Thy Kingdom Come: It’s Coming!

Our Diocese has been taking part in Thy Kingdom Come for several years now. If you haven’t come across it before, this is a global movement across the Anglican Communion in the 10 days leading up to Pentecost.

Of course, we are people who ‘pray continuously’ (1 Thess 5:17), but this period is especially put aside as one to really dig in to praying for God’s will to be done in our lives and in our communities, and in particular, a call for each of us to pray for 5 people to come to know Jesus.

We’ll also be updating our own Thy Kingdom Come web page as gets closer.

Who are your five?

So, who is God placing on your heart to pray for particularly this season? Maybe they’re people you’ve been praying over for many years. Anglo-Saxon Queen Bertha of Kent prayed for 18 years for her husband King Aethelred to come to know Jesus, and through him, Christianity spread and Canterbury became the spiritual home for many Anglicans.

Or maybe God is placing on your heart new people who you’ve come across recently. Either way, as we lead into Thy Kingdom Come why not spend some time asking God to reveal people to you that you can particularly hold by name over this season. Write them down, find a way to commit to holding them in prayer such as making a prayer bracelet, a card in your wallet, or setting a daily reminder in your phone.

And don’t forget to check in with your people (if appropriate) and see how they are!

What’s your place doing?

As well as praying for 5, this is a great opportunity to join together in corporate prayer in your parish and mission unit. Here’s some easy things we like from this year’s 23 Ideas for 2023 created by the Thy Kingdom Come team:

·         Pray on the hills: many of us have lovely hills that overlook our communities. Why not commit to gathering on these – either alone or with members of your faith family - and praying over the places that God loves?

·         Prayer postcards: why not create some simple prayer postcards for your faith community to hand out to their networks, and pop into local letterboxes?

·         Continuous prayer: why not commit to a period of continuous prayer for a period over Thy Kingdom Come. Perhaps a 24-hour period leading into Pentecost itself? You could do a combination of people praying at home, on Zoom, or in person together.

Share your stories with the wider whānau!

When we share what God is doing it encourages us all. We’d love to be able to hear your hopes and even your celebrations over this time. Already we have heard that Johnsonville are organising a prayer and fasting roster; that Newlands are using this season to ask the whole parish to pray for health and growth and even the old ‘r’ word (revival!), and are using the ‘Say One For Me’ idea from this year’s Thy Kingdom Come resources above at their Tuesday veggie co-op that week.

Kāpiti parish have been busy preparing a prayer marquee for the weekends of Thy Kingdom Come, and have booked spaces in the mall, at the local beach market, and on the streets of Paekakariki, and will be inviting people to receive prayer, or attach their prayer requests. Archdeacon Julie says “we are praying we will see God moving in our community through this initiative.”

Share your story with communication@anglicanmovement.nz. We’d love to hear from you so that we can encourage everyone.