4,600, Southend – 6,000)

Pray for the new communities that will be created and their integration with the existing population.

Pray for Christian witness and presence in new communities.

In the same period it hoped that there will be 55,000 new jobs created, but alongside our economic prosperity there are significant pockets of deprivation (Purfleet, Tilbury, Craylands, Vange, Milton…….) Will everybody benefit from the developments? (previous experience is that the local poor get bypassed by regeneration.)

Pray that all will benefit from productive work but that work and materialism will not be the new ‘gods’ of our society.

The aim of the new developments is that they will be environmentally sustainable – pray that we will be willing to put the wellbeing of God’s world and its future before our own greed.

We have some major health issues, especially in deprived areas – life expectancy between areas of Essex varies by up to 20 years! Some of the worst areas are in South Essex.

Pray that we will all be willing to live healthy lives. (Are we willing to live healthy lives?)

All regeneration plans are economically driven – i.e. they depend on a materialistic culture.

Pray that we can get the balance right between enjoying the good things that God gives us but not becoming totally materialistic.