Gaping divide over prayer day

THE National Day of Prayer tomorrow will be marked with a public holiday but the Christian churches and leaders their flock look up to for counsel and direction are apparently divided on what to do on the day and even whether there should be such a holiday at all.
Is it too much to ask that the mainline and Pentecostal churches in the country agree on a national day of prayer, fasting and repentance?
It can hardly be a national day when the mainline churches that make up the PNG Council of Churches and account for possibly over half of the country’s Christian population are openly opposed to its relevance and rationale.
The PNGCC does not recognise the National Day of Prayer and its members will not be part of activities tomorrow to mark the day as has been the case since 2011 when the day was first observed.
For the PNGCC, August 26 is just another public holiday but their members are allowed to join in any planned activity to mark the day though not as representatives of their churches.
The PNGCC says it does not recognise the day as it has connections to that covenant the then Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare had signed in 2007.
The covenant was purportedly between the nation of Papua New Guinea and the God of Israel.
The PNGCC finds that covenant signing instigated by a group of Pentecostal pastors contrary to their belief that there is only one covenant established by the Messiah himself and there cannot be any other made by man.
The chairman of the PNGCC, the Anglican Church’s Bishop Denny Bray Guka, says there was never any proper dialogue between the proponents of the day and the PNGCC.
It appears that since when the day was first mooted by certain other church leaders and politicians – and enacted by Parliament in record time in 2011 – up until today, there seems to have been no consultation with the PNGCC.
It is quite absurd and hard to understand that the concerned church leaders have failed or would not be bothered to talk to each other about the day and how it should be observed.
Meanwhile, the other church organisation known as the Body of Christ in Port Moresby has taken the lead in organising events marking National Day of Prayer.
Again this year, the BOC has a programme set for Port Moresby that includes a prayer breakfast at the National Parliament and an evening celebration at the Sir John Guise Stadium featuring Melbourne-based contemporary gospel music band Planetshakers.
Tomorrow is also the first anniversary of the placing of the controversial 404-year old King James Bible in the parliament house.
It is a well-known fact that both the declaration of a public holiday on National Prayer Day (August 26) and later the King James Version of the Bible in Parliament have drawn a flood of criticism from the public and still do.
Negative comments by other Christian church leaders and Christian professional groups on the supposedly well-intentioned moves to declare a national day of prayer and to place the Bible in Parliament should be of concern particularly to the thousands of believers in the country
Apart from creating confusing among believers, such division and difference in belief also poses a real threat to the unity and harmony between people.
Fighting among members of different denominations and sects in the country has not been uncommon in the past.
It would be a sad day when such differing Christianity and its differing beliefs trigger further disunity, suspicion and even hatred in the country.
That can happen if church leaders are not careful.
How faithfully can a nation with a sprinkling of non-Christians and titular Christians observe a day meant for prayers and repentance without “desecrating” it with secular activity reminiscent of another public holiday?
For the business sector, it is another public holiday, removing hours of production and income; no work will be done but the employee would still expect a full day’s pay.
There is already one too many public holidays in the national calendar.
The National Prayer Day should therefore be just that – a day for all believers and churches agreeing, believing and praying together.
Otherwise, we might have to re-think the public holiday.