European Evangelical Alliance Week of Prayer

The European Evangelical Alliance's (EEA) annual Week of Prayer kicked-off on Sunday 9th January. The event has a long standing history and has had a major influence on the growth of the organisation. First launched in January 1861, the special week which takes place in the first month of the year continues to create a context for all Evangelicals in Europe to pray together for the past 150 years.

The Week of Prayer material for 2005 has been prepared by the Norwegian Evangelical Alliance, which has chosen the Lord’s Prayer as the main theme. According to the spokesman of the Norwegian Evangelical Alliance Hans Thore Løvaas, the Lord’s Prayer is a prayer from the children of God for expressing love to the Heavenly Father and telling Him the personal needs as well as the needs of the whole world.

He explained that the Lord’s Prayer pattern helps us to have a proper focus in prayers. The following themes are addressed in order - God’s name, God’s kingdom on earth and God’s will, our practical needs, our own sins, our relationship to others and the need for protection from ourselves, the world and Satan.

"The pattern of the Lord’s Prayer must be the pattern of all prayer, for it begins by giving God His proper place, and it goes on to take life’s past, present and future to God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit," he added. He hoped that the prayers for Europe and the World in 2005 would follow this pattern.

In the prayer material, the Lord’s Prayer was divided into 7 parts, so that a prayer topic has been set everyday from 9th January to 16th January in the following manner:

• Sunday 9th
  - Our Relationship to God
  
• Monday 10th
  - Our Worship to God
  
• Tuesday 11th
  - God’s Lordship on Earth
  
• Wednesday 12th
  - God’s Lordship and Our Obedience
  
• Thursday 13th
  - Our Sonship and Daily Needs
  
• Friday 14th
  - Our Sonship and Fellowship
  
• Saturday 15th
  - God’s Leadership under Pressure and in Temptations
  
• Sunday 16th
  - Worship Again

Together with a daily reading and devotion, Christians are able to meditate upon the contents and pray more deeply.

While all members of the EEA will unite in prayer for Europe, some of them also prepared their individual prayer materials in native languages such as French, German and Italian.

The EEA calls all Evangelicals to pray for a greater Gospel impact across Europe in the 21st century, specifically an increasing Evangelical cooperation all over Europe and Christian people to play their part in every area and level of life in Europe. At the same time, the Alliance also gives a prayer of gratitude for the growing numbers of national Evangelical Alliances in Europe and the increasing interest in the Affiliate Membership category of the EEA.

The EEA now based in London, United Kingdom, represents 10 million European evangelicals from 33 countries to the European Union.