Diocese of Portsmouth

Thy Kingdom Come


9th-19th May 2024

A Global Call to Prayer

“I cannot remember in my life anything that I’ve been involved in where I have sensed so clearly the work of the Spirit.”

- Archbishop Justin Welby

Thy Kingdom Come is a global prayer movement, which invites Christians around the world to pray during the 10 days between Ascension and Pentecost. What started out as an invitation from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in 2016 to the Church of England, has grown into an international and ecumenical call to prayer. We focus on praying for people to come to know Jesus Christ. The wave of prayer culminates with events on Pentecost Sunday around the world.

Here are some details of prayer meetings taking place in parishes across our diocese:

Thy Kingdom Come prayer

Resources for 2024

There’s a variety of resources that will help your congregations and churches, including:

  • Prayer journals, novenas and prayer diaries that you can download or order print copies of here;
  • Resources to help children to pray, including new episodes of the ‘Cheeky Pandas’, narrated by Gemma Hunt, Bear Grylls, Mary Berry and Archbishop Justin (download publicity postcards from here and watch the trailer here);
  • Resources for young people, from ‘The Way’ (download publicity postcards from here)
  • 11 films, one for each day, which will feature different ways in which people can pray, which will ultimately be available here;
  • Accessible resources, including a Braille prayer booklet, videos with British Sign Language, and resources that can be used with those on the autistic spectrum,

Images for social media

You can download graphics for use on social media from the Thy Kingdom Come website here.

Ways your church can take part in Thy Kingdom Come

As Thy Kingdom Come swiftly approaches, here are some simple ways your church can be involved:

  1. Host a virtual or in-person prayer room, inspired by the Upper Room in the book of Acts. Sign up and unite your congregation in continuous prayer. Let us know so that we can post your event on this page.
  2. Host an outdoor Pentecost Celebration Service – click on the link to download a PDF help sheet, and let us know what you plan.
  3. Prayer walking – why not consider praying around your local community?
  4. Host a Cheeky Pandas family service – why not host a special service using the Cheeky Pandas resources including video series, songs and prayer booklets?
  5. Pray for 5 – using a simple visual aid, such as a bracelet with 5 knots or beads on, encourage people to take a few moments each day to pray for five different people. Here’s a video by Rt Rev Dr John Sentamu with his thoughts on how to pray for 5.
  6. TKC postcards artworkPrayer Stations – Consider setting up prayer stations around your church building, or outside in the church grounds. Prayer stations can help people to pray in a variety of ways – with a different focus at each station. This year, there is some beautiful artwork available, created by Rev Chris Duffett, with an accompanying Visio Divina PAINT acronym to guide your times of prayer. You can order A6 postcard, A4 size or larger sized sets from CPO here, with a digital downloadable version coming soon.

Thy Kingdom Come App

The award-winning Thy Kingdom Come App is back! The app is now live and is the perfect accompaniment for the 11 days of prayer. Available in several languages, the app contain all this year’s key content including audio reflections from 24-7 Prayer, videos and Bible readings.

How to pray for others

Watch the inspirational video below, ahead of this year’s Thy Kingdom Come, featuring the Way and Archbishop Justin Welby, encouraging us to pray for loved ones to come to faith in Christ. Head to youtube.com/c/TheWaychannel for more inspiring video content by and for young people.

Thy Kingdom Come resources bundle
Thy Kingdom Come resources bundle

Facebook

(our local ecumenical Facebook page for churches in and around Portsmouth)