In 1887, Mary Ellen James - the wife of a Presbyterian minister in New York and mother of seven - called for a day of prayer in response to the problems faced by many women around her including poverty, lack of health and educational facilities and poor housing.
Two years later, a pair of Baptist women in the U.S. called together a Day of Prayer for the World Mission. It expanded to other countries, including Canada, and in 1927 came to be known as the Women's World Day of Prayer.
On the first Friday of March, the event - now simply called the World Day of Prayer - is a Christian-led, ecumenical event that embraces all cultures and religions, all with the aim of focusing attention on the problems faced by women and families worldwide and demonstrating that prayer and action in trying to resolve those problems are inseparable, according to Wikipedia.
Squamish-area men, women and children are invited to take part in the World Day of Prayer locally by attending a service next Friday (March 2) at 2 p.m. at St. John the Divine Anglican Church on Diamond Road in Garibaldi Estates.
Each year, participants in more than 170 countries take part in a worship service written by the women of a different country on a different theme. The women of Malaysia wrote this year's service on the theme "Let Justice Prevail."
In Squamish, the location of the services rotates between the various churches.
Pam Tattersfield, who is helping organize this year's service, said that in addition to the service, donations to the World Day of Prayer movement will be accepted. The donations help fund projects around the world - in Canada as well as in underdeveloped parts of the world - that empower women while helping to improve the lives of those facing disease, displacement and poverty.
The donations also help pay to prepare and print leadership materials and guides for the continuation of the World Day of Prayer movement, she said.
Admission is by donation. Coffee, tea and goodies will be served. For more information about the Canadian World Day of Prayer movement, visit the website of the Women's Inter-church Council of Canada at www.wicc.org
