Millions across the World Join in Prayers on Pentecost Sunday

15th May was the Global Day of Prayer. Over 200 million people from 150 nations were mobilised by organisers and united together in prayer to transform the world with the power of the Holy Spirit.

The vision of the Global Day of Prayer originated from Cape Town, South Africa in 2000. It started as a Day of Repentance and Prayer which drew 45,000 Christians with an aim to convert to the "Light to the world".

Following a few years of success, the vision expanded to the whole world. The International Prayer Council and many other prayer groups worldwide formed a partnership in order to make the Global Day of Prayer real at Pentecost Sunday 2005.

Pentecost Sunday marks the advent of the Holy Spirit 50 days after the resurrection of Christ. It is traditionally a day when Christians unite in intensive prayer so as to seek for the power from above, just like the early Church recorded in the book of Acts.

Yesterday, at Newlands Rugby Stadium in Cape Town, home to the Global Day of Prayer, over 30,000 Christians gathered to pray, repent, sing and listen to sermons in the afternoon. The event was hosted by Transformation Africa with the theme "declaring Christ's healing to the nation". The stadium was just one of 391 South African venues including 202 prisons to host prayers.

Graham Power, an African businessman in the construction industry and the founder of the prayer initiative, joined the occasion and said to a local newspaper - Independent Online, "If you said seven years ago that I'd be organising a major spiritual revival, I wouldn't have believed you. If the Lord hadn't taken me and shaken me, we would have never gotten people in 156 countries committed."

He added that prayers in Cape Town had focused on Aids, poverty, crime and corruption, and family values.

In other countries such as Indonesia, a prayer rally was held in Jakarta in a country predominantly Muslim, according to the Mission News Network. Christians cried out to God to transform the nation politically, socially, economically and spiritually.

The reporter said, "Nearly 100,000 people have gathered here and the event is being broadcast nationwide. And, remembering Indonesia has one of the world largest Muslim populations. Tonight is truly an historic event."

In the United States, Pastor Rick Warren of Purpose Driven Ministries, spoke to thousand in Dallas, Texas sending people out to transform the cities where they live first, then abroad.

Reporter Dean Rainey said in Hong Kong, 30,000 people attended the event in the city's stadium. 30 percent of the Christian population attended. At one particular moment, they faced China and prayed for believers suffering for their faith under Communism.

According to the Taiwan Times, about 50,000 Christians in Taiwan gathered under the theme "Praying for Taiwan". Despite the rainy weather, they prayed at the Ketagelan Boulevard with flags and palm branches, which is known as a gathering place for political demonstrations.

Xia Chong-jian, executive director of the Taiwan National Prayer Network and an organiser of the event said, "This is the first time Christians in Taiwan walked out of churches and called on God to have mercy upon Taiwan and renew this nation through peace and reconciliation."