World Day of Prayer

By: (March 4, 2011)

Today is Women's World Day of Prayer. This year's theme is 'How Many Loaves Have You?' and salutes the country of Chile. In Teeswater services will be held at Sacred Hearth Roman Catholic Church (they rotate each year).

World Day of Prayer is about Informed Prayer which flows into Prayerful Action. After hearing the voices of our sisters, experiencing their pains with them, and feeling their hopes and fear, we are empowered to act. Prayer and action are not two different things connected by a string but rather inseparable realms of our faith experience. To pray truly is to be changed. To truly let in a new perspective is to be changed. To act in accordance with these shifts happens organically. Action continues our prayer.

World Day of Prayer is a worldwide movement of Christian women of many traditions who come together to observe a common day of prayer each year, and who, in many countries, have a continuing relationship in prayer and service.

  • It is a movement initiated and carried out by women in more than 170 countries and regions.
  • It is a movement symbolized by an annual day of celebration – the first Friday of March – to which all people are welcome.
  • It is a movement which brings together women of various races, cultures, and traditions in closer fellowship, understanding, and action throughout the year.

Through World Day of Prayer, women around the world

  • affirm their faith in Jesus Christ
  • share their hopes and fears, their joys and sorrows, their opportunities and needs
  •  

Through World Day of Prayer, women are encouraged

  • to become aware of the whole world and no longer live in isolation
  • to be enriched by the faith experience of Christians of other countries and cultures
  • to take up the burdens of other people and pray with and for them
  • to become aware of their talents and use them in the service of society
  •  

Through World Day of Prayer, women affirm that prayer and action are inseparable and both have immeasurable influence in the world. 

The Women's World Day of Prayer started in the USA in 1884. When Mary Ellen James called for a day of prayer in 1887, she was not planning a great worldwide movement, destined to become the largest ecumenical movement in the world organised and led by women. She was simply reacting, as a Christian, to the society in which she lived. The wife of a Presbyterian minister in New York and the mother of seven children, Mary Ellen was aware of the problems faced by many women around her, particularly new immigrants to America – the awful slums with their poverty, unemployment, poor housing, lack of health or educational facilities. Something had to be done.

Two years later, two Baptists called together a Day of Prayer for the World Mission. The Day of Prayer initiated by these two women expanded to neighboring countries, then on to Europe and other continents.

Since 1927 the day is known as Women’s World Day of Prayer.

For more information look online at: World Day of Prayer International Committee

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The Teeswater.Ca Team are a group of people interested in providing local news of interest to everyone without needing the instant gratification of their name in (cyber)print.

Filed Under: Churches, In The News, Knox Presbyterian Church, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Teeswater - Salem United Churches
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