Latest News #279
May 13, 2004

The following news concerns the UBS World Day
of Prayer.

Round-the-clock prayer unites Bible Societies on May 9

WORLD — Christians across the world were united on May 9, the United Bible Societies (UBS) Day of Prayer, by their desire to thank God for the achievements of the Bible Society movement over the last 200 years and to commit the future growth of the ministry to him.

With the bicentenary celebrations highlighting the expansion of Bible Societies into more than 200 countries and every time zone on the globe – a fact reflected by this year’s UBS Prayer Booklet –  the Day of Prayer provided a unique opportunity for prayer with a worldwide focus.

People who responded to the Bible Society of South Africa’s call to prayer, for example, prayed not only for their neighbours in Lesotho but for Turkey, Egypt and Moldova, countries which, though they lie thousands of miles from South Africa, nevertheless fall into the same time zone.

Prayer began in countries where May 9 dawned earliest. In Malaysia, for example, the Bible Society had invited its supporters to order copies of the Prayer Booklet for use in their own churches. As the day progressed, the baton of round-the-clock prayer was taken up in other time zones.

In Swaziland, on the day preceding the Day of Prayer the Bible Society held a special fundraising breakfast. It is using the opportunity of the bicentenary year to draw a comparison between Mary Jones, the Welsh girl who went in search of a Bible more than 200 years ago, and the children of Swaziland made orphans by HIV/AIDS.

 “Our ‘Mary Joneses’ have lost hope,” says a Bible Society publicity handout. “They need love, light, hope and life. They meet in neighbourhood care points for food and play together. They need the Word but they cannot raise the funds to get it.”

The program was duly launched on May 8 and further events planned for later in the year. For the Day of Prayer, Christians from various churches came together in Manzini, Central Swaziland. Guest speakers included the Prime Minister, Absalom Dlamini, and the UBS Associate General Secretary of the Eastern and Southern Africa regions, Peter Mkolesia.

With music from local groups, the broad theme of the event was the Bible’s impact on Swaziland and prayers focused on devotion, obedience and the preservation of the God’s Word by the people.

In Nigeria, the Bible Society publicised May 9 widely through The Punch, a newspaper with a daily circulation of 90,000 copies. In neighbouring Benin, the day prior to the Day of Prayer saw a large bicentenary rally in Cotonou. Banners at all the main road junctions in the capital proclaimed the message ‘1804-2004, 200 years of Bible work. Let’s mark this historic event,’ and Christians of all denominations, along with ministers and some well-known personalities gathered for the event at La Maison du Peuple. All denominations had been informed about the Day of Prayer on May 9, and the churches were sent notes on items for prayer and a short version of the Mary Jones story as resources for the day. Many church-based prayer groups had began to pray well in advance of the day and continued to hold prayer sessions for the Bible Society for several days afterwards. The evangelical radio station Maranatha broadcast a special programme telling the story of Mary Jones.

In Cameroon, the Day of Prayer was preceded by a press conference at which presentations were made about the national Bible Society and international Bible work. On May 9 itself, prayers were said in churches across Cameroon, followed by rallies in five towns. Elsewhere in the same time zone, the Bible Societies in both Congo (Democratic Republic) and Congo (Brazzaville) worked with their partner churches to ensure that the Day of Prayer was marked in services. In the former, publicity for the event included advertisements on local radio stations.

In Mali, Bible Society staff prayed together for an hour each day in the week preceding the Day of Prayer. On the day itself, May 10 in this case, the particular focus of prayer was Morocco, a country within the same time zone which has historical links with Mali.

In contrast, the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) took the Day of Prayer as an opportunity to pray not only for Bible work in countries within the same time zone, but also for Bible work across the world. Beginning with the very first minutes of the day, it arranged for individuals and groups to pray in half-hour slots throughout the entire 24 hours. Other related initiatives included prayer breakfasts and lunches. The very next day, BFBS was already receiving enthusiastic feedback from people who had been very moved by their involvement, according to Prayer Co-ordinator Andy Hall.

The Day of Prayer drew to a close in the Americas, where there was a flurry of activity marking the day. From Uruguay in the east to Peru in the west and from Venezuela in the north to Argentina in the south, Bible Societies across the region encouraged their partner churches to set time aside in services to pray for the Bible Society movement. By providing a range of promotional materials and gaining the support of church leaders and Christian organisations, Bible Societies ensured widespread participation in praying that, in the words of the prayer provided in the Prayer Booklet, Bible Societies will be “ever strengthened in pursuing [their] vision of a flourishing fellowship of national Bible Societies working with the churches to fill people’s hearts with the truths of your Word.”

The reason May 9 is observed as UBS Day of Prayer is that this was the final day, in 1946, of the conference in Haywards Heath, England, which brought UBS into existence. Everyone associated with the Fellowship is invited to set time aside on this day each year to pray for Bible work in their own country and around the world and to encourage others to do so, too. (For practical reasons, a national Bible Society may sometimes decide to mark the Day of Prayer on a day other than May 9.)