National prayer event at Bhisho to raise Godly priesthood

Launch of prayer programme for elections

Delegates from all provinces of South Africa are gathering in Bhisho from today until Saturday for a strategic prayer conference around the theme of ‘Raising a Godly priesthood to establish righteousness and justice in the nation’.

- Advertisement -

A prayer programme for the 2014 General Election in South Africa will also be launched at the conference which is hosted by the SA Prayer Movement For Change (SAPMC), said Pastor Laurette Mkati of Intercessors for Africa — EC.

- Advertisement -

Outlining the rationale of the conference she said that the SA church, through its silence in the public space, has allowed wickedness to overtake the nation. Despite a reported 70 per cent Christian population, the national religion has become ancestral worship and the national prophets are sangomas, she said. She said there are national prophets of God in SA but it is the sangomas who are heard by the nation and invited by Government.

“So our [SAPMC] job is to raise up God’s priesthood to contend for the nation in prayer,” she said.

- Advertisement -

The main speaker at this year’s conference — the 4th annual conference of SAPMC — is Olusegun Olanipekun, CEO of the Institute of Christian Leadership Development and a key organiser of a prayer intitative last year to dedicate all nine provinces and South Afria to Jesus.The prayer dedication campaign was launched after the African National Congress (ANC) dedicated South Africa to ancestors in January 2012.

Olanipekun will teach on the theme of the Josiah Generation, inspired by the Biblical King of Judah who led a campaign to purify the land and establish Godly altars and a return to God’s law. The conference will also include workshops in the 7 spheres of society (business, government, media, arts and entertainment, education, the family and religion) as well as the social sphere. People will attend workshops in their own spheres where they will be trained to exercise priesthood in the marketplace. The idea is to equip them to maintain rulership over the nation through ongoing, strategic prayer that deals with root level national problems such as ancestral worship and syncretism.

She said the Election Prayer Programme that will be launched at the conference will focus on the issue of leadership, encouraging the electorate to vote for Godly leaders rather than along party political lines. She said the programme will be rolled out to churches around the country.

Scottish-born Mkati first visited South Africa in 1983 when she came out as a Scottish dance examiner. She said her calling is to the Xhosa nation. She speaks Xhosa and teaches on prayer, spiritual warfare, altars and covenants — including circumcision. She said it is significant that God has, for the first time, raised two South African pastors to publish books about Ancestral worship and Christianity. Both authors, Afrika Mhlophe, from the Eastern Cape, and Matlou Selepe, from Limpopo, are expected to attend the prayer conference.

The conference is being held at Bhisho Community Church. More informaton on the conference is available from Laurette at 084 753 1538 or by emailing saprayer4change@gmail.com.