The State of the Nation gathering also focused on repentance over the church’s silence in the face of immoral legislation passed over the decades, particularly in the areas of the unborn child and marriage.
All mainstream denominations were represented at Saturday’s gathering at the Emmanuel Centre, near the Houses of Parliament. Prayer gatherings were also held in Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh and in countries around the world, including the US, Germany and Australia, in an expression of solidarity with the London meeting.
The day of prayer and repentance was organised following a meeting at the House of Lords last December of some 80 Christians from the church, the Houses of Parliament, and the business and education sectors. The meeting focused on the moral and spiritual implications of the financial crisis and concluded with a call for a season of prayer and fasting for the UK.
David Noakes, a member of the State of the Nation facilitating group, said the prayer meeting was possibly the most important gathering since World War II.
“Only then it was a nation. Now it is a remnant people. But don’t be dismayed that it is a remnant,” he said, pointing to the battle won by the Lord with the 300 warriors of Gideon.
Mr Noakes chided the church for failing to speak out against ungodly legislation and urged the church not to be swayed by political correctness.
“God is not politically correct but biblically correct,” he said, adding that the church needed to cast out the sin within its own ranks and return to a fear of the Lord.
Mr Noakes ended with a note of encouragement, saying that God had not forgotten about Christians in Britain because of the country’s special history and that the despair brought on by the financial crisis would prompt more people to turn to God.
“There are many people in great despair because the whole world system is coming down around them. God will bring many people into the light of salvation out of that darkness and they will come back again to a fear of the Lord.”
