Tobago to begin monthly day of prayer

The first day of every month will be a Tobago Day of Prayer.

This was announced by Chief Secretary Farley Augustine on Tuesday as the Executive Council hosted the first in a series of district town hall meetings on Tuesday at the Bethesda Multi-Purpose Facility. A press release on Thursday confirmed the announcement.

Augustine said: “I would concede that we really should spend more time as a larger community in prayer. What I would have established is – and I’ll have Information Division put the notice out – as an island, the first day in every month, we would set aside as a day where we’ll pray.

"It doesn’t mean that people wouldn’t go to work, it doesn’t mean it would be a holiday – it just means that wherever you are on the island, people take time out on the first day of every month to pray.

"Sit by your desk and pray; you’re in the taxi driving to work – you offer a word of prayer; if it’s on a weekend and you’re heading to church – even better, you spend some time praying. But the first day of every month, we’ll make that as a Tobago Day of Prayer, a day to pray for the nation of Tobago.”

The first Tobago Day of Prayer will be on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2023. Augustine believes it is the ideal time to start.

“It is the most perfect day to begin the year 2023 as we turnover. It is a Sunday, it is the first day of the week, first day of the year, and it’s a good day for a new resolve to be prayerful meditation to God going forward.”

The initiative comes following a recommendation by Bethesda/Les Coteaux resident Agnes Gibson that people pray for the island.

She said, “Please, tell your people to pray. Prayer is the key. Prayers makes the darkest cloud redraw. It gives faith and power and Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees – you all are not weak.”