Think about it
Pray for the People of Zimbabwe
Dumisani Nkomo, chief executive of the Habakkuk Trust, a Christian Aid Partner, on the prayers Zimbabwe’s churches need from British and Irish churches to help free their country.
Through the regular public meetings we hold, the workshops and meetings we organise, we share the ordinary man’s daily struggle to live in Zimbabwe.
Our work has seen us cross the path of the authorities many times. We have been summoned to high offices to be questioned, threatened and harangued. The aim is to wear us down and to instil fear, to discourage us.
Pray for strength
We recognise the risk involved in our work. We ask you to pray for us to be fearless and strong.
As an individual, I find the situation traumatic. I have to make arrangements with friends to share transport to work. I cannot plan a personal budget for more than a week because prices have been going up every other day. This was until the government decided to slash the prices of basic commodities.
‘With your help, the church in Zimbabwe can arise and declare to our modern pharaoh: “let my people go!”’
Thanks to this move, I have not managed to buy bread for a week, strangely not because I do not have the money, but because there is simply no bread in the shops.
Pray for hope
I sense a great feeling of helplessness. The few who are employed trudge to work; the many involved in informal trading try to sell their wares.
My sister has quit her job as a teacher because it costs her more to travel to her school than the pittance of a salary she earns.
Please pray for us to have hope, for without hope we have nothing.
Walk to freedom
Critically, there is a need for the church internationally to partner the church in Zimbabwe as one body of Christ. We must speak out on the situation we face, not as the church in England, South Africa or the Netherlands, but as the worldwide church of Christ.
People need to be reassured that they are not alone. Simple messages of solidarity read out at their churches will sustain them. Closer cooperation – even just sending information - between churches in the UK and other parts of Europe with groups such as Habakkuk is vital.
Email prayer chains, newsletters and pastoral letters of solidarity will help re-build people’s confidence in their long and lonely ‘walk to freedom’. As Zimbabweans, we are crying out like the biblical man of Macedonia: ‘come and help us’.
Help us to restore our dignity and confidence as a nation.
I believe that with your encouragement we can regain our faith and sense of hope. With your care, support and solidarity, the church in Zimbabwe can arise and declare to our modern day pharaoh: ‘Let my people go!’
Source; Christian Aid Website