U.S. Churches Organize Prayer Gatherings for Nation, Election

Westview Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., welcomed people to join the congregation in prayer Saturday, Sept. 26. Members set up a tent and arranged for people to lead prayers for “our community, our state, our nation, and our world,” said organizer Betsy Ludwick. The event was timed to coincide with a national prayer march in Washington, D.C., led by evangelical leader Franklin Graham.

At First CRC in Sheldon, Iowa, interim pastor Gilbert Kamps has set up weekly prayer meetings, inviting all local Christian churches to come together to pray on Thursday mornings until just before the U.S. presidential election Nov. 3. On the first morning, Sept. 24, Kamps said 10 people came to pray 6:30-7 a.m. Kamps said prayers included “silent prayer for our own sins and that of our churches,” as suggested in Daniel 9:1-6, and then corporate “prayer for our nation.” That time, Kamps said, included “giving thanks to God for what this nation has done over the past 250 years—generosity, sharing with the world: food, resources, soldiers, welcoming immigrants.” And then the group interceded “for the upcoming elections in Iowa and the USA, Supreme Court, etc.”

Ludwick said the Westview CRC event, which lasted for two hours, included “nine intentional prayers of forgiveness and intercession offered by six different people from our church.” She said all of the 50 chairs organizers had set up were filled several times over the course of the afternoon. “It was a come-and-go event so people could stay as long as they wanted to. Some stayed the whole time.”

Ludwick is part of a group of women at Westview CRC that has been meeting weekly to pray together for more than five years. “We pray for everything and everyone God puts on our hearts. We pray for God's protection. We ask to be filled by the Holy Spirit. Especially we pray this for our pastor, that he may preach God's word and not sugarcoat it but to convict us,” Ludwick said. Of the Sept. 26 prayer rally Ludwick said, “The Holy Spirit spoke to us and we listened and planned this event.”