His Majesty King Tupou, Her Royal Highness Princess Pilolevu and Lord Tuita were among those who attended an evening of National Prayer that took place in Nuku’alofa on 25th of March.
Thousands of people gathered, despite the poor weather, to pray for forgiveness and for the country in the face of the growing challenges it is experiencing.
The Tonga National Forum of Church Leaders organised the occasion after an increasing number of murders, road deaths and the most severe cyclone ever recorded.
There is said to be a conviction among the church leaders in Tonga that the unusually high number of murder cases and people dying from road accidents recently were a result of the “sinful way of life” that Tongans are living.
Illegal drugs and excess alcohol were said to be the cause of some of the fatalities.
One of the church leaders asked everyone, including the King, to kneel and offer their prayers to God.
Seven choirs performed to the thousands in the run-up to the service.
A famous Tongan hymn called Pule’anga mo e Siasi ka e malohi ha fonua was sung.
The hymn says that the church and state must stand together for the country to stand at all.
The event was a display of Christian unity from seven different churches – the Church of Latter Day Saints, Siasi Tokaikolo, the Free Church of Tonga, the Free Constitutional Church of Tonga, the Church of Tonga, the Roman Catholic Church and the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga.
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