Students of Old Harbour Primary School perform 'Jamaica', their winning piece in this year's Jamaica Cultural Development Commission competition, at the National Independence Thanksgiving Service at the Pentecostal Gospel Temple on Windward Road in Kingston yesterday. The nation will celebrate Independence on August 6. -Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographe

WHILE SOME churches have not wholeheartedly heeded the Prime Minister's call for seven days of prayer and fasting from July 31 to August 6, the Hands Across Jamaica for Righteousness group and several church leaders have agreed to come together today to join hands in a massive prayer session in Rose Town.

Yvonne Coke, founder and chairman of Hands Across Jamaica, told The Gleaner that she had planned to organise a major day of prayer where members of the Rose Town, Trench Town and Seventh Street communities would come together to pray for the nation and its leaders "long before the Prime Minister had made the suggestion".

"It is really just a coincidence. This shows that God really knows what He is doing," Coke said.

She was also keen to point out: "God has a plan and, again, this is taking place on the 30th of the seventh monthand it marks a historic occasion that took place in 1947 (she recollects political killings happening there in that year)."

Coke said members of the community would be joining hands along the Seventh Street corridor from Nathan Street up to Asquith Street to consecrate the spot and to "ask God to remove the scourge from that land and to remove the scourge of violence that has possessed this country".

Over 40 churches will participate in the day's event, which will begin at 4:00 p.m. These include Praise City International, Church of God of Prophecy and Trench Town Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Bishop the Rev. Dr. Carmen Stewart, of the Pentecostal Gospel Temple, also told The Gleaner yesterday that her church, would participate in the day of prayer in addition to having two days of supplication on August 5 and 6.

Speaking to The Gleaner yesterday after the National Independence Thanksgiving Service, the Rev. Dr. Stewart said her church would set aside two days when they would pray for the nation and its leaders.

Nigel Coke, communications director for the West Indies Union of Seventh-day Adventists, would also said Adventists also had plans.

Both leaders cautioned that their prayer vigils would not necessarily coincide with the Prime Minister's week of prayer.

The National Independence Thanksgiving Service was held under the theme 'Unity, Peace and Justice É the Pillars of a Strong Nation', and marked the beginning of the celebration of Jamaica's 45th independence.

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