80,000 voices from 172 nations going to Brisbane

Waiting at Heathrow for plane to Australia. It’s a trip I’ve done many many times but none with this much scary significance.

Christians in Australia will represent over 81, 450 people from 172 nations who have signed the Global Call – people from Vietnam, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, Andorra, The Bahamas and China. From Slovenia, Malta, Nigeria, Romania and Suriname. It’s been wonderful to see the global response. People everywhere want to stop corruption.

We all know it’s not right and in the last year, we have also taken action rather than just shrugging our shoulders in despair or blaming other people for the problem.

As well as the 80,000 signatures – most of them signed in hard copy at church meetings – we have hundreds of selfies, and we have the support of the leaders of all main Christian networks – Evangelical, Pentecostal and Ecumenical – via the Open Letter.

All of these actions will be prayed over, and presented to political leaders in the coming weeks. There’ll be a  youth worship night on Friday 7th with Hillsong and Tim Costello; a contemplative worship time followed by a big public event on Saturday the 9th in Queen St Mall where we’re hoping 500 people will call for action on tax evasion; and a business roundtable with leading business people like Graham Power from South Africa, academics, Graeme Cooper and Ranjit Voola; and Greg Thompson from Transparency International on Tuesday.

Can we make a difference? Certainly.

God’s integrity, power and goodness are bigger than the kingdoms of earthly rulers – yet we also know the might of lies and greed.

So please pray for a turnaround in the attitude of corporations, governments and individuals to economic affairs. You can pray each day for 10 days from Saturday 7th to Sunday 16th.

Put it in your diary now. And could you organise your church to pray on Sunday 9th and Sunday 16th? Effective decision making could put billions more into development projects.

And in the meantime, pray for people on all sides of the tax debate to be reasoned, to listen carefully, to speak without rancour and to act with humilty.