Launching City Hall Prayer

LaunchingCITY HALL PRAYER

(Beginning April 16, 2018)Recently I was impacted by two politicians, one local and the other federal, on the importance of Christians praying for local politicians. One of them, the existing mayor, explained that federal or provincial laws must be implemented on the local level, which usually requires not a few important, and sometimes disagreeable, adjustments. I felt like God was dropping a ‘seed’ of thought into my spirit that hasn’t left me. Last May I attended the Wilberforce Weekend in Washington where various American leaders were emphasizing that Christianity has lost the ‘cultural war’. These leaders all emphasized the need for the church to get back to the simple message of loving their neighbours. One leader put it this way: “if you want to change the nation, clean your own bedrooms first.” I agree. If this is true in the United States, perhaps we should reflect on where we are in Canadian society. Are we expecting change from the top down or from the bottom up? What I mean by that, is are we viewing the federal or provincial governments as the main change agents in society, or do we see the need to clean our own bedrooms first? We need to see that society is downstream from the church and the government is downstream from society. Or, to put it another way:

CHURCH INFLUENCES SOCIETY SOCIETY INFLUENCES GOVERNMENTAt NHOP our mandate is to mobilize informed and sustained prayer for all government leaders. Until now we have been primarily focused on federal and provincial governments but see the need to expand this to include the local level of government. There are many who, through the years, have faithfully championed prayer on the grass-roots level for our nation. Often these local prayer initiatives have been birthed through local churches endeavouring to impact their communities with the love of God. We are launching the City Hall Prayer newsletter to encourage and help equip those who are already involved in prayer for their local politicians. This newsletter will be sent out every second month. We are hoping to spur on others to become involved in this important mission. Our heart is to provide resources and to encourage more people to join in local city prayer. We are in no way trying to take people away from any existing prayer ministry at the local level.     Some of our ideas for the City Hall Prayer newsletter include:

1. Testimonies from those who are already involved praying for local issues and politicians.

2. Strategies to help involve your local church.

3. Tips in building relationships with your local leaders and politicians.

4. Proven methods of prayer and discerning God’s direction for your city.

5. Always staying under the plumb-line of the Word of God.Please feel free to email us your feedback on this initiative to: prayer@cityhallprayer.ca. We would love to hear some of your personal experiences regarding praying for your local government. Don’t be afraid to include some of your challenges as well as successes. Also, if you know of others who are interested in this, please forward this newsletter on to them. In our first City Hall Prayer newsletter (April 16th), we will be sharing  a couple of encouraging testimonies from a pastor and those who have been involved in praying for their city for years. We will also be including some keys to building an effective local prayer strategy. Blessings, Rob Parker Director, National House of Prayer