1. religion and spirituality
2. christianity
3. catholicism

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Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom
come, Your will be done,
United
On earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and for ever. Amen
We join together in saying the Mother’s Union prayer
Loving Lord, we thank you for your love so freely given to us all.
We pray for families around the world. Bless the work of the Mothers’ Union as
we seek to share your love through the encouragement, strengthening and
support of marriage and family life.
Empowered by your Spirit, May we be united in prayer and worship
and in love and service reach out as your hands across the world
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
As we hand over to others to continue the Wave of Prayer we join with our family
throughout the world, with one voice, to glorify your name.
Together we bring our worship, together we bring our prayers.
Though we may never meet, we are united in prayer.
We share our sorrows and joys and together praise our God.
As the family of God we are united in love.
We glorify our Father with thankful hearts. Amen
Diocese of West Yorkshire & the Dales
United in Prayer and linked with
Ogbomoso Nigeria
Etche Nigeria
Hanuato’o
Kibungo Rwanda
Solomon Islands
The information in this booklet is in the form of a simple service in which a number of people
can take part. Please use it and change it to fit your particular circumstances. You may just
want to use some of it if you are praying alone or in a smaller, informal setting. Each time
slot is 30 minutes. To help focus on the link dioceses it would be helpful to have one large
candle, reminding us that Christ is the Light of the world, from which the smaller named
candles for each of our previous link dioceses and our new diocese can be lit. A globe or map
of the world showing the dioceses could also be helpful.
Lesotho
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In this service we come together to thank God for our past links and to look
forward to being united in prayer with our new links
God, your name is known everywhere;
all over the earth people praise you.
Your right hand is full of goodness.
Psalm 48:10
Lord of all the earth, we come to worship with thankful hearts.
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With support and love we reach out
to our sisters and brothers across the world.
A candle is lit for Hanuato’o followed by a short silence
We now pray for ourselves in the Diocese
of West Yorkshire and the Dales and for
our Diocesan Presidents
Mrs Ros Dobbin (Ripon & Leeds)
Mrs Jean Bailey (Bradford)
Mrs Cynthia Osborne (Wakefield)
Let us praise his name together. Amen.
Hymn:
With thankfulness and love we take our place in the family of Mothers’ Union
worldwide.
Open our eyes to the significance of relationship with members worldwide; with
those known to us or not.
With support and love we reach out to our sisters and brothers across the world.
Strengthen our commitment to those with whom we share vision and values;
wherever we may live.
We pray for the many and varied projects that are carried out across the diocese
and we give thanks for all our members who are actively involved or lend their
invaluable support through prayer.
A candle is lit for West Yorkshire and the Dales followed by a short silence
All: Faithful Lord, we thank you for all we have experienced and achieved
together so far. We pray that as we look ahead to the coming together of the
Mother’s Union in the new diocese your Holy Spirit continues to work in us to
bring to fruition your plans for the growth of your kingdom on earth.
In unity and love we link hands with our worldwide family of God.
Unite us in worship; build us in service, as together we seek to share your love.
In Jesus’ name. Amen
Confession
Merciful Lord, who died that we may be accepted into the family of God, forgive
us for the times when our love for each other is strained, when the bonds
between us are loose. Forgive us when we choose to ignore the joys of shared
relationship and focus on weakness and strife. Help us to change our selfish ways
that we may love God and his children with all our hearts. Amen
May our heavenly Father open wide his arms in loving forgiveness and grace. May
we know the joy of restored relationship with God and his people. Amen
We also pray for Lynne Tembey our Worldwide President and for Barbara Taylor our
Provincial President that you would continue to guide, inspire uphold and
strengthen them by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Hymn
This is the confidence we have in approaching God:
that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 1 John 5:14
Intercessions- (Add specific prayers for the needs of the world and the Church)
Remembering that we are one family we say together the Lord’s Prayer.
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Reader 4 The diocese of Ogbomoso is a missionary diocese located within Oyo State
in the Westof Nigeria. The area is generally fertile; and many people are engaged in
growing crops for income generation. Ogbomoso is a university town and lends
itself well to youth education, however generally the population is poor and has an
income below the average for Nigeria. In 2013 the diocese welcomed a new Bishop
the Rt. Rev. Titus Olayinka and a new Mothers’ Union Diocesan President Mrs
Bolatito Olayinka. At the enthronement of the Bishop they jointly committed to “do
the work of the great commission with pragmatic zeal to bring the gospel to the
reached and the unreached”. According to the Bishop,“God has called them to do
the work and bring the gospel of Christ to the World”.
With support and love we reach out
to our sisters and brothers across the world.
A candle is lit for Ogbomoso followed by a short silence
We pray for the Diocese of Hanuato’o in the Solomon Islands
and for the Diocesan president Edna Sitai.
Reader 5 Members of the Hanuato’o Diocese continue to
meet and are committed to strengthening the institution of
marriage and family life in teaching, prayer and worship
through home to home fellowship. They have had members
attend domestic violence workshops, and training in the
application of solar panels, and HIV awareness.
