18.10.2013
24/7 Prayer Gathering Taking Place in Dublin This Weekend
Almost 500 people from 30 different nations are gathering in Dublin this weekend for 24/7 Prayer’s International Gathering 2013.
The international ecumenical prayer movement’s event got underway last night (Thursday October 17) in St Mark’s Church, Pearse Street and participants will meet at various locations in the city centre over the weekend for workshops and seminars as well as prayer and worship.
The opening event was addressed by the Archbishop of Dublin, Michael Jackson and Fr Kieran McDermot of the Catholic diocese of Dublin’s Office of Evangelisation and Ecumenism.
Fr McDermott spoke about Dublin and the church in Ireland which he explained was going through a time of extraordinary change. The Archbishop encouraged delegates to pray for Ireland. He said that the church had a strong tradition and a new vitality. He asked them to pray for honesty, compassion, neighbourliness and the confidence to harvest in Christian communities here.
24–7 Prayer is an international, interdenominational movement of prayer, mission and justice that began with a single, student–led prayer vigil in Chichester, England in 1999 and has spread, by word–of–mouth, into over 100 nations.
For more than a decade the global 24–7 Prayer meeting has spread throughout the world and along the way has given rise to numerous new initiatives, communities and ministries particularly focusing on the poor, the marginalised, students and those outside the reach of normal expressions of church.
The programme for this year’s event in Dublin includes some numerous contributors, worship bands and musicians, a Ugandan school choir and possibly a fire juggler or two. Greg Fromholz of Dublin and Glendalough’s new Ministry to Young People also spoke last night.
Photo Caption: Archbishop Michael Jackson with Fr Keiran McDermott and Peter Greig of 27/4 Prayer at the opening of the Dublin Gathering.