World Day of Prayer

Every year in Milford on Sea, the four village churches come together to celebrate the
World Day of Prayer, and in 2026, it was the privilege of the Methodist church to host the event.
Over fifty people attended despite adverse weather and it was a joy to see the church so full.
The theme for this year was “I will give you rest, come” (Matthew 11:28) and the service
had been prepared by Christian women in Nigeria. To start, we all sang a traditional Igbo song
“Give Him Thanks”. The service is produced in booklet form so that everyone can follow it
and participate where indicated.
“All are welcome” was an appropriate opening song followed by opening prayers and then a
reading from Matthew 11: 28-30. There were participants from all of the village churches
taking part in leading the service and we were blessed that our singing was led by a choir
brought together just for this service.

There were four stories of Nigerian women read out as testimonies:
Chioma’s story: The burden of insecurity
Beatrice’s story: The burden of marginalization
Jato’s story: The burden of religious persecution
Blessing’s story: The burdens of poverty and despair

These were interspersed by prayers and the songs “What a friend we have in Jesus” and “In
Christ alone”.
Following the taking up of an offering for the ongoing work of World Day of Prayer in
England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the song “God of the poor” was sung. Then
there was a call to action to affirm our commitment to be Christ’s hands and
feet in a world longing for hope and rest.

The service
closed with the song “The day Thou gavest” followed by a benediction.To finish
the afternoon, tea and a vast quantity of cakes were served to ensure that
nobody left hungry.