CityLife World Impact calls for seven days of prayer for the current situation in Ethiopia…
The weekend of 22/23 October, 2016 was a very special weekend at CityLife Church campuses all across the city of Melbourne, Australia. These two days were devoted to supporting and celebrating CityLife World Impact, the missions ministry of our church.
Many volunteers came together to set up bazaars and sausage sizzles to sell food and gift items with the proceeds going to support the work of CityLife missions partners. Thank you all for your support of our ministry.
One of the most powerful messages to come out of the event was a call by CityLife World Impact for a week of prayer for the current situation in Ethiopia.
The service began as we looked at the conflicting messages we are constantly bombarded with. In one ear we hear the good news of what is being accomplished by our Christian ministry in many countries around the world. On the other hand we hear dire messages of suffering and conflict in our world as a whole.
Every night on our TV sets we see the appalling things happening in Syria and many other countries. Never has the world seemed so troubled. Never has it been in so much need of Jesus Christ and the transformation that can come through relationship with him.
We constantly see this transformation occuring in our own lives and the lives of other people at our church. We know that one of the benefits of this transformation is that people become more kind, generous and loving. There is no doubt about this. This happens. People also become more peaceful.
If only this peace could be spread to the whole world and the appalling scenes which we see every night on our TV set could cease. Perhaps we will never achieve this era of perfect peace until Jesus returns and restores the Kingdom in its fullness, but surely it behoves us all to work towards it.
Jesus made it plain that one of the planks of our Christianity is our charitable work, exemplified at CityLife through World Impact. On the deepest level, our mission is to bring God’s Kingdom of peace, justice and equality into the world.
At the end of the service there was a call for seven days of prayer for Ethiopia. By the time you read this message those seven days will have passed. But you can start your own cycle of seven days right now. In this way we will all be united in prayer for Ethiopia.
Pray for civil peace in Ethiopia. Pray for an end to tension and conflict. May a peaceful and secure environment provide a fertile soil for the development of our churches there, which are poised for exciting growth.
To hear more about that, read this blog post on Turning Crisis into Opportunity about the purchase of land and plans to build in Ethiopia. Your prayers will help smooth the way for this development by lessening conflict and creating a supportive environment of peace and stability.
Let’s put our faith to the test and our prayer to work and see if we can’t make a difference in Ethiopia. Soon, quickly…
I read in Matthew 17:20 this morning as part of my daily reading plan that Jesus said…
Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
Surely, we can help bring peace to Ethiopia.
– Harris