The Internet Saves the Day of Prayer

Women observe the 2020 International Women's Day of Prayer online during the pandemic lockdown in Hong Kong.

China Union Mission (CHUM)

[Hong Kong] The first Sabbath of March is marked on the worldwide church calendar as the annual day for our sisters to meet and pray in unity, but as the days drew closer to March 7, we didn't know how we would hold our prayer meeting. Beginning January 2020, the epidemic of COVID-19 spread over Hong Kong, and most of our churches have been temporary closed.

Prayer is the connection between heaven and earth. We prayed together for the intervention of our Lord so that the pandemic would be controlled. We asked God that our prayer meeting in March would not be affected. But the epidemic become much more severe, and finally, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.

“The prayer of a good man is full of power in its working.” —James 5:16

God is amazing! When there seemed no way to meet together in the church, He opened another way for more of His children to join together in worship and prayers. This year is special because our Women’s International Day of Prayer service moved from the church building to the Internet.

With the help of Hong Kong-Macao Conference media ministry, we adapted the program procedure to an hour service which included praise, sharing a message, and prayers. We recorded the video to be shown the following Sabbath afternoon, March 14, at the Hong Kong-Macao Conference website.

For the service, we invited Siu Foon Fung, Brenda Chan, Pamela Cheung and Smarty Fong to lead us praising God with hymns. Joyce Ng, the China Union Mission Women’s Ministries director, presented the sermon, "The Heart Where God Delights to Dwell," from the special days resource packet.

Then we read out five quotes from the prayerful readings, “The Beauty of Humility” (also from the resource packet), and said a prayer in each of the following areas for: 1) ourselves and our witness; 2) our marriages and our children; 3) our families and our relatives; 4) our church members; 5) our church pastors and leaders. We closed the meeting by singing together.

We thank God for His guidance and mercy so that the 2020 Women’s International Day of Prayer was not hindered by the pandemic, but that we can always join together at His throne and pour out our prayers to Him.

Reported by Christine Luk, director of Women’s Ministries for Hong Kong-Macao Conference

Published in Mosaic newsletter, 2020 Q3, summer issue