Australia’s annual National Day of Prayer and Fasting will see thousands of Australians join in prayer across the nation this weekend. DAVID ADAMS reports…
Thousands of people across Australia are expected to join in the National Day of Prayer and Fasting this weekend with the day itself to be held for the first time on Saturday instead of Sunday.
And while the day will still include a key gathering in the national capital, Canberra, the organisers of the day have this year also deliberately worked at bringing together Christians and church groups in gatherings across regional Australia.
PRAYER FOR A NATION: Scenes from 2016 when more than a thousand people gathered in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra for the National Day of Prayer and Fasting. PICTURES: Courtesy NDOPF
“I think it with gather momentum as the years go on and as more and more people pray…I believe very strongly in the verse from James [which says] ‘You have not because you have not asked God’. I think God is waiting for us to come together to pray to receive His blessing upon our nation, upon our community and upon our churches.”
– James Condon, church liaison director of the NDOPF
James Condon, church liaison director of the NDOPF, says that the regional push is aimed at giving more opportunity for people who couldn’t make the journey to Canberra to take part in the day.
“And we also felt having it on Sunday was limiting some people’s involvement because of their commitment to church and other activities – family activities etcetera…” he says, adding that churches are still welcome to observe the day as part of Sunday services. “We don’t want to restrict it.”
Commissioner Condon, a retired Salvation Army commissioner, says the organising team have been pleased at the response they have received when he spoke to Sight earlier this week with some 56 known larger gatherings taking place in regional areas – both in churches and other “more neutral” locations – as well as more than 150 individual churches, representing a wide cross-section of Christian denominations, taking part.
“There’s a lot of excitement about going regional in terms of increased awareness of the National Day of Prayer and Fasting and increased prayer…” he says. “I think it with gather momentum as the years go on and as more and more people pray…I believe very strongly in the verse from James [which says] ‘You have not because you have not asked God’. I think God is waiting for us to come together to pray to receive His blessing upon our nation, upon our community and upon our churches.”
An event will still be held in Canberra – although it has moved from the Great Hall of Parliament House to the lawns – and this is still expected to attract people from all over the country. Previous years have seen more than 1,000 people attend the gathering which, as in previous years, will be webcast live on the internet via the NDOPF website.
Guidelines for running the day, which runs from 10am to 4pm, provide a different prayer focus for each hour – starting with adoration, worship and thanksgiving moving into a time for repentance – as individuals, the church and as a nation, to prayer for people operating in seven spheres of society – religion, family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment and business, and leaders from all levels of government. The focus for the final two hours is on celebrating the unity of the church in Christ and declaring Jesus as Lord.
Commissioner Condon says that while the event is still in its early days – this year is officially the fifth year the day has been run although its origins go back a couple more, there have already been “some wonderful answers to prayer” come out of the day.
He recounts the feedback he’s received from some federal and state politicians about how much they have sensed and valued the prayers of people as one example and says that another highlight for him came in 2015 during a segment in which church leaders from various denominations asked forgiveness for the sexual abuse people suffered as children in the church and church-run organisations in light of ongoing the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
“It was a very powerful moment…” says Commissioner Condon, who believes people who attend the day – whether they’re able to take part in the whole day or just a part of it – will be encouraged in their faith.
“They will be blessed by the presence of God, the unity of the people gathering together (and) and they’ll be encouraged in their own life as they pray and see answers to prayer.”
While the National Day of Prayer and Fasting has in previous years been followed by 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting, this year, its been replaced with a 40 Day Prayer and Worship Relay which runs from 1st March to 9th April.
Warwick Marsh, a member of the organising team of the NDOPF, says the relay is aimed at encouraging people to offering up “a sacrifice of praise and worship to God”.
“[W]e’re trying to encourage this whole concept…in the hope that people will continue that heightened level of worship and prayer and praise to God. Because a prayerless church is a powerless church and when people worship and people pray, God does great things.”
– Warwick Marsh, member of the organising team of the NDOPF
“[W]e’re trying to encourage this whole concept…in the hope that people will continue that heightened level of worship and prayer and praise to God. Because a prayerless church is a powerless church and when people worship and people pray, God does great things.”
While some individuals and churches are taking part in the day by setting aside time to pray each day over the 40 day period, Mr Marsh says he is particularly excited by the idea of churches coming together in local communities and creating a roster which will see people praying continuously, day and night, throughout the 40 day period.
Mr Marsh says that while the concept of continuous prayer is not new – there’s Biblical precedents and churches in Australia and overseas are already taking part in similar initiatives (not to mention the example of the Moravians who ran a 120 year prayer meeting), “we’re just rediscovering and re-energising, I believe, what has happened before in the hope that this will increase prayer and act as a catalyst for more prayer in Australia and see our nation changed.”
And that, after all, is what both the national day and the 40 days of prayer and worship are about.
“The goal is simply revival and renewal and reformation for our nation and that has to come through the church…” Mr Marsh says. “It has to be a love-led revival, not a works-led revival so we’re encouraging people that it’s about loving Jesus, it’s about following Jesus, it’s about glorifying Jesus…”
Mr Marsh says he believes that the growth of the day comes against the backdrop of a growing movement around prayer among Christians in Australia.
“God’s doing something and He’s stirring people to pray – and that’s a good sign.”
