Thy Kingdom Come, the annual global, ecumenical prayer movement, is running from 10 to 20 May 2018.
Thy Kingdom Come, which is now in its third year, is a simple invitation to pray between Ascension and Pentecost for friends and family to come to faith.
In 2016 100,000 Christians pledged to pray. By 2017 more than half a million had pledged to pray from more than 85 countries including Ghana, Netherlands, Malaysia, Cuba, South Africa, Australia, Korea, Japan and the Philippines to name a few.
In the UK, in 2017 every diocese in the Church of England was involved. Many cathedrals took part, hosting 'beacon' events designed to focus prayers in towns and cities nationwide.
The campaigns broad ecumenical appeal led to more than 50 denominations and traditions being involved last year; including the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church and the Redeemed Christian Church of God.
The positive impact of Thy Kingdom Come 2017 continues to unfold as numerous stories of personal and communal transformation pour in from churches, families and whole communities alike.
Among the stories arising from the initiative many of them deeply moving is one from a couple who had not seen their son for 22 years. 'We pray every day obviously for him but during Thy Kingdom Come he was one of the people we prayed for as a group,' they say. 'We put his name on the altar before God and… yesterday he came home.'
This year also sees some digital developments including a brand-new website and a Thy Kingdom Come devotional app created by leading Christian publishers SPCK. Both products will be translated into several languages including Spanish, Korean, and Swahili and will be launched in time for Easter.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby said: The business of being witnesses to Jesus Christ and of praying to be witnesses compels us to look into the world around us. It compels us to seek, to experience the compassion of God for a world caught up in lostness, in sin, but also in suffering and pain, in oppression of the poor, in cruelty, in abuse, in outrageous inequality, in all the things that go against the Kingdom of God.
There is no limit to what the Kingdom of God does, and so the moment we start praying Thy Kingdom Come we look outwards.
The Kingdom of God when we pray for the Kingdom to come, the Kingdom will transform individuals, the Kingdom transforms society, the Kingdom transforms the globe and the Kingdom transforms the cosmos.
Emma Buchan, Project Manager of Thy Kingdom Come and the Archbishops Evangelism Task Group Project Leader, added: It is such a blessing to be involved with Thy Kingdom Come and what God is calling us to. I pray and hope that in some small way we can encourage individuals, families and churches to pray for people to come to know Jesus Christ."
To sign up for this years Thy Kingdom Come campaign and to find out more information about the campaign, visit www.thykingdomcome.global.
Thy Kingdom Come video
Watch the new video of Archbishop Justin talking about Thy Kingdom Come, as he spends time with his grandson Elijah and speaks to Brian Heasley, founder of 24-7 Prayer International.