Cameroonian Women at the Aurora First Presbyterian Church Celebrate World Day of Prayer

CWF Women pose for a pho­to with Auro­ra First Pres­by­ter­ian Church pas­tor, Doug Friesame inside the church’s base­ment. Sun­day, March 9, 2025

The vibrant Chris­t­ian Women’s Fel­low­ship (CWF) of Aurora’s First Pres­by­ter­ian Church joy­ful­ly came togeth­er with women around the globe on March 9th to mark World Day of Prayer. This cher­ished cel­e­bra­tion, now a delight­ful annu­al tra­di­tion for the group, unit­ed mem­bers of the Pres­by­ter­ian Church, PC-USA con­gre­ga­tion, the Cameroon­ian com­mu­ni­ty, friends, and oth­er Chris­tians to hon­or and uplift the peo­ples of the Cook Islands in the Asia Pacif­ic region. 

Nes­tled in the heart of the South Pacif­ic, the less­er-known Cook Islands con­sist of 15 small islands, home to a com­mu­ni­ty of around 8,000 peo­ple, with his­tor­i­cal ties to New Zealand. 

A Prayer Service for the Cooks Island

The prayer ser­vice and cel­e­bra­tion kicked off with live­ly Cameroon­ian tra­di­tion­al music, beau­ti­ful­ly per­formed by the CWF women, fol­lowed by singing of psalms and wor­ship hymns. “The World Day of Prayer is a world­wide ecu­meni­cal move­ment of Chris­t­ian women of many tra­di­tions who come togeth­er to observe a com­mon day of prayer and action,” said Mer­cy Nkwelle, the inspir­ing pres­i­dent of the CWF in Auro­ra, Colorado. 

“Each year a dif­fer­ent coun­try serves as the writer of the World Day of Prayer wor­ship ser­vice, inter­pret­ing the bible in their own con­text, and lift­ing issues of mis­sion, jus­tice and peace”

Nkwelle men­tioned that this cher­ished annu­al event pro­motes jus­tice and equal­i­ty for women through the pow­er of prayer. She expressed hope that the funds raised dur­ing the event would sup­port solu­tions for the issues iden­ti­fied by the community. 

A Message of Hope for Our Lives

Shar­ing a mov­ing mes­sage based on Psalm 139, Lucas Nkwelle, an elder at Auro­ra First Pres­by­ter­ian, recount­ed the tale of an old man who brought music back to his com­mu­ni­ty by fix­ing their bro­ken church organ. 

“The organ, my friends, was bro­ken just like many things are bro­ken in our lives today,” he said. “If you feel like your life is bro­ken, if you feel like things have turned upside down on you, then you have to turn to God, because it is only God who can fix what­ev­er is bro­ken in your life.”

Africa Agen­da

CWF Women line up to share mes­sages from the pul­pit at Auro­ra First Pres­by­ter­ian Church. Sun­day, March 9, 2025

Dressed in their beau­ti­ful tra­di­tion­al CWF attire, the Cameroon­ian women pre­sent­ed a heart­felt adap­ta­tion of a play por­tray­ing life in the Cook Islands. They each took turns at the podi­um to share this year’s mes­sage, which cel­e­brat­ed the strength and resilience of women on the island. 

Join­ing in the spir­it of fel­low­ship were Doug Friese­ma, pas­tor of Auro­ra First Pres­by­ter­ian Church, Thomas Mayes, pas­tor of Liv­ing Water Chris­t­ian Cen­ter, and many mem­bers of the Cameroon­ian com­mu­ni­ty in Aurora. 

The uplift­ing event con­clud­ed with a delight­ful feast fea­tur­ing spe­cial­ly pre­pared Cameroon­ian dish­es for every­one to savor.