The Commonwealth Prayer Initiative began as a way to support Commonwealth Heads of Government and their nations in prayer in the lead up to CHOGM 2011. It has now spread to 54 nations and involves thousands of churches, organisations, schools and even a prison!

People are not only learning about their adopted nation but also about the 8 Millennium Development Goals and how to support these goals, through prayer and action. During CHOGM, Christians from around the Commonwealth will converge on Perth from 20th till 30th October for the Commonwealth Christian Assembly followed by a jam-packed week of 24/7 prayer and worship.

Visit www.commonwealthprayer.org for more information

NZ Christian Network was invited to send a special 9/11 prayer to be included in the commemoration events held in America.

New Zealanders were shocked when we woke up and saw the events of 9/11 unfolding on our screens. We joined in prayer and grief with all of the families and friends of people injured or killed on that day.

We joined in anger at the senseless destruction to life and property caused by that attack.

Many now see the world as much less safe than we used to. Our sense of security has been shaken.

Let us pray that God will work in this situation to draw people back to a proper relationship with Himself.

May he give people in New York and elsewhere around the world, that abiding hope which is found in Jesus Christ.
Since that day, our screens have shown us hundreds perhaps thousands of similar attacks on people in other countries.

People of various religions have died.  More senseless destruction to life and property.

Terrorism affects people of every race and creed.

We pray for the people in New York and for people everywhere who have been and are still being affected by terrorism.

We pray that the love and mercy and comfort which God offers to each of us would be evident even as we work for justice and security in our troubled world.

Let us pray with the Psalmist “Even though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death I will fear no evil,...

(Spoken at the John Stott memorial service, Auckland Cathedral, 4 Sept 2011)

Our Father in heaven, although we are sad that John is no longer with us, we are also glad for John that he has now entered into that rest promised to all your good and faithful servants.

Father, - we give you thanks for John's life and for his legacy that lives on. We thank you for your Spirit who inspired him and shaped him and sustained him through a lifetime of faithful and devoted service. We thank you for Jesus who was so evidently his saviour, his master, and his friend.

We thank you Lord for his witness, his integrity, and his compassion, which spoke so powerfully to a watching world, and which was honoured even in Time magazine with his nomination as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

We are thankful too Lord for the inspiration you have brought through your gracious and humble servant John, to your church at large, and to us who are part of the evangelical family in particular.

The World Evangelical Alliance, who I represent here today, has been blessed beyond measure by John's work and support over a time span of 60 years, and we acknowledge with gratitude his role in helping found the alliance under the name World Evangelical Fellowship in 1951.

John's writing, teaching, and leadership, along with his heart for unity, service, and proclaiming the full Gospel of Jesus, laid a foundation for evangelicals which...

By Dr J Edwin Orr
Dr A. T. Pierson once said, 'There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.' Let me recount what God has done through concerted, united, sustained prayer. Not many people realize that in the wake of the American Revolution (following 1776-1781) there was a moral slump. Drunkenness became epidemic. Out of a population of five million, 300,000 were confirmed drunkards; Profanity was of the most shocking kind. For the first time in the history of the American settlement, women were afraid to go out at night for fear of assault. Bank robberies were a daily occurrence. What about the churches? The Methodists were losing more members than they were gaining. The Baptists said that they had their most wintry season. The Presbyterians in general assembly deplored the nation's ungodliness. In a typical Congregational church, the Rev. Samuel Shepherd of Lennos, Massachusetts, in sixteen years had not taken one young person into fellowship. The Lutherans were so languishing that they discussed uniting with Episcopalians who were even worse off. The Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New York, Bishop Samuel Provost, quit functioning; he had confirmed no one for so long that he decided he was out of work, so he took up other employment. The Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall, wrote to the Bishop of Virginia, James Madison, that the Church 'was too far gone ever to be redeemed.' Voltaire averred...

At a recent meeting of National Church Leaders it was agreed to encourage churches to be open on Saturday 30 April so that throughout New Zealand members of church communities and the community at large could pray for the peoples of the Pacific rim following the recent disasters in Haiti, Japan, Greymouth and Christchurch.

Waitangi Day 6th February this year falls on a Sunday. This gives churches a special opportunity to begin marking the date as we move towards 2014 and the bicentennial of the Gospel in New Zealand.

...

Imagine thousands of Christians, in hundreds of churches of all denominations throughout New Zealand, joining in prayer to spread the Jesus-message through New Zealand's mass media.
Organised by the Christian Broadcasting Association, Media Prayer Day is happening on Sunday 25 July 2010, when CBA is asking churches to take a few moments in their Sunday services on 25 July to pray.
'Millions of dollars are spent every year to harness the media's power to sell ideas, and those working within the mass media have a privileged position that can impact on the lives of thousands of people, for good or for bad,' says Phil Guyan of CBA.
'The media can be a tool to drive people further from faith in God or to draw them towards it.'
CBA's suggestion is to pray for Christians who work within all forms of New Zealand's mass media, for those with profiles and those behind the scenes, that they may be ‘salt and light'. Also to pray for people of influence within New Zealand's mass media - Christian or not: presenters, writers, editors, directors, producers and media managers whose decisions can give voice to a Christian perspective or prevent an authentic Christian voice being heard.
CBA's website has more videos, resources for churches, links and imaginative approaches for Media Prayer Day. See www.MediaPrayerDay.com

Are you looking for a new day for the church Jesus gave His life for? A day when multitudes turn to Christ. What happens when half a billion people from every nation on earth unite for a day in prayer?

GLOBAL DAY OF PRAYER was held on Pentecost Sunday: 31st May 2009. We are thrilled that so many churches, towns and cities have participated in our nation in the past few years. Even more centres throughout New Zealand were expected to get involved this year in conducting united gatherings of Christians to pray earnestly and expectantly for the evangelisation of this nation and the world! For more information email John Fulford.
It all began in 2001 in a stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, where 45,000 Christians gathered to plead with God for the salvation of their nation and all of Africa. In 2002 the gatherings had spread to 8 cities of South Africa. In 2003, all the major cities of sub-Sahara Africa were included. In 2004, all of the 56 nations of Africa, from Cape to Cairo participated. In 2005, Africa invited all the world to join in, and we in New Zealand were among the many that responded, which included some 28 towns and cities through this nation. This year, of the 220 nations of the world, virtually ALL are committed to taking part in some way! This is indeed the biggest prayer meeting in the history of the world! And these gatherings continue to 2010!
I sincerely hope that you will want to be included - for your church or town or city, and I look forward eagerly to hearing from you and assisting and encouraging you in any way that I can.

Send us an email or phone me at 09-83 23 464 for resources and suggestions -- And be sure to email me...