The Archdiocese of Southwark, in England, has found great success and engagement in a prayer campaign for the 2024 Year of Prayer, as designated by Pope Francis in anticipation of the 2025 Year of Jubilee. Called “#GivePrayerAGo,” the initiative has enjoyed high rates of participation since the start of Lent; in this season, they are releasing daily prayer videos.
The campaign has been especially successful since the archdiocese began releasing brief prayer videos on Ash Wednesday. According to Keep the Faith, even without any money spent to advertise or promote the campaign, it has engaged with more than 1.5 million users on social media.
Archbishop John Wilson, of Southwark, commented on #GivePrayerAGo:
“The extraordinary reach of this simple prayer campaign underlines how much people do desire a relationship with Christ, but sometimes just need a little support in lifting their hearts and minds to Him. Prayer is a precious gift and I am delighted people are embracing it this Lent.”
At the campaign’s webpage, the archdiocese states the goals of the campaign as: To help people overcome perceived barriers to prayer; to share testimonials on the life changing power of prayer; to give the faithful inspiration and resources to pray; and to organize prayer events throughout the archdiocese.
Those who wish to share testimonials of their own transformative experiences with prayer can do so on the campaign’s webpage. The campaign further encourages the faithful to write their own original prayers, which can also be submitted to the archdiocese via the #GivePrayerAGo portal. It includes some handy tips for beginning prayer writers, noting: “You can write a prayer on anything – from being anxious at work, or worried about exams to praying for a family member to get better.”
