Fatherhood Foundation: A Call to Prayer

The Fatherhood Foundation is calling men everywhere to pray and fast on the first Monday of each month for all of 2003 for fathers, families and children. This year- long prayer vigil for the fathers of our nation is inspired by the verse in Malachi 4:6,

'And He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse'.

The foundation scripture for this call to prayer is,

Prayer is the foundation for our nation. Our constitution says, 'humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God'. Our forefathers in Australia prayed to God in the midst of drought and the government called a national day of prayer and fasting on 2nd November, 1838. Within days the drought was broken. Today our nation suffers a national catastrophe because of drought. This has been caused by an acute shortage of rain over several years. Apparently our current drought is rapidly approaching the worst on record.

At the same time, our country is ravaged by a far greater problem, that is, a serious shortage of fathers. We have a drought of fathers. We are producing a fatherless generation through the effects of our permissive society. We are reaping a crop of crime, violence, suicide, depression, divorce and family breakdown because we have forgotten our Father in heaven. Until we recognise God as our Father, we will never really solve the natural problem of fatherlessness. The fatherlessness in our society is bringing a curse on our land, just as Malachi said it would. Fatherlessness produces poverty, crime, drug abuse, mental problems and child abuse. Fatherlessness costs Australia 3.5 billion dollars per year. In fact many would argue this figure to be extremely conservative. Please refer to our Facts on Fatherlessness sheet, available on the web at www.fathersonline.org for further documentation of these facts.

In mid 2002 the Fatherhood Foundation ran three TV adverts to encourage fathers, which were seen by over 10 million Australians. On Father's Day 2002 the Fatherhood Foundation also released a weekly email of encouragement for busy dads. This has become a very powerful tool of encouragement and is aimed at Aussie dads, Christian or not. We believe that the fathersonline.org weekly email will reach tens of thousands and in time hundreds of thousands of Aussie fathers. Many Australian men are desperate for inspiration and encouragement in this important ministry of being both a father and a husband to their families. Anyone can register online for this free weekly email for busy dads at www.fathersonline.org. You can even register a friend at the website.
Change begins when we pray. Now is the time to humble ourselves and seek God as a nation, starting with the men. The Apostle Paul says, 'Therefore I want men everywhere to pray lifting up holy hands', 1 Timothy 2:8.

The Fatherhood Foundation believes that God called the family into existence in the Garden of Eden. Our Father in heaven conducted the first marriage service and provided the first honeymoon suite - the Garden of Eden. Our call to prayer is a call to put families first. Our call to prayer is a challenge to gather men to pray in homes all across the nation. Our call to prayer is to be on the first day of the week in the first week of the month. Our challenge is that men would pray and fast as much as they are able during that day given their respective work commitments. Our suggestion is that these same men would gather together to break their fast that evening. Eating and fellowshipping together over the meal and celebrating the Lord's Supper just like the early disciples did in each others homes. Then after the meal they would pray together for an hour, for each other, for the fathers, for the families, for the marriages, for the children, for the churches, of the nation.

A strong focus of this call to prayer is that God would raise up fathers in our nation, in the church, in the political and business world and most of all in the home. These monthly prayer gatherings for fathers, families and children would take place throughout 2003 and beyond. The greatest way to benefit our children is to raise up fathers of excellence all across the nation. Australia needs a revolution of love and that must begin in the home.

For those who would like to connect with the latest prayer news and register their interest to be part of this national call to prayer, please email prayer@fathersonline.org with your contact details. You will be kept updated on all new prayer developments as they occur.

The Fatherhood Foundation believes that this year of prayer for fathers is the start of a ten year period of sustained prayer for generational change in our nation. Only prayer coupled with preaching the Gospel, in partnership with the local church, is going to bring change to people's hearts. The momentum will increase when this partnership is extended to national Christian ministries working closely with political Christian action groups. Australia must return to its Biblical foundations. Only then will our nation be saved from disaster.

