Call To Pray For African Churches

The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is sharing the call of the Presbyterian World Mission to encourages  all PC(USA) members to engage in prayer and fasting November 17 and 18, 2012, in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP). The CCAP is one of the largest Presbyterian denominations on the African continent with five synods spanning Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Although the five synods retain a high degree of autonomy, they come together in a common General Assembly, which is mandated to meet every four years. The General Assembly is an important platform for discussing matters of common concern, resolving disputes, and bearing witness to the unity of the Church as the Body of Christ. It is also a visible expression of the CCAP’s Presbyterian heritage and its rootedness in the tenets of the Reformed tradition.

Unfortunately, a number of factors have prevented the CCAP General Assembly structures from functioning regularly. The
General Assembly last sat in January 2007. The dysfunction at the General Assembly level has been a source of concern for many
of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s sisters and brothers in the CCAP.

Presbyterian World Mission therefore encourages all Presbyterians – and particularly those congregations with any sort of connection to the CCAP – to be intentional about upholding the CCAP in prayer on Saturday and Sunday November 17 and 18, 2012. We urge you to pray for each of the five synods – Blantyre, Harare, Livingstonia, Nkhoma and Zambia – that God may bless them with vision, discernment and a heart for unity and shared witness that can overcome any differences. Pray, too, that we may be welcome partners, valuing the gifts of our sisters and brothers in the CCAP, willing to examine our own needs and shortcomings, and embracing a model of mutual ministry in which we empower one another to be co-laborers in God’s vineyard. We also encourage you to consider fasting for part or all of this period as a further expression of spiritual discipline, enabling you to minimize distractions and to demark this
as a day set apart for prayer.

Colossians 4:2 (NRSV) Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.