World Day of Prayer, Lichfield Branch, Report for CTiL AGM, June 2022
The World Day of Prayer is an international, interdenominational women-led organisation which welcomes all to its annual services; the Lichfield Branch Committee draws from all the churches in the city.
It was a pleasure to be able to hold the 2022 services in person, though all agreed that the 2021 service on Zoom was a great success and enabled us to maintain our record of meeting together on an annual basis to pray for and with a particular country each year.
The 2022 services were held on 4th March at Lichfield Methodist Church, where we received a very warm welcome from the minister and the congregation; we were grateful for their efficient organisation and stewarding, for their technical support and for the provision of refreshments. There was a good attendance at both services and we were pleased to have the support of the Mayor, the Sheriff, and the Diocesan Archdeacon Missioner.
The service had been prepared by the England, Wales and N. Ireland Committee on the theme of: ‘I know the plans I have for you’ (from Jeremiah 29 v11) and gifts of seeds were distributed to encourage people to think about hope for the future. We were delighted that the singing group, Ladies who Lark, joined us again this year and sang two well-known spirituals which fitted well with the theme.
There were many appreciative comments about the service, particularly about the way it helped us to reflect on and pray for the current world situation and the people of Ukraine. The offering of £694.60, with a high proportion being gift aided, will help to support projects across the world, particularly those which focus on the needs of women and girls.
We are very grateful for the grant from Churches Together in Lichfield, which enables us to cover many of our costs, particularly the purchase of materials; we are also grateful to individual committee members who donated items for the service and to the Cathedral for support with publicity for the service and accommodation for committee meetings.
The 2023 service will be held at St Chad’s Church; it will focus on Taiwan and the theme of ‘I have heard about your faith’.
Our AGM was held on 17th March 2022, at which officers were elected. Jane Hardy (from Wade Street) was elected as Chair and Jill Sutton (from the Cathedral) was re-elected as Secretary/ Treasurer. Hazel Rendle thanked the committee for their support over the years and was thanked for her service as Chair.
Hazel Rendle, retiring Chair, May 2022