ZAMBIA: ZCCB, Other Church Bodies Hold Prayers for God’s Creation.
Participants of the Ecumenical Prayer Service for Creation
Inspired by Day of prayer for Creation set by Pope Francis, Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops together with other Church Mother Bodies namely Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) and Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) held an ecumenical service to pray for creation.
The service held in high density populated location of Chawama compound, south of the Capital Lusaka, was aimed at raising awareness on the importance of caring for creation to prevent disasters that may result from uncaring attitude towards God’s creation that supports life.
The service was timely and a reminder of the Cholera outbreak experienced early in the year in Zambia that claimed lives due to uncaring attitude for the environment. The joint ecumenical prayer service held under the theme: “walking together in caring for God’s creation,” took place at the Chawama Catholic Parish on Saturday, 24th November, 2018.
In this vein, the three church mother bodies have since pledged their continued support to efforts aimed at protecting the environment. They urged Christians to play an active role in protecting the environment and its surroundings.
And in his homily CCZ General Secretary Fr. Emmanuel Chikoya reminded the Christians of the power they possess in making a difference towards caring for the environment. Fr. Chikoya explained that giving adequate care to the environment will help prevent disasters that may result from uncaring attitude towards “God’s creation” that supports life.
“Christians have role to play in protecting the environment by ensuring that they avoid engaging in activities that can negatively affect the natural habitats,” he said.
Fr. Chikoya added that Christians being the majority should therefore always strive to ensuring that they use their surroundings to the glory of God.
“With the onset of the rainy season there is need for people to exercise maximum cleanliness’s and care for the environment in order to avoid the outbreaks of water borne diseases like the way it was during the last season,” he pointed out.
He further noted that the church will continue to engage the public in ensuring that issues of cleanness are addressed in their churches, homes, workplaces and neighbourhoods among others.
The ecumenical prayer Service on the Care for God’s creation will be a yearly national event to create a platform for people to hear messages on caring for the environment as a creation of God, cultivate an active core of the Christians to serve as stewards on caring for creation in their churches, neighbourhoods, workplaces, and homes including the deepening of ecumenical involvement on the need to care for creation.
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By Mwenya Mukuka, ZCCB Communications Officer
