At the Global day of prayer
On Sunday Derek and I attended the Global Day of Prayer that was held at River Park, and lasted around two and a half hours. Despite the poor acoustics and rough and ready feel of River Park, there were some incredibly anointed and powerful moments and I believe that the event was really successful. The sound of thousands of people praying in unison was incredible. I can’t help thinking of the old Delirious? song:
Do you feel the darkness tremble,
When all the saints join in one song?
And all the streams flow as one river,
To wash away our brokenness.
And we can see that God You’re moving.
A mighty river through the nations.
And young and old will turn to Jesus.
Fling wide you heavenly gates,
Prepare the way of the risen Lord.
Something that was announced by Gareth Syncock from Victoria Methodist, as he prepared us to pray for all the churches and pastors in the city, was that almost all the Pastors in the city are going to go away for a night to pray for the city and seek God’s face. This week I received an invitation to this event, and have managed to take some leave to attend.
I am really excited about this because we have been praying for unity among the churches in East London for years. Due to the history of East London and because of a dream that Glenda had, I believe unity will release God’s blessing on the city. The invitation to the event puts it this way:
“Opportunities for the Church and the Kingdom of God have not been so favourable in the Eastern Cape Province since our new democracy. Unless we come together and work together we will miss this great opportunity. It will be recorded as one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the region we live in. On the other hand, the Church could usher in one of the greatest moves of God that will affect our whole Nation.”
I believe that all churches and denominations should work together to promote the Kingdom of God. To me this unity means co-operation and support, not uniformity. This means a celebration and respect for our diversity, because each part of the body has a specific role to play in God’s purposes. For this to happen we have to agree to disagree on non-essentials, because we are bound together by the gospel and sacrifice of Jesus, and we need to repent of the grudges, hurts and envy that we hold towards one another.
