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World Day of Prayer, 2026

I’m our Church’s representative for The World Day of Prayer, along with two lovely ladies from the nearby Methodist and Catholic Churches. It was the turn of the Methodists to host this year, and the service was written by the Christian Women of Nigeria on the theme of “I will give you rest, come”, from Matthew 11:28.

The Day of Prayer is celebrated each year in over 146 countries, beginning in Samoa. Then prayer, in native languages, travels across the world - through Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas before finishing in American Samoa some 38 hours later.

Or, as the hymn would have it:
As o'er each continent and island, the dawn breaks on another day;
The voice of prayer is never silent, nor dies the strain of praise away.

Below is part of an article I’ve written for our Church Magazine:

Taking part in the service were representatives from the three churches in our area – St Peter & St Paul’s Catholic Church; Moorland Park Methodist Church; and Holy Cross. 38 people attended the service which included hymns, readings, prayers and meditations, as well as stories from several women of Nigeria, including – a young girl who struggled to keep up at school; a widow whose husband’s family shunned her but now runs a support programme for widows; a Christian mother with a school age daughter, the same age as Leah Sharibu who alone remained steadfast to her faith when kidnapped with 110 other girls by Boko Haram.

The table at the front of the church included:
• Nigerian flags.
• A black cloth to represent mourning.
• Rice to symbolise the burdens of poverty, despair and economic hardship.
• Cooking oil to represent Nigeria’s complex history with crude oil; & thinking of economic equality.
• Pineapple, mangoes and bananas, being exports of Nigeria.
• A Calabash bowl, used by Nigerian women to gather and sell crops.
• A backpack and school books to represent the burden of religious persecution some children face.
• The WDP Candle and Bible opened to Matthew 11:28.