Thousands of churches across the US to gather for Repentance Sunday
Thousands of churches across the United States will pray for repentance and revival on Sunday in response to calls by the leaders of more than 50 churches and ministries to observe Repentance Sunday as the country is going through “division, destruction and degradation.”
“Inspired by Old Testament calls to sacred assemblies, this special day (September 27) marks the beginning of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in the historic Church calendar,” say the organizers on the event’s website.
“This is one of the most sacred days of the year for the Jewish community and an opportunity as the Christian church to practice what Revelation 2 and 3 require, a return to our first love, seeking forgiveness of our personal and corporate sins,” explain the organizers, including Matt Chandler from The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas; Gabe Lyons from Q Ideas in Nashville, Tennessee; John Stonestreet of Colson Center in Colorado Springs; and Francis Chan of Crazy Love Ministries, among others.
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During worship services or special evening services on Sunday, churches will pray for repentance “in response to the continued division, destruction and degradation taking place throughout our land.”
“When there’s division, when there’s confusion, when we’re experiencing calamity, the role of the Church is to do what only we can do. And that’s to turn to God to confess our sins, to repent of our personal sins, our corporate sins, and to ask God to turn toward us,” says Lyons in a video message on his ministry’s website.
“The idea here is, of course, the dependence creatures have, by definition, on their Creator,” said Stonestreet on the BreakPoint ministry website. “And, another aspect of our creatureliness spoken of in Scripture is not only that we exist, but when and where we exist.”
He continued, “God has, according to Paul’s teaching found in Acts 17, placed each and every one of us in particular times and particular places. The chaos of the cultural moment is all the reason we need to pray that we could possibly need.”
Stonestreet noted that Lyons, who has been, “the driving force organizing Repentance Day, told many of us recently, ‘Something is surely afoot. God is on the move.’ I’ve sensed that too.”
Repentance Sunday is part of larger calls being made for prayer and repentance in America.
On Saturday, Christian leaders are gathering together for “The Return: Global Day of Repentance and Prayer on The Washington Mall” in Washington, D.C.
“Without repentance, we have nothing else. That is the foundation of the order of God in Scripture and in all things,” Kevin Jessip, president of Global Strategic Alliance, told The Christian Post in an interview earlier this month.
Known as The Return, a national and global movement of prayer and repentance, the 10-day event began with the Feast of Trumpets (Sept. 18) and will end with the Day of Atonement (Sept. 28). This is also known as the Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
As part of the revival, leaders from over 150 nations will be participating in a day of prayer on Saturday. The broadcast will be hosted in over 90 languages in real-time translation. Christian media outlets including CBN, TBN, Daystar, TCT, and GOD TV will also be broadcasting the event. Featured speakers will include HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, evangelist Anne Graham Lotz, Messianic Jewish Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, pro-life evangelist Alveda King, Dr. James Dobson, Bishop Harry Jackson and several others.
Lotz, the 72-year-old daughter of famed evangelist Billy Graham, has also issued an urgent call to repentance, warning that America has a “small window of opportunity” to return to God, that, if not taken, will incite severe judgment.
In an interview with The Christian Post this week, Lotz, founder and president of Angel Ministries, said the U.S. has repeatedly “shaken its fist” in God’s face, removing His name everywhere from schools to the government. “When you do that, God just backs away,” she said, citing Romans 1, which speaks of the retributive judgment of God.
“God gives us over to ourselves, and I believe that is where we are right now; it really is the judgment of God,” Lotz said. “America has a window of opportunity to return to the Lord, but it’s just a window, and it’s going to close. We’re going to find our nation without God, and without Him, we don’t have His protection, we don’t have His wisdom.”
