From 14 to 21 January, evangelical churches from all over Europe are invited to participate in the Week of Prayer (WOP), which is organised by the Evangelical Alliances since 1846.

Since then, the WOP “has had major take-up in many countries in Europe for a very long time”, explains the European Evangelical Allince (EEA).

“In many of the countries of the former Communist world in Europe it was the only Evangelical Alliance thing that stayed alive through the Communist era… Even when people had heard of nothing else to do with Evangelical Alliance, they had often heard of the Week of Prayer”, they add.

Onward with the Great Commission

The theme this year is “Onward with the Great Commission”, which relates to the 50th anniversary of the Lausanne Movement.

In 1974, in the Swiss city, convened by Billy Graham and John Stott, evangelicals gathered in the Congress for World Evangelization, which, according to the EEA, “changed the life of contemporary evangelicalism”.

“With the same spirit of humility and contrition that characterized Lausanne, we want to pray and commit ourselves to being together on a mission to respond to the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus”.

“Evangelicals are Good News people”

EEA General Secretaries, Connie Main Duarte and Jan Wessels, stated that “evangelicals are Good News people, and we readily share the message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone and yearn to make disciples of all nations. That is why we are also prayer-warriors”.

“50 years of the Lausanne movement within the evangelical family have taught us that we cannot be witnesses of Jesus Christ without the power of the Holy Spirit”, they add.

The evangelical leaders call on European Christians to “join hands locally, nationally, regionally, continentally to pray that that power will keep us close to the Lord, help us to always rejoice in what God is doing in us and through us and to continue making disciples that live Jesus-shaped lives”.

Israel Montes, president of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance Prayer working group, also encourages “the whole church to join because it's a unique event where you know that that we all are having that time of prayer around the same themes. I hope many people can join in, that it can be a year of blessing and that we start the year in the best way: praying”.

United every day in prayer

From Sunday to Sunday, the materials prepared this year by the Italian Evangelical Alliance will emphasise the different aspects of mission.

They include a meditation on the articles of the Lausanne Covenant, topics of prayer and confession for each day of the week.

The material for the WOP 2024 can be downloaded free of charge in different languages, such as English, Italian , German, Dutch ,French , Estonian , Russian and Spanish .

There are also YouVersion plans available in English, Italian, German, French and Spanish.