International relief and development charity Tearfund is calling on churches across the globe to pray for an end to extreme poverty this Sunday.
They will be invited to pray a prayer written by the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for Tearfund's 50th anniversary.
This Sunday is the closest to the date of Tearfund's founding on May 29, 1968.
Research commissioned by the charity earlier this year found that one in two UK adults (51 per cent) pray. When it comes to the most popular topics of prayer, worldwide issues, such as praying for global poverty or natural disasters, rank seventh on the list (24 per cent).
Tearfund chief executive Nigel Harris, said: 'Prayer is central to everything we do and has underpinned our work for the last 50 years. At Tearfund, we believe in the power of prayer but we also understand it's not always easy to engage in the complex issues surrounding global poverty. We can often feel overwhelmed with the vastness of our world and detached from circumstances so different from our own. Wherever you are on the day, we hope the archbishop of Canterbury's prayer will help equip and unite us in praying for an end to extreme poverty."'
Tearfund will also be inviting Big Church Day Out festival-goers to join in the global prayer moment, which will be led by Tearfund Ambassador and best-selling author Pete Greig.
The annual music festival brings together more than 20,000 Christians from around the UK and Europe for one of the biggest events on the church calendar, featuring contemporary Christian bands and entertainment for the whole family.
Pete Greig, founder of the 24/7 Prayer movement, said: 'Ending poverty is achievable. It's a battle we can win if enough people like you and me do our bit, and especially if we pray. The Bible shows that there is something incredibly powerful about standing together in unity to intercede in the name of Jesus for a broken world."'
Tearfund currently works in over 50 countries around the world to help communities overcome the worst effects of poverty and disasters through a network of local partners and churches. The charity has set an aim to see one million prayers raised throughout the year to help end extreme poverty.
This is the archbishop's prayer:
Gracious and generous God, you became poor so that we might be enriched by your love, and you gave the world's wealth and resources as a common inheritance of all human beings.
We pray you would strengthen your church to be a beacon of hospitality for the poor.
We pray that, seeing the light of Christ's love, the nations and peoples of the world may fight not to kill, but to outdo one another in care for the poor, and in actions of gracious generosity.
Through him who for our sakes did not grasp the wealth of heaven, but instead gave all to live for us as a slave, and die for us in pain, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.
Amen.
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