The Mothers’ Union in Hanuato’o are also running a programme called “BILDIM
AP”. This initiative, run in partnership with Anglican Board of Mission (ABM), aims to
build the capacity of the Mothers’ Union to deliver services to grassroots
communities across the province. The needs of women and families are great but
many members of the Mothers’ Union lack the confidence to take on positions of
leadership. Therefore, leadership training and confidence building are a very
necessary element of Mothers’ Union’s input into delivering effective services and
mission to impact peoples’ lives. This project gives support to the dioceses for
capacity building to strengthen administration and leadership at all levels of the
Mothers’ Union.
Bible Reading: Ephesians 3:14-22
As we come to give thanks for Mothers’ Union Worldwide, and particularly for our
link dioceses, may God encourage us in heart and unite us in love.
Symbolic lighting of candles. (one for each of our former link Dioceses)
Lord, we bring to you our praise for the fellowship and prayer support
that we have known through our links with...... former link dioceses
We thank you for the times when we have built relationship through sharing and
visits. We thank you for the times when lack of news has driven us to pray and
intercede.
We look back with gratitude for the blessing of being united in prayer with......
former link dioceses
We pledge to continue to remember our sisters and brothers in prayer.
We look forward with anticipation to the joy of being united in prayer with Lesotho,
Etche, Ogbomoso, Kibungo and Hanuato’o
Bind us together in mutual love and support as we uphold one another in prayer.
Loving Lord, help us to fully appreciate the blessings of being united in the family
of God.
Let us be ever ready to intercede for each other for God’s assistance and
protection. May God encourage us in heart and unite us in love.
We pray for all members. May God be with them in every part of their lives,
encouraging them and leading them, sheltering and strengthening them
so they may work to your praise and glory. Amen
We pray now for the diocese of Lesotho in
Southern Africa and its Diocesan President Mrs
Vitalina Taaso.
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Reader 1 The Diocese is mostly rural and is well known as the Mountain Kingdom.
Difficulties faced by the Diocese and Mothers’ Union members include very high
levels of poverty and lack of employment opportunities. HIV/AIDs is very prevalent
with a high number of child-headed households as a result. Gender based violence
and violence towards children is quite high and members are working to change
mind-sets and attitudes in this.
Activities include trainings and workshops, for example workshops have been held
on the Millennium Development Goals. Many members visit the sick in their
parishes and volunteer in the local community by planting trees and building walls
to combat the devastating effects of soil erosion.
Others activities include income-generating projects such as growing and selling
grains and vegetables, and community projects such as pig farming, a bakery,
providing blankets for a centre for orphans, sewing and knitting.
With support and love we reach out
to our sisters and brothers across the world.
A candle is lit for Lesotho followed by a short silence
We pray now for the Diocese of Kibungo in Rwanda and the Diocesan
President Mrs Joyce Ntazinda
Reader 2 Kibungo Diocese is located in the Eastern part of Rwanda, in areas
bordering the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of Burundi. The area is
hilly throughout with small rivers and streams running between the hills and with a
good number of lakes bordering with Tanzania and Gahini Diocese. It is one of the
11 Dioceses of the Anglican Church of Rwanda. It became independent from the
Diocese of Kigali in 1993. Today, it comprises of 36 Parishes and 217 sub-parishes.
The Diocese of Kibungo is seeing the Worldwide Parenting Programme thrive; set up
2 years ago, the programme has seen facilitators being equipped and empowered
to transform their own lives, so they can go on and share with others through
the running of parenting groups. The trainee facilitators are learning about
pregnancy and child development, they are now transforming their own
homes to provide nutritious food for their families. Other activities of Mothers’
Union include: Visiting and supporting retired clergy and their families to provide for
their basic needs; providing training to young women about family management
and parenting; capacity building of Mothers’ Union members so that they feel
empowered to reach out into the community; Mothers’ Union school with 221
children from Kindergarten to Primary 4; a sewing project called Hands of Hope
selling traditional cloth bags and pouches; and prayer.
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With support and love we reach out
to our sisters and brothers across the world.
A candle is lit for Kibungo followed by a short silence
We pray now for the Diocese of Etche in Nigeria and the Diocesan President
Mrs Precious Onyinye Okey-Nwala
Reader 3 Mothers’ Union members in Nigeria are working to support the young and
those in need in their communities. Membership of Mothers’ Union in Nigeria is
highly encouraged though some groups do struggle with attendance at meetings.
However they are focused on providing opportunities for children and being role
models. Members are able to support families by providing marriage counselling
and parenting skills support. In the past year good new events have taken place
across the province; these have included a Mothering Sunday Celebration and a
regional Conference on the theme – “Ask and it shall be given”. The diocese of
Etche was formed in 2007 out of the diocese of Niger Delta North. There are over
2,000 members of Mothers’ Union in Etche diocese. Mothers’ Union’s vision is to
provide skill acquisition support, hospitals and schools. Mothers’ Union in Etche are
proud of their evangelism and outreach work within the diocese. One of the
challenges faced within the diocese is illiteracy and the Mothers' Union have
established a nursery and primary school to address this need.
With support and love we reach out
to our sisters and brothers across the world.
A candle is lit for Etche followed by a short silence
We pray for the Diocese of
Ogbomoso in Nigeria and for the
Diocesan president Mrs Bolatito
Olayinka.