40-day prayer, fasting announced

By KETRA KALUNGA The National House of Prayer advisory board has announced a 40-day period of prayer and fasting that would lead to the day of National Prayer on October 18.

Advisory board chairperson, Bishop Joshua Banda said different churches around the country would engage in a day of fasting to be facilitated by advisory provincial coordinators with the aim of promoting peace and reconciliation and at the sometime consolidating unity in diversity.

Speaking at a briefing in Lusaka, Bishop Banda said this year’s prayer and fasting is aimed at signifying a fresh commitment to the fact that the nation must endeavour to sustain unity at all costs.

He observed that while it is important for every citizen to exercise their democracy right to belong to any political party, Zambians must never allow politics to divide the nation.

Bishop Banda has therefore called on the nation to use this period to pray for political players so that they commit to interparty and intraparty dialogue for peace and unity to prevail in the country.

“Let everyone put national interest first so that the current efforts by the church and other mediators can bear fruit for Zambian’s unity. Take this opportunity to pick a day in the 40-day period of fasting and prayer to individually fast and pray for the nation,” he said.

Bishop Banda has also appealed to political parties to settle their internal disputes amicably to avoid a spillover effect on other vital aspects of life in the nation.

He has warned against maintaining perpetual enemies based on political differences or disputes as elections are long gone.

And Bishop Banda has maintained that the National House of Prayer remains non-denominational, as its core business is that of developing, disseminating and implementation of the vision of the house of prayer and providing advice to the government..