Members of more than 400 Seventh-day Adventist churches across Australia united in prayer Feb. 17 to pray simultaneously for the end of a severe drought and water crisis plaguing the country since last August.

“Australia is experiencing drought conditions unparalleled since records have been kept in many areas of the country,” said Pastor Chester Stanley, president of the Adventist church’s Australian Union Conference (AUC). “The statistics, figures and broken records keep coming.”

“Authorities are saying that something like 98 percent of New South Wales, the most-populous state, is suffering from it. But of course the whole country is affected,” said Gary Krause, director of the Office of Adventist Mission at the Adventist world church headquarters in the United States.

The idea for a corporate prayer as a part of worship services came from church members.

“I have had a number of church members correspond with me from around Australia suggesting it would be very appropriate for us as a church to take time for earnest prayer in relation to the extremely serious situation we have here in Australia,” he explained. “The AUC executive committee at our year-end meetings enthusiastically endorsed this idea and consequently decided to invite our churches to unite in a special season of prayer.”

“We have many church members who have been impacted by the drought,” Stanley reported. “Certainly, conference presidents talk about the drought impacting upon tithe, and the picture I get is that some of our members are [having a hard time].”

The focus for prayer on that day obviously included prayers for rain, but also for those people who have been impacted by the drought and appeals for more responsible use of Australia’s natural resources.

“There’s something I like about the corporate church, down on its knees across Australia, earnestly seeking the Lord,” said Pastor Stanley. He says church members from other parts of the South Pacific region expressed a desire to join the Australian church in prayer. “It’s nice that the rest of the [region] can pray with and for us.”

“This is a crisis and I think as a church we need to be on our knees,” said Pastor Stanley. “But I think also it is a great opportunity to declare to our communities around Australia that we are Christians and that we are a praying people. We should not be seen as a group of people who lock ourselves away but that we are people who care for our communities—that we’re Australians who do have a love for our country.”

Krause, who has just returned from Australia, added, “I’m glad the church in Australia is responding in a spiritual way, and of course the church is also geared to physically help those in need where possible.”