NJCF calls for nationwide ‘Political Prayer of Transformation’

Kohima, August 14 (MExN): The Nagaland Joint Christian Forum (NJCF) has called upon Christians across India to organise prayer vigils in churches and public spaces, describing prayer as an instrument of “transformation” aimed at confronting injustice, oppression and social divisions.

In a statement titled “Political Prayer of Transformation,” the NJCF said Christianity’s position as a minority faith in India makes prayer particularly significant, but cautioned that it “must never be a weapon to be wielded against others.”

“Prayer is not a tool for self-interest, nor a means for anger or vengeance,” the forum said, adding that “to misuse prayer as a justification for hate is to deny its very essence.”

The NJCF said “a cult of hate, anger, and violence has no place in the Kingdom of God,” and called for prayer rooted in love, justice, peace and reconciliation.

According to the forum, prayer should not be confined to private religious practice but should also engage with social realities. “Prayer, rightly understood, is an act of transformation,” it said, describing it as “the bridge between deep personal faith and concrete social change.”

The forum maintained that every Christian prayer is “political,” but clarified that this was not in reference to partisan politics or political manoeuvring. Rather, it said prayer should involve “confrontation with systemic injustice,” opposition to oppression and solidarity with those who suffer.

“It is a petition to God the Father, through Jesus Christ, for His Kingdom to come in India—a Kingdom of love, peace, justice, and equality,” the NJCF stated.

The forum also urged Christians to remain engaged with society rather than retreat from public life. “Christians are ‘in the world, though not of the world’,” it said, adding that the Christian calling was “not to retreat from history, but to respond to it.”

The NJCF called upon Christians “from the hills of the North-East to the plains of the West, from the coasts of the South to the heartlands of the North of India” to “kneel and pray.”

It urged individuals and Christian communities to organise “prayer vigils in streets and churches soon as possible,” with petitions for “God’s sovereign reign” to be revealed in India.

“Let us pray not for our gain, but for the healing of our land, for the miracle of reconciliation, and for the triumph of justice over injustice,” the forum said.

The NJCF described the initiative as “a prayer of transformation” that seeks to combine openness of mind with firm conviction. It said the initiative was intended to affirm that “God’s Kingdom is not abstract, but real,” and that faith should translate into action for truth and justice.

The forum further appealed to Christian bodies across India, irrespective of denomination, to make the “Political Prayer of Transformation” a nationwide and global Christian spiritual exercise.

“Let this message be carried across India and shared among the 193 nations of the world,” it said, adding, “For in Christ, we are one body, united in prayer, awaiting the miracle of God’s will.”

The statement was issued by NJCF president Rev Dr N. Paphino, vice president Rev Dr Vevo Phesao, secretary Rev Moses Murry and church coordinator Rev Dr Hutokhu Zhimomi.