World Day of Prayer 2021
This year the theme of the World Day of Prayer is "Build on a Strong Foundation".
World Day of Prayer is a worldwide, ecumenical movement of Christian women of many traditions who come together to observe a common day of prayer each year and who, in many countries, have a continuing relationship in prayer and service.
It is initiated and carried out by women in more than 170 countries and regions, across many denonimations. This year, the service has been designed by the women of Vanuatu in the South Pacific and is all about living with a climate crisis.
Vanuatu has a colourful culture and warm and engaging people. Sadly, the islands are suffering from climate change after Cyclone Pam destroyed several islands and damaged the international airport in 2015.
In 2020, Cyclone Harold created catastrophic damage to several other islands, especially Espiritu Santo during the Covid pandemic.
But the area also suffers as a result of non climate related disasters. All the islands are subject to quite large tremors on a regular basis and the island of Ambea was decimated and had to be completely evacuated by a volcanic eruption in 2017.
The islands are mainly Christian; their celebrations are colourful and engaging, as this year's WDP reflects.
The opportunity for this year’s Day of Prayer has been significant for them and even after the services have ended there is still time to pray for the people of Vanuatu especially in their struggles against climate change.
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