More than 1 million to attend Buchan prayer event

Cape Town – Specific changes in the country, and needs that are weighing heavy on South Africans will not necessarily be the focus of prayers at the 'It's Time' prayer gathering outside Bloemfontein this weekend, says Jilly Hull, daughter of evangelist Angus Buchan.

"We receive hundreds of requests for specific prayers, but on Saturday he's going to pray over what God tells him to," said Hull, who works with her father at Shalom Ministries.

More than a million people are expected to attend the prayer event, which takes place on the Wilde Als farm. The gathering starts at 12:00, Netwerk24 reports.

"Central to the day of prayer is that people's hearts must change for the country to change," Hull said.

"We hope that the message has been spread as far as possible so that it can be a multicultural event that anyone can attend."

Buchan said earlier that he would pray for an end to murders, destruction, theft, corruption and rape.

'The country is not well'

Reverend Helgard Janse van Rensburg, moderator of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Free State, said there was a big need for a prayer gathering.

"I am positive about it, because the country is not well. But everything isn't necessarily going to be set right, as if by magic.

"My position is that people must first humble themselves in front of God. With this, I mean they must examine their own lives and try to determine what God wants to tell them. Does God not want to tell people something with South Africa's drought, economy and politics? And should I, as a person, not also perhaps change?"

Reverend Cassie Aucamp, from the Reformed Churches in South Africa, said the answering of prayers has nothing to do with the size of the prayer gathering, but rather with the sincerity of the prayers.

"Nothing is excluded in terms of what we can and cannot pray for," he said. "Our country is experiencing a crisis. We must pray for the authorities to respond correctly, according to the will of God."

Pastor At Boshoff, from the Christian Revival Church (CRC), said reconciliation, tolerance and peace in the country – as well as economic prosperity, especially among the less privileged – were some of the changes he'd like to see after the prayer day.

"We believe prayer brings change and it is heartening to see how people from all terrains stand together in unity."