By Warwick Marsh, Ps Steve Lewin, Peter Berger and the Fatherhood Foundation Prayer Team.
For more information email prayer@fathersonline.org

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The Fatherhood Foundation is calling men everywhere to pray and fast on the first Monday of each month for all of 2003 for fathers, families and children. This year- long prayer vigil for the fathers of our nation is inspired by the verse in Malachi 4:6,

Prayer is the foundation for our nation. Our constitution says, 'humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God'. Our forefathers in Australia prayed to God in the midst of drought and the government called a national day of prayer and fasting on 2nd November, 1838. Within days the drought was broken. Today our nation suffers a national catastrophe because of drought. This has been caused by an acute shortage of rain over several years. Apparently our current drought is rapidly approaching the worst on record.

At the same time, our country is ravaged by a far greater problem, that is, a serious shortage of fathers. We have a drought of fathers. We are producing a fatherless generation through the effects of our permissive society. We are reaping a crop of crime, violence, suicide, depression, divorce and family breakdown because we have forgotten our Father in heaven. Until we recognise God as our Father, we will never really solve the natural problem of fatherlessness. The fatherlessness in our society is bringing a curse on our land, just as Malachi said it would. Fatherlessness produces poverty, crime, drug abuse, mental problems and child abuse. Fatherlessness costs Australia 3.5 billion dollars per year. In fact many would argue this figure to be extremely conservative. Please refer to our Facts on Fatherlessness sheet, available on the web at www.fathersonline.org for further documentation of these facts.

In mid 2002 the Fatherhood Foundation ran three TV adverts to encourage fathers, which were seen by over 10 million Australians. On Father's Day 2002 the Fatherhood Foundation also released a weekly email of encouragement for busy dads. This has become a very powerful tool of encouragement and is aimed at Aussie dads, Christian or not. We believe that the fathersonline.org weekly email will reach tens of thousands and in time hundreds of thousands of Aussie fathers. Many Australian men are desperate for inspiration and encouragement in this important ministry of being both a father and a husband to their families. Anyone can register online for this free weekly email for busy dads at www.fathersonline.org. You can even register a friend at the website.
Change begins when we pray. Now is the time to humble ourselves and seek God as a nation, starting with the men. The Apostle Paul says, 'Therefore I want men everywhere to pray lifting up holy hands', 1 Timothy 2:8.

The Fatherhood Foundation believes that God called the family into existence in the Garden of Eden. Our Father in heaven conducted the first marriage service and provided the first honeymoon suite - the Garden of Eden. Our call to prayer is a call to put families first. Our call to prayer is a challenge to gather men to pray in homes all across the nation. Our call to prayer is to be on the first day of the week in the first week of the month. Our challenge is that men would pray and fast as much as they are able during that day given their respective work commitments. Our suggestion is that these same men would gather together to break their fast that evening. Eating and fellowshipping together over the meal and celebrating the Lord's Supper just like the early disciples did in each others homes. Then after the meal they would pray together for an hour, for each other, for the fathers, for the families, for the marriages, for the children, for the churches, of the nation.

A strong focus of this call to prayer is that God would raise up fathers in our nation, in the church, in the political and business world and most of all in the home. These monthly prayer gatherings for fathers, families and children would take place throughout 2003 and beyond. The greatest way to benefit our children is to raise up fathers of excellence all across the nation. Australia needs a revolution of love and that must begin in the home.

For those who would like to connect with the latest prayer news and register their interest to be part of this national call to prayer, please email prayer@fathersonline.org with your contact details. You will be kept updated on all new prayer developments as they occur.

The Fatherhood Foundation believes that this year of prayer for fathers is the start of a ten year period of sustained prayer for generational change in our nation. Only prayer coupled with preaching the Gospel, in partnership with the local church, is going to bring change to people's hearts. The momentum will increase when this partnership is extended to national Christian ministries working closely with political Christian action groups. Australia must return to its Biblical foundations. Only then will our nation be saved from disaster.

By Warwick Marsh, Ps Steve Lewin, Peter Berger and the Fatherhood Foundation Prayer Team.
For more information email prayer@fathersonline.org