Contact: Juan Michel, World Council of Churches, +41 22 791 6153, +41 79 507 6363, media@wcc-coe.org

GENEVA, Switzerland, June 17 /Standard Newswire/ -- Churches worldwide are being invited to celebrate a day of prayer for Zimbabwe on Sunday, 22 June, as the beginning of a season of prayer for the people and government of the African country, which is facing a critical time.

The day of prayer for Zimbabwe, which is an initiative of Christians in the country, will take place shortly before the runoff election for the presidency scheduled for Friday, 27 June.

"It is impossible to overstate the importance of this election, its fairness, its outcome and its aftermath", affirms the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in a letter to the WCC member churches. "Events in the coming weeks will challenge the people of Zimbabwe and the world to find means of overcoming violence in the exercise of democracy, and the results will influence the future of the nation and the region", he adds.

Full text of the invitation letter: www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=6041

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.