Praying our way forward

For Immediate Release
January 29, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Praying Our Way Forward team of the Council of Bishops has released details of the Day of Prayer, which will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CST in the St. Louis America’s Center Convention Complex on Saturday, February 23, the first day of the 2019 Special Session of General Conference.

The event will be live-streamed at www.umc.org/live.
 
In releasing the details, Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett and Bishop Al Gwinn of the Praying Forward team thanked the representatives from the Host Committee of General Conference and leadership from The Upper Room for working together to plan the Day of Prayer.

The two-fold purpose of the day is to pray for:
1) the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference and
2) increased effectiveness in fulfilling the Church’s mission. 
During the Day of Prayer, all bishops, delegates and staff will gather on the floor and observers will be in the seating and outer concourse areas of The Dome at the America’s Center.

The day will start with plenary prayer, continues from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. with prayer for missional needs for each of four regions of the world, includes consecration of the General Conference’s prayer space and concludes with another plenary prayer segment from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. There will be a break for lunch/conversation or fasting/ self-directed prayer from 11:50 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

Click here to find the schedule for the Day of Prayer.
   
“This will be a wonderful act, signifying and recognizing our dependence on God to lead us forward as a United Methodist Church,” the statement from the bishops said.
 
This Prayer Initiative began in the fall of 2016 within our Council of Bishops, expanded in January 2017 to include Annual Conference Days of Prayer, has continued in recent months with a call to daily prayer and weekly fasting and will culminate with February 23's Day of Prayer immediately prior to the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference.