Prayer Around the World
USPG’s Communion Day of Prayer reached out across the world on Tuesday 30 November. Christians around the Anglican Communion journeyed together from province to province over 24 hours. The day, which incorporated worship, music and dance from over 36 Anglican provinces, highlighted the beautiful diversity of Christianity across the world and the importance of sharing our faith with each other. There were over a thousand views of the Day of Prayer livestream on Facebook and hundreds participated via Zoom.
The event began with worship from Melanesia, featuring singing from the St Barnabas’ Cathedral Choir, and closed with a reflection from the Most Rev’d Linda Nicholls, Archbishop of Canada. Highlights of the 24 hours included stirring music from Ghana, a powerful meditation on power and COP26 from Scotland and a ‘sermon through dance’ from South India. No two contributions were the same, with Christians across the 
world expressing their creativity through acts of prayer and worship celebrating local traditions and voicing global concerns. Important themes emerged as the day went on - care for creation, the need for mission and the struggles for gender and racial justice were emphasised by many different churches.
The Day of Prayer received strong support from USPG’s partners across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Churches in the Philippines, Sri Lanka and India held watch parties for the event whilst individuals from the West Indies, Brazil and many other countries took part via Facebook and Zoom. The day also attracted the attention of churches in Mexico, a country USPG has no formal links with. As this event showed, the power of prayer knows no boundaries.
The Rev’d Davidson Solanki, one of the organisers of the Communion Day of Prayer, said:
‘The Communion Day of Prayer was a great success for which we are grateful to God. 36 provinces across the Communion contributed prayer videos and seven contributed prayer requests. Hundreds of churches and individuals from around the world watched on Zoom and Facebook. We are deeply grateful for the overwhelmingly positive response and support from our partners around the world, who made the day such a success.’
If you were inspired by the global collaboration shown by the inaugural Communion Day of Prayer, why not get involved in next year’s edition? Email communications@uspg.org.uk if you have any questions or ideas.