God’s loving compassion cradles the whole world,
touching every nation, every person, every bit of creation.
Praying for the world means, first of all, being aware of what’s happening in international news. It means sharing in God’s loving compassion for all. It means praying week in and week out, when the news is full of great joy and devastating sorrow, boringly ordinary or startlingly unexpected. It means stretching ourselves to pray with love and respect for those we hate, and those we merely dismiss. It means being honest enough to admit that we often want call God to account in times of great evil or disaster – and even honest enough to whine on the days when we just don’t feel like praying. It means taking the risk of making mistakes (and yes, we’ve made them), and trusting that God will honor our longing for all to be well with every single nation, every single person, even when our words come out all wrong.
Praying for the world means inviting others to join with us in prayer…to experience praying for the world as an active, creative, life-giving response to even the worst international news.
World In Prayer was started by a member of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, in Lodi, CA, USA, in August 2001, for two purposes:
- To provide a weekly summary of international news with accompanying prayer (now posted – normally – late every Thursday night)
- To model and teach ways of praying in response to international news, and invite others to deepen their own prayers for the needs of the world (see the materials in the “Our Prayer Resources” section. Also, if you’re curious, the full story of how World In Prayer came to be started can be found in that section, in the first chapter of the Praying for the World course.)
It is still a ministry under St. John’s, but since that time, the all-volunteer team who take turns writing and posting the weekly prayers has grown to 15 members, living in three countries (two continents), and representing a half dozen different denominations. Our readers come from all over the world. We hope to continue expanding the diversity of voices who share in this ministry.
We invite you to share or reproduce anything published on our web site, with our blessings, as long as you give credit to World In Prayer. There is no charge to use anything we have produced!
To subscribe to the weekly prayers by email, click here.
We welcome your comments, and your stories about your own journeys into praying for the world. Contact us at: worldinprayer@aol.com.
World in Prayer has been revamped by Tomatillo Design, which specializes in creating beautiful, affordable websites for nonprofits, churches, and small businesses.
Click here to learn more about Tomatillo Design.
Photo Credits:
- Labyrinth photo by Flickr user Rohan Talip
- Man in prayer photo by Flickr user sunchild123
- Candles and girl in prayer photos from Stock.XCHNG
