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As millions around the world gathered for the 11th annual Global Day of Prayer on Pentecost Sunday, churches of all denominations and ethnic backgrounds across London and throughout the British Isles prayed as the heavens poured out rain to end the season of drought. Many farming communities rejoiced to see their land soaked which was a poignant prophetic sign that prayers will end the spiritual drought in Britain. Across all 33 London boroughs thousands of Christians in Newham, Southwark, Brent, Bromley, Lewisham, Harringay, Hackney, Kensington and Chelsea, Ealing, Wandsworth, Lambeth and Westminster amongst others held a variety of prayer events. Prayer events also took place across the home counties including Surrey, Essex and Kent. In Romford in Essex, heavy rain forced plans to gather at the local market place, to be moved at the last minute to Romford Baptist Church. Despite this the church was packed with Christians from a wide variety of denominations and nationalities in a powerful display of unity as prayers were said for all aspects of society from the recession, loneliness to youth issues. There were a number of dignitaries in attendance including the Mayor of Romford and Member of Parliament for Romford Andrew Rosindell: “The Global Day of Prayer is an important event in the local community. You have wonderful organisations, churches and faith groups throughout Romford and they play a pivotal part in our local community. They’re the bedrock of Romford and I’m very pleased that the Global Day of Prayer is happening in my constituency. “It’s a wonderful initiative and I’m delighted that so many from Romford are contributing to that 200 million group of people who are coming together to worship and to celebrate and so here in Romford we’re playing our part in that global community of Christians.” GDOP London Convener Jonathan Oloyede was extremely encouraged by all that was happening in the capital on Pentecost Sunday: “I’m excited by all the different events that have been happening across London. We’ve been having celebrations in all the 33 boroughs of the city. “We’ve been praying for the peace of God for our city, we’ve been praying for the young people, we’ve been praying that the crime rates will come down. We’ve been praying for the unity of the church to come together at such a time as Pentecost. “We’ve been talking about the powerful leaders’ prayer summit that’s going to be taking place at Wembley Stadium on Saturday September 17. Many churches and denominations are gearing up to send their delegates to this historic gathering which has a theme of Unity, Prayer and Transformation. As Global Day of Prayer London moves on with the 500 Days of unceasing Prayer, a number of ongoing events have been planned to mobilise increased pray for the city and the nation, including a special Night of Prayer on Tuesday July 13 at the Emmanuel Christian Centre in Westminster, London 7-10pm. GDOP London is inviting all leaders to attend a special reception at 6:30pm, when they’ll hear more about the exciting plans to gather 1,000 leaders at Wembley Stadium on Saturday September 17. |
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