Prayer and action for Zimbabwe
By Greg Thompson
The AngliCORD team are following the news
from Zimbabwe with deep concern and prayer
in recent weeks. Like you, we have struggled
with the question of what we in Australia do
for people impoverished and oppressed by
their own Government?
Our friends in Zimbabwe are asking us all to
pray with them. We pray in the name of Christ,
the Servant of God who brings justice and
hope to the nations.
“We call upon all Christians of every denomination
in every nation to focus their prayers, in churches, homes or elsewhere, on the critical
situation in Zimbabwe - a nation in dire
distress and teetering on the brink of human
disaster,” writes Bob Stumbles, the Chancellor
of the Anglican Diocese of Harare.
“Let the cry for help touch your heart and
mind. Let it move you to do what you can
immediately to ensure this day of Prayer takes
place in your country and neighbourhood.”
“It is by making the truth publicly known that
we recommend ourselves to the honest judgment
of humankind in the sight of God.” (2
Corinthians 4:2)
We are being urged to pray that
God will rescue Zimbabwe from
violence, deceit, oppression, and
corruption, including manipulation
of the election results, and
bring about righteousness, joy,
peace, compassion, honesty,
justice, democracy and freedom
from fear and want.We can encourage the Australian Government
to support the people of Zimbabwe as they
seek peaceful, democratic change and to
rebuild their devastated nation.
The Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr Stephen Smith, has recently described the election recount as a “blatant attempt by Mr Mugabe to ..pervert the will of the Zimbabwe people”. Mr Smith is actively lobbying Southern African leaders to act decisively in challenging the ruling ZANU-PF party to respect the election results.
As AngliCORD continues to build a partnership with the Anglican church of Zimbabwe, we hope that you will pray for the resilient people there, and give to support relief and community efforts there.