Global wave of prayer planned in run-up to Pentecost

 

It began as a simple request from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the clergy of the Church of England four years ago that they pray for God to renew his church and work in the lives of his followers.

 

Now, Thy Kingdom Come has become a global ecumenical prayer movement. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby, has launched Thy Kingdom Come for 2020 and it will take place from Pentecost to Ascension (21 to 31 May 2020) throughout the world.

 

This year’s season of prayer was launched at Lambeth Palace, the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, at an ecumenical event, which he hosted and where he was joined by Pete Greig from the 24-7 Prayer movement, Bishop Nicholas Hudson from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, and Teresa Carvalho from the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales.

 

Archbishop Justin told those present: “what excites me is that as we come together and pray for people to be filled with the Spirit, so they come to know and love Jesus Christ, to repent of their sins and turn away from all that is wrong and to find the love of Christ filling their hearts, we are in fact praying for the changing of our world.”

 

Pete Greig acknowledged the busyness of his “fellow pastors, vicars and priests”, but urged them to make the Thy Kingdom Come initiative a priority. “Let us get behind this and let us have grace for one another in this because I believe Jesus is calling us to pray,” he said. “This has the marks of the Holy Spirit upon it.”

 

Thy Kingdom Come first emerged from the Archbishops’ Evangelism Task Group. “We wanted to see a culture change in the Church in this country on evangelism”, the Archbishop’s evangelism advisor Canon Chris Russell said. “We never thought it would grow this much over four years. God has done more than we can ask or imagine. . . We pray God will renew us, his church and that God would work in the lives of our families, neighbours and friends and open their hearts, hands, ears to receive Him In their lives.”

 

The project was put together before the coronavirus had become such a serious epidemic and some proposals involving churches will have to be put on hold. However, Thy Kingdom Come has several ideas for individuals and families to pray together. These include:

 

Reflect with the project’s Novena.

 

Use the Thy Kingdom Come prayer card as a reminder to pray for five people to be converted to Christ

 

Use a rosary-style leather band with five knots to pray for friends and family to be converted to Christ.

 

This year there is a Thy Kingdom Come app with daily prayers, reflections, readings and videos for the 11 day cycle of prayer. Special resources for Roman Catholics and for Methodists have also been developed.

 

For resources and further details go to https://www.thykingdomcome.global/