Success comes in many forms. In Mozambique, Tearfund partners found themselves using a particularly unique unit of measurement when participating with the recent Global poverty prayer week: a tree.
As Tearfund staff and partners in Mozambique gathered to pray on the first morning, the doors to the venue they’d planned on meeting in remained locked. So they chose a nearby tree to pray under instead. They carried on gathering there throughout the week – the tree becoming a symbol of something spontaneous and real.
It didn’t stop there. The partners have decided to continue with monthly prayer meetings and now have a bigger vision for how they might expand their work in the country. As Tearfund staff member Earnest Maswera explains there is a need for a ‘prophetic voice to the church.’ What better place to start than with openness, prayer and unity as they aim to encourage local churches to get further involved in future projects?
A few thousand miles north and Micah Challenge Portugal – another Tearfund partner – is still feeling the benefit of its involvement in the prayer week. Their work on unfair trade rules has suddenly received a significant boost, with national newspapers publishing their articles, other NGOs agreeing to work together and political parties taking up their offers of meetings.
It wasn’t all national influence either, as Micah Challenge Portugal’s Joao Pedro Martins makes clear, ‘I was very encouraged when some churches used the prayer tips,’ he said, ‘Like when they see a red light people started to pray for someone who has AIDS and is suffering, when they turned on a light they prayed for carbon greenhouse emissions and people who are suffering from climate change. These kinds of tips were a great way to see prayer in an informal, practical way.’
Back home in Wales the international theme continued to develop as a Zimbabwean minister gave a moving talk to supporters who had been meeting in the Welsh Assembly during the day. Regardless of the hemisphere or the time zone, it’s clear that when Christians unite to pray, when they find their knees in search of answers to global poverty, good – and often unexpected – things are rarely far behind.