African prayer has transforming effect

2006: Attending a prayer conference in Uganda in January 2006 has had a transforming effect on Biddy Collyer, director of the Norwich Pregnancy Crisis Centre, and included a powerful prophecy about the UK.

 

I have never forgotten him but what I remember most is his smile. So wide it seemed to go from ear to ear.   That smile was part of the joy that he exuded.   He was a vicar in a London parish, and I heard no more about him, until slowly his name started to crop up. I watched his career with interest but was amazed and delighted when he was made Archbishop of York.   John Sentamu escaped from Idi Amin’s regime in Uganda and from very humble beginnings has made it to the number two position of the Church of England.   Anyone who has heard him will be struck by his humility and the strength of his faith. 

 

Having just returned from a couple of weeks at a prayer conference in Uganda, I now realise where that joy, faith and humility come from.    All the Christians I met, and I met many, had those same qualities in abundance.   Such joy and freedom in worship, and amazing faith that persisted in prayer until they broke through.

 

Uganda has had a very difficult and troubled past.   Bloodshed on a scale that is hard for us to imagine.   I saw a film about the carnage that has been taking place in the north.   Atrocities such as cutting off lips, and limbs and forcing young men and women into killing machines.   But against this backdrop, are parents who prayerfully waited for eight years for their abducted daughters to come home.    Parents who realised that while they were holding unforgiveness in their hearts against the members of the Lord’s Resistance Army, God could not work in that situation.   They prayed through their pain, until finally, when their daughters came home, they were even able to accept and love the children that had been born to their daughters while in captivity.

 

Against the backdrop of extreme poverty, there’s Daniel, a young pastor who is dedicating his life to provide a home for 24 abandoned babies and children.   Set against western standards, it is not much of a home; concrete floor, four beds to a tiny room, basic cooking equipment and an empty store cupboard. But they were safe and happy and were being given a chance in life. 

 

And then Ruth, a teacher who last year reached over 30,000 young people with the programme “Loving God’s Way”, giving them information to allow them to make better life style choices.   She was passionate about her work and fully aware that without God’s help she could not keep up with the workload.

 

Harriet, who told me a story of such brutality within a relationship, that everyone told her to leave.   Pregnant at 16 by her Muslim boyfriend, she stayed with him for 20 years, believing that one day God would turn his heart and that he would change.   She bore him three more children, which at one stage were taken away from her by her “mother-in-law” who hated her.   Slowly, imperceptibly at first, the change took place until last year he converted. They married again in a Christian ceremony.   Her friends provided her dress, plus dresses for six bridesmaids and ushers, the reception, cake – everything.   I saw the photos!

 

The conference concluded with three days on the Prayer Mountain just outside Kampala.   Ugandans gather there all the year round to pray for the nations of the world.   And when I say pray, I mean all night.   I dipped out at 10.30 p.m. when it started to rain, but as I lay warm and dry inside my tent, the praying went on to a background of African drums.   At 3.00 am they were still at it!   When I got up at dawn, the prayer was still going on as I joined a group from Northern Uganda who were worshipping and praising God despite the rain, the mud and woefully inadequate clothing.

 

The delegates to the conference came from all over the world, joining local Christians to pray and seek God.    Each nation there gave a report of what was happening at home. I stood with the rest of the UK team on the platform, but felt only shame as I realised how far the church in England had fallen from the time when its giants had transformed our nation.   People like Wesley, Wilberforce, Fry, Booth and many other Christians who worked and prayed tirelessly to see their visions fulfilled.

 

But all is not lost.   The prophecy quoted here was given on the first day of the conference.   There were no other prophecies given during the conference and this made it very special.   It seemed that God wanted to encourage us to keep praying and calling on Him in repentance and humility.   The breakthrough is coming.   The remnant referred to are all those unsung prayer warriors who have never given up and who have persevered through many years. Many of them are now elderly, but you will see them turn up at every prayer event organised in the city or county.   Most of them will not be known outside their immediate circles, but God knows of them and has heard their cries.  

 

It is hard to think how the situation we are in can be turned round; difficult to think of our political leaders asking the church for help.   However, the new form of the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill was a great turnaround and, bears witness to the power of prayer and joint action when Christians unite to work together to oppose such legislation.    It is time to lift our heads and speak out sensitively, with wisdom and compassion on the many moral and ethical issues that face us.  

 

I came back from Uganda with the sense that the tide is turning.   I believe that the appointment of John Sentamu is a sign of the change that is coming. If he speaks out as powerfully and clearly as his counterpart in the Church of Uganda, Archbishop Henry Orombi did in Kampala, and people respond, then transformation is again possible.