PRAYER@PARLIAMENT

The event was attended by people from throughout the Wellington Region.  There were also registrations for attendance from Auckland, Taupo, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Feilding, Masterton, Whanganui, Christchurch and Invercargill.  We are thrilled that it is becoming a national event.

Gordon Copeland a former MP opened in prayer followed by a welcome from Hon Chester Borrows the parliamentary Host and Ps Rasik Ranchord the Convener.

The first Bible Reading was from Ps 67 given by H.E. Virginia Benavidez, the Ambassador for the Philippines and the Second Reading from Matt 5: The Beattitudes was given by Tim Macindoe MP for Hamilton West.

As this was the first prayer gathering after the elections, the focus of the prayer tracks were mainly on different categories of MPs.

Track 1:  Party Leaders, Presiding Officers and Senior Cabinet Ministers.

The input was from Hon Chester Borrows who is now the Deputy Speaker of the House.

Track 2:  Members Parliament (Code of Ethical Conduct) Bill.

The input was from Ross Robertson who retired at the last election after 27 years in Parliament.   He was an Assistant Speaker of the House for 9 years.  He continues to be passionate about a Code of Ethics for MPs.  His member’s Bill has yet to be drawn from the Ballot.  It has now been adopted by Poto Williams MP.

Prayer focus was on –

1. The Bill would be drawn from the Ballot Box.
2. There would be a favourable outcome.
3. For Ross Robertson, for the new chapter in his life after Parliament
4. For Poto Williams, the MP who will promote the Bill.

Track 3: Capital Prayer Breakfast and also MPs.

The input for the Capital Prayer Breakfast which will be held on Thurs 13 November in the Banquet Hall of Parliament was made by Ps Hamish Thomson, the chairman of the organising committee.  This event has been held for decades. The Speaker of this event is Mark Powell CEO of ‘The Warehouse’.  He will be speaking from the perspective of a Christian’s involvement in the Business Sector. We prayed for the event as well as for Christian MPs, Electorate MPs, and new MPs. There are some 27 new MPs in this 51^st Parliament.

A special feature of this event was the participation of the Filipino Community Choir. “Glyn Carpenter, the National Director of NZ Christian Network closed in prayer.

The Convener recommended two resources to educate Christians regarding their engagement in the Public Square:

1. Why Christians need to be involved in Government?

The paper was co-authored by 3 Christian MPs (former and current MPs) from 3 different parties collaborating together namely, Hon Chester Borrows, (National), Ross Robertson (Labour) and Gordon Copeland (now part of Conservative party).  Between them they have 42 years of Parliamentary experience.

2. God and Government

 by Pastor Rasik Ranchord written from a Christian Minister’s perspective. He has 45 years of ministry experience.

These resources are available from www.prayeratparliament.org.nz  free of charge.

The next Prayer@Parliament will be in March 2015.  The date will be set once the Parliament’s sitting calendar has been finalised in January 2015.