The sun shone brightly down on Millwall Football stadium in South London, as thousands of Christians gathered there to mark the seventh Global Day of Prayer.
London joined over 60 other UK cities, and 210 countries across the world, praying on the theme, ‘Your Kingdom Come… on Earth as in Heaven.
The celebration began with resonating worship, led by Noel Richards, Geraldine Latty, Godfrey Birtil and Graham Kendrick. Children’s choirs, dancers and representatives from the local government of the area also led different sections of the programme.
Joining in agreement, the 20,000+ Christians prayed into a number of different areas:
- For the Street Pastors initiative, which sees Christians taking to the streets and offering a listening ear and practical assistance to those they meet.
- For projects dealing with youth crime and urban deprivation in London.
- For the Hope 2008 initiative.
- For those affected by knife and gun crime.
- For the new Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and his staff.
- For those affected by natural disaster, poverty and climate change throughout the world.
The father of Damilola Taylor, the schoolboy murdered in London in 2000, led a time of united prayer asking for forgiveness for the perpetrators of these crimes, and for peace and justice to reign in the capital. The congregation sang the words of the prayer of St Francis, ‘Make me a channel of your peace’, as a white dove appeared on the big screens signifying this peace and hope.
Representatives from different people groups living in London led Scripture readings in their native languages, including Hebrew, Tamil, Portuguese, Chinese and Spanish, and the congregation joined in a responsive version of Psalm 8, declaring the Majesty and Glory of God’s name.
The atmosphere in the stadium was electric as people stood worshipping in groups and kneeled in prayer on the pitch. Prayers flowed for repentance, blessing, salvation and transformation for the city of London and further afield.
The event ended with a responsive prayer which was prayed in each of the countries taking part in the Global Day of Prayer. It felt powerful and exciting to be praying words that millions of others would also be lifting to God across the world. We’re all waiting expectantly to see how God moves as a result of the faithful prayers of his people across the globe on this day.
Here are some pictures:
The gang outside the stadium
Waiting for the fun to start
Sheltering from the sun!
Crowds of merry pray-ers
I’m a little jealous (in a good and proper non-sinful way, of course!). We had a great meeting in the evening here in Canterbury though, where various Christians joined with the Pentecostal church to take part in the Global Day of Prayer. The prayer that had been prayed around the world was indeed amazing, and we prayed for our city, our nation and for other nations. Great stuff.