Saturday, April 22, 2017, saw the biggest prayer gathering in South African history as close to two million people gathered from all parts of South Africa to pray. The event was held on a farm just north of Bloemfontein which is centrally located in South Africa.
Some 1.7 million people registered on-line to attend this historic occasion and thousands more arrived on the day. The multi-racial crowd spread over more than a kilometer relayed onto multiple large screens and many kilometers of cabling for the sound system.
Popular South African farmer/evangelist, and subject of the book and film, “Faith Like Potatoes”, Angus Buchan called for a nation-wide prayer meeting in the light of the current spiritual and socio-political decline evident in the nation. The event was called, “It’s Time”
Buchan said, “We are tired of people taking the law into their own hands. We are going to call upon The Lord to bring justice, peace and hope to our beloved South Africa. He says ‘If my people who are called by My name’ -- that is you and I, so I want to ask you to pray for us.”
As people kept on streaming to Wilde Als farm near Bloemfontein for the It's Time prayer meeting, organizers were forced to delay the start of proceedings by more than an hour due to people still coming to the venue in large numbers.
Prayer Time Replicated Throughout the Nation
The prayer time was duplicated in hundreds of town and suburbs around the nation. Prayer meetings, for those who couldn't get to Bloemfontein were held in churches, rented halls and homes around South Africa. No television broadcasts were allowed, but Christians around the country followed the event from the social media posts of their friends. Busses and airplanes were chartered for the event.
Despite the magnitude of the event there was no television advertising and little news coverage beforehand. Farmers in the area opened their farms to hundreds of thousands of campers at no cost. Gridlock was reported for up to 40 kilometres (25 miles) away and the event was delayed for an hour and a half to allow more to arrive.