PRAYER@PARLIAMENT

The first Prayer @ Parliament Gathering for the year was held at the Grand Hall.  Many came from all major denominations not only from the Wellington Region but also from Wairarapa, Tauranga, Auckland and other places. We were welcomed by Hon Chester Borrows our parliamentary host who has been made aminister for Law Courts and also Pastor Rasik Ranchord as convener of the Gathering.
 

Pastor Hamish Thomson brought the opening prayer followed by two Bible Readings. 

• The Old Testament reading was from 1 Kings 3:7-14 and 4:29-34 and it was given by Alfred Ngaro MP. 
• The New Testament reading was from Matt 18:1-14 and it was given by Ps Jeannie Knott from the Elim International Church.

In the Preparation for Prayer segment Ps Rasik reminded the gathering that the Bible uses the term servant of God in at least 3 ways.

1. First of all, a servant of God who is mainly involved in work for or within the church e.g. Paul called to be a servant, an apostle.  
2. Secondly, it is used of believers who are involved in the world as King Soloman who described himself a servant of God whose ministry was to rule Israel (i.e. politics).
3. Thirdly, it is used of unbelievers who fulfil a God-ordained function so in Romans 13 three times those who work in governing are termed servants of God.

The lesson to be drawn from this is that when Paul tells us in 1 Tim 2 to pray for those who are in authority we ought to pray for all MPs whether believers or not because the function they perform namely governing is ordained by God and all authorities derive their power from God.

There were 3 Prayer Tracks.

1. The First Prayer Track was “Ministers of the Crown”.  Hon Chester Borrows shared about the burden of responsibility on Ministers.  People were invited to pray for the ministers (their names were on a hand-out sheet).
2. The Second Prayer Track was, “The Speaker and his Assistants as well as Chair person of Select Committees and the Local MPs of people who were attending”.  The Input for this tract was by Tim Macindoe MP for Hamilton West.  People then prayed in small groups.
3. The Third Prayer Track was on a major social issue facing NZ namely, “Child Abuse”.  Hon Chester Borrows who is also The Associate Minister for Social Development made the input and again people had an opportunity to pray in small groups.
    

Brian Caughley, Director for Intercessors for NZ led us in praying for MPs present.
The final prayer for the evening was led by Chris Auchenvole MP.
The Service began and concluded with glorious praise.

Pastor Rasik Ranchord
Convener