UK Transformations? It's Possible!
The question on many people's lips is: can transformation occur here? In July this year a short radio news item exposed an extraordinary initiative that has been taking place on a crime-ridden estate in Nottingham for the past two years. With the headline ‘Power of Prayer is cutting crime’, AP News pick the story up:
A police chief has attributed a dramatic drop in the local crime rate to the power of prayer. Insp. Alan Stuart, police area commander for Arnold, near Nottingham, said car crime and criminal damage had reduced – literally overnight – after he had sent a prayer to each of the town’s 19 churches. And the town’s juvenile crime rate had reduced by 47% since the prayers had begun. The policeman, who is also a lay reader for the Anglican church, gave examples of crime solutions through the power of prayer.
These included disorder by youths on an estate stopping overnight, car crime reducing from 35 per week to one or two per week, and 4 crimes at the town’s 20 schools, compared with an average of 80. Over the two-year period since the project has started, Arnold has seen a 40% reduction in crime. Insp. Stuart said: "My boss asked me what I was doing – and I told him that the town was praying! He said, ‘be serious’ and I told him, it is serious praying!"
Mr Stuart said critics have called his claims coincidence but he said that the figures speak for themselves. One patch in his area was notorious for car crime and 35 cars were stolen or broken into in one week. He said: " I decided to send a letter to all 19 churches in Arnold asking the congregation to pray to stop this car crime. The next week, when I looked at the figures, there had been only one incident! And after an average of 80, the new figure has been only one or two for the past two years.
Mr Stuart added that the day after a similar prayer about youths causing distortion on a particular estate for a number of months, the disorder disappeared. The headmaster of the local school asked the youths he believed responsible why they had stopped, he added: they told him: "We don’t know, we just stopped! - which is remarkable. Arnold has the only declining rate of juvenile offenders in the area and since the project started there has been a 40% reduction in juvenile offenders and a 10% reduction in overall crime."
Following this report I contacted Insp. Stuart who validated the story and sent me further information on the initiative. Since then, other police forces have inquired about starting similar initiatives. I asked him if he had seen the Transformations video and he said that at least 5 copies had been sent to him! We have received many testimonies into the office, but this has been one of the most dramatic.
Be encouraged, God is on the move!