In our prayers this week, we focus on Near Neighbours – a programme co-ordinated by the Church Urban Fund and the Church of England to build relationships across faiths and cultures

Through social programmes rooted in their values, faith groups make an enormous contribution to our society. Many thousands of men and women of faith regularly volunteer for projects that benefit those in need or improve our environment.

Please pray for A Year of Service – an initiative that will help highlight and link up these projects during 2012. Every month, each of the nine major faith communities in turn will host a day of volunteering in communities and businesses across the country and will invite people of other faiths, and those without religious beliefs, to join in. Each community’s day of service will be linked to one of its religious festivals, or to an existing volunteering day such as the Hindu-led ‘Sewa Day’ or the Jewish-led ‘Mitzvah Day’. Each day will have a theme, such as visiting the elderly, feeding the hungry or planting trees.

Pray for the Near Neighbours programme – in eastern London and across England – for the ways in which it is supporting this initiative, and for the generosity and trust which will be built through the process.