wfn.org | EA NEWS: AMEN! A Day to Pray: God is Reaching the Parts...

["EAUK Press Office" <press@eauk.org>]

AMEN! A Day to Pray: God is Reaching the Parts...
For Immediate Release: 7th June 1998

^From Downing Street to the Scilly Isles, Christian faith and the
implications of faith are reaching into new places across the UK,
Simon Hughes MP, chairman of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship,
said today in a service on BBC Radio Four to mark one of the largest
nationwide days of prayer for 50 years.

"God is reaching parts of the UK that even He may not have reached in
the past," he told a congregation of 250 people at Emmanuel
Evangelical Church, Marsham Street, Westminster, and a radio audience
of more than a million people. 

The service was part of the nationwide AMEN! A Day to Pray initiative,
co-ordinated by the Evangelical Alliance UK.  The day saw many
hundreds of thousands of Christians from over 20 denominations saying
special prayers for government, leadership and local communities. 

In London around 150 people linked hands outside the Houses of
Parliament to pray for politicians and leaders.  Prayers were said by
inmates at Parkhurst Prison, Isle of Wight and during a special prayer
meeting at Catterick Army Garrison in Yorkshire.  Members of 10
churches in Greenwich met for prayer overlooking the Millennium Dome. 

During the Radio Four service, responding to questions about the joys
and challenges of parliamentary life, Simon Hughes talked candidly
about issues facing MPs. He spoke of the pressure to respond to the
"noisy rather than the needy" and the temptation to "put the politics
of today first rather than the long-term matters of God above all".

In asking Christians to pray for politicians during AMEN! A Day to
Pray and beyond, he said: "There is a danger that as politicians we do
the self important rather than the important, that we are ambitious
for ourselves rather than for the world.  

He continued: "There is a pressure to not quite say the truth or to
distort the truth of what other people say, to be confrontational when
you don't need to be and not to accept when other people are right and
you've been wrong."

Amen! A Day to Pray, which was welcomed last week by her Majesty the
Queen and senior political figures from all three main parties, saw
hundreds of creative events taking place. People prayed from vantage
points overlooking their towns in places including Crome in Norfolk,
the Downs overlooking Eastbourne, and in Devon, where a former church
on a hill overlooking Honiton was opened for a week for prayer.

Angela Sarkis, chief executive of the Church Urban Fund was one of
those praying outside Parliament.  She challenged Christians to become
the answer to their own prayers by recapturing the vision of community
and sharing presented in the New Testament book of Acts. 

She declared: "In following the command of Christ to love our
neighbour, the early church community was able to tackle need in a
holistic way.  They realised the importance of feeding the spirit as
well as the body.  Everyone was valued and involved in a radical
re-ordering of the way things should be."

Explaining the prayers outside Parliament, Rev Joel Edwards, general
director of the Evangelical Alliance, said: "We thanked God for the
many people who give their time in public service for their
communities.  We prayed for wisdom to create good and just laws to
protect the poor and defend the weak in society.  We also asked for
integrity for politicians and policy makers, that their lives would
not be corrupted by the exercise of power and influence."

Ends

For further information contact
EA communications officers:
Keith Ewing 0171 207 2116 mailto:kewing@eauk.org
Gavin Drake 0171-207 2117 mailto:gdrake@eauk.org

http://www.eauk.org/press/pr1.htm

Evangelical Alliance UK,
Whitefield House,
186 Kennington Park Road,
London, SE11  4BT