World Day of Prayer

Informed Prayer and Prayerful Action

World Day of Prayer is a global ecumenical movement led by Christian women who welcome you to join in prayer and action for peace and justice.

World Day of Prayer began as a movement by women and for women. It still has a strong focus on the situation of women in each country, but nowadays everybody is very welcome to join in! Read up more on its history here.

Every year, the focus is on a different country of the world, making this a unique opportunity for armchair travel - or should we say: church pew travel - to a country that we might never get to visit in reality. An ecumenical committee of women from that country prepares the order of service, and the service travels around the world.

The traditional date for celebrating World Day of Prayer is the first Friday in March, but we will feel free to celebrate it on one of our regular HIW Sundays around that date, in February or March.

2025: Cook Islands
"Wonderfully Made"

Have you always wanted to travel to the South Seas and visit a paradise island? It's easy: Come to the Cook Islands with us in our March 16 service!

Christian Women from these beautiful islands invite us and tell us about their country. The Petri-Nikodemus guitar group will do their best to play island style. Everybody is invited to try out some of the recipes we found online for you (see links) and bring Cook Island style food for the get-together after the service!

We look forward to celebrating a wonderful service with you.

Some of the links lead to videos that have been uploaded by the World Day of Prayer committees to Youtube. We have no control over any advertisements that may be added by Youtube and ask you to please ignore these.

Artwork © Tarani Napa and Tevairangi Napa

2024: Palestine
"… bear with one another in love"

An ecumenical committee from Palestine had prepared the 2024 World Day of Prayer. The order of service had been finished and translated into many languages long before the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

Now the difficult question arose: Could we still celebrate this service all over the world as it had been planned?

We believe: More than ever, it is our duty to open our eyes and ears to those who are suffering -- on all sides. More than ever, it is our duty to speak out against hatred, antisemitism, and racism of every kind. More than ever, it is our duty to pray for peace and to stand up for human rights and justice for all.

We therefore decided to celebrate this service and pray for the people on all sides who are suffering. Is there a motto that could be more appropriate than the one the Palestinian women chose from the letter to the Ephesians: "… bear with one another in love"?

Our service was enhanced not only by the music of the guitar group, but especially by the amazing singing of Samer Al Horany. After the service, we were treated to delicious snacks from the Arabic world.

2023: Taiwan
"I Have Heard About Your Faith"

Betreff Test: Titelbild WGT

The 2023 World Day of Prayer was from Taiwan, a country in a difficult political situation that had been in the news a lot. Find out more about Taiwan and about the artist who created the picture.

Many of our members actively participated in the service, and the guitar group supported our singing. After church we were able to try specialties from Taiwan.

Artwork © Hui-Wen Hsaio

2022: England, Wales, and North Ireland
"I Know the Plans I Have for You"

In March of 2022, we celebrated World Day of Prayer for the very first time. This year, the order of service came from England, Wales, and North Ireland, regions that obviously many of our visitors have a special connection to.

Our service was enhanced by the Petri-Nikodemus guitar group, and it was a joy to have about twenty members of our Hannover International Worship community actively participate in the service. You could hear a pin drop when one of our members read the Lord's Prayer in her native Welsh language.

Another very special joy was getting together again in the annex for the very first time after the Covid interruption ... very cautiously ... and finding tea and fresh homemade scones and other special food from this part of the world to enjoy.

Artwork © Angie Fox