WCC calls on churches worldwide to day of prayer for Zimbabwe

Churches worldwide are being invited to celebrate a day of prayer for Zimbabwe on Sunday, 22 June, as the beginning of a season of prayer for the people and government of the African country, which is facing a critical time.

The day of prayer for Zimbabwe, which is an initiative of Christians in the country, will take place shortly before the runoff election for the presidency scheduled for Friday, 27 June.

"It is impossible to overstate the importance of this election, its fairness, its outcome and its aftermath", affirms the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in a letter to the WCC member churches. "Events in the coming weeks will challenge the people of Zimbabwe and the world to find means of overcoming violence in the exercise of democracy, and the results will influence the future of the nation and the region", he adds.

Full text of the invitation letter

There is also an excellent article on Zimbabwe from ENI from last week's Ecumenical Centre in Geneva weekly lunchtime meeting on Zimbabwe. The WSCF have just sent out an invitation to tomorrow's lunchtime meeting saying "With us tomorrow are three Zimbabwe human rights lawyers who have faced death threats and imprisonment for defending civil society activists. The focus will be on the presidential run-off elections and suggestions on how the international ecumenical movement can practically help Zimbabweans from this moment on."

Meanwhile David Ker on the splendid Lingamish blog has been highlighting the enough is enough blog about Zimbabwe on his home page - it has further links to some excellent blogs about the past and current situation and we can only guess as to why so many of them are no longer able to continue writing. Now is not the time to remain silent.