[ACNS] The Church of England’s Bishop for Sport, the Rt Revd Tony Porter, the Bishop of Sherwood, is encouraging Christians to take part in a “global wave of prayer” ahead of the Rugby World Cup which kicks off later this month.

The global prayer wave is an initiative of Engage 2015, an ecumenical campaign set up to help UK churches serve the rugby community during the World Cup which kicks off later this month. On 17 September – a day before the World Cup begins – participants all over the world will pray at 8.00pm local time.

“By asking people to pray at 8pm their local time and tracking it all over the world a prayer wave is formed,” the organisers say. “The prayer wave is designed to encourage people from all nations to gather in groups to cover the world’s third largest sporting event in prayer.”

The prayer wave will be tracked online via an interactive map on the Engage 2015 website allowing people to see the progress and contribute to a global community of prayers for the Rugby World Cup 2015. The interactive map will show global participation through the use of social media and the #RWCPRAYERWAVE hashtag which links directly to the map allowing people to contribute to the wave and see themselves online.

”It is a real privilege to endorse and encourage the ministry of Engage 2015 in this year of the Rugby World Cup,” Bishop Porter said. “I want to encourage our parish churches to pray passionately and get involved personally in the initiatives of Engage, and I pray that through this ministry the name of Jesus will be lifted high.”

Engage 2015’s co-ordinator is the Baptist minister David Chawner, chaplain to the Wasps rugby club. He said: “Engage 2015 is providing ideas and prayer topics to meet the needs of everything from a group of friends in a home to a whole church together. The Rugby World Cup is a wonderful way for God’s people to show his love and prayer needs to be at the heart of it all.”

Bishop Porter was commissioned as the Sports Ambassador for the Archbishops of Canterbury and York earlier this year by Archbishop John Sentamu at the chapel in Bishopthorpe and has since established a national network of sports ministries.