World Day of Prayer 2026

Published 20th January 2026 by Nina Seaman

New Messy Church Prayer Resource

At Messy Church we love to introduce people of all ages to engage in informed prayer and prayerful action. A good way to start is by joining in with the World Day of Prayer.

The World Day of Prayer (WDP) is a worldwide movement led by Christian women of many traditions, who call the faithful together to observe a common day of prayer on the first Friday in March. More than 120 countries participate in an annual day of celebration, which brings together people of various races, cultures and traditions, sharing God’s word and worship.

The 2026 World Day of Prayer service was prepared by an ecumenical group of Christian women from Nigeria, with a focus on the invitation of Jesus found in Matthew 11:28–30, as they call us to come closer and find rest in God.

World Day of Prayer England Wales and Northern Ireland committee, have collaborated with the Messy Church Team to create a Messy Church session based on the 2026 WDP material, written by the Christian Women in Nigeria. We are grateful to Rachel Gotobed, part of our readers and writers support team, for creating this session.

Download the session in English

Download the session in Welsh

Rachel writes…

I first remember going to the World Day of Prayer service as a child with my Mum and being intrigued by the idea that people all around the world were following the same service and saying the same prayers. Ever since I have tried to attend a service each year and to encourage others to join in. Being aware that many services are attended predominantly by older people, I wanted to do something to make the service more accessible and having successfully tried a family cafe church last year, I was delighted to be given the opportunity to write this Messy Church session.

Inspired by the material prepared by the women of Nigeria, I hope that this Messy Church session will help people of all ages explore what it means to find true rest in knowing Jesus, and to be amazed at the fact that someone, somewhere, is always praying.”