Roads were icy and the temperature hovered around -30C (-22F) on the first Sunday of 2014. Still, hundreds of individuals rose before the sun and made their way to Edmonton’s Trinity Christian Reformed Church to attend a full-day Classis Alberta North prayer summit.
“The worship and prayer sessions started at 7 a.m. and ended with the Lord’s Supper just before 7 p.m., making it a marathon day of worship on the first Sunday of 2014,” said Trinity’s pastor, Rich deLange.
DeLange said he felt the Lord urging him to plan a prayer summit for Classis Alberta North while he was attending the denominational prayer summit in California last April. “‘You need to do this in Edmonton!’ are the words the Holy Spirit laid on my heart,” he said. The Trinity congregation agreed to host the prayer summit and worked hard from September through December to make it possible. They took care of all the details, including three full meals and refreshments.
Two hundred people registered in advance for all or part of the day and about four hundred attended various sessions. People came from more than half of the churches in classis, including many members of the Korean So-Mang CRC, encouraged by their pastor, David Joo, who had also attended the prayer summit in California. Only three individuals who had registered in advance were unable to be present because of the severe weather conditions.
Evaluations and responses to the prayer summit were very positive, with many hoping it would become an annual event. The following day, one attendee wrote to deLange, “I just wanted to take this opportunity to let you know what a wonderful blessing the prayer summit was for us! To be able to spend the whole day worshiping our God through songs, prayer, and testimonies was awesome!” Another said, “On what may have been the coldest day this winter, we were warmed by the love and hospitality of Trinity CRC, received very good teaching, and were given numerous opportunities to pray and reflect. God surely smiled!”
Related Links:
Prayer Summit Reaches Across State Lines
Prayer Summit Leads to Prayer Retreat
Prayer Summit (2012): A Taste of All Nations
Prayer Summit (2012) Ends in Joy and Grace (crcna.org)
About the Author
A former nurse and chaplain, Janet Greidanus is a freelance news correspondent and long-time writer of the In Memoriam column for The Banner.