Basque Country Prayer Points for Week of November 27, 2023

Sampie Brown on December 3, 2023

Prayer Points and verse for the week:

Prayers points:

  • Recently the Spanish government reduced the hours for a work week from 40 to 37.5. Employees will still be paid for the 40 hours, though employers will have 2.5 less hours of their time. Spain already had a lower productivity rate than the rest of Europe, so greater concern now exists with the reduction in the work week hours.
    • Pray for employers and employees as they adjust to the new work week changes.
  • The sexual abuse that happened in the Spanish Catholic church continues to be discussed. Some of the current points under discussion are the number of victims, the damage it caused and justice for what has happened.
    • Pray for those leaders, counselors, perpetrators, victims and their families as they search for answers and healing.
  • Pedro Sánchez has been re-elected as the leader of the Spanish government. This happened through an agreement to grant amnesty to Carles Puigdemont and others that were part of the Catalan separatist movement. This has caused quite a bit of concern in the political parties and with the citizens.
    • Pray for peace as Sánchez looks to lead another 4 year term.
  • The Basque language is facing challenges from the judicial system as some of the Basque people want it to be a primary language for Basque Country. They made changes to the employment requirements for the language and the priority it is given for being taught in school.
    • Pray for those who see the Basque language as part of the heritage and how leaders can support it to continue to be so for future generations
  • The number of marriages that happened in 2021 increased. Last year saw the highest number since 2017. While many of these were civil marriages about ~10% were done in a church.
    • Praise that the number of marriages is increasing, pray this continues and existing families are strengthened.
  • The region has seen a couple of large protests. The first was on November 25 and was to continue to call attention to gender violence caused by males. Then on November 30, was one for equality of women and was quite large. The November 30 protest saw impacts into the workforce as several different unions supported it with some business closing and buses running on reduced schedules.
    • Pray for those impacted by male violence and for equality of women.

The verse for the week:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:8‭-‬9‬ ‭ESV‬