CHRISTIANS will line the walls of York to pray for the city next week.

The event will take place as local churches come together as part of the ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ international wave of prayer for the ten days from the Feast of The Ascension of Jesus Christ, on May 10, to the Feast of Pentecost on May 20.

On May 10, the city’s Bar Walls between Peasholme Green and Bootham Bar will see the first of ten public ‘Gather’ events for everyone between 6pm and 7pm each evening through the ten days, at which prayers will be offered for the city, its people and churches.

This will commemorate the period after the return of the risen Jesus Christ to heaven and before the gift of the Holy Spirit to his followers at Pentecost ten days later.

Thy Kingdom Come is a global wave of prayer launched by the Archbishops of York and Canterbury in 2016 in which Christians of many traditions around the world join in prayer for a renewed gift of the Holy Spirit as they work for the coming of God’s reign on earth.

The other nine daily Gather events will take place in churches throughout the city.

These events are a key feature of a wide-ranging programme in York for the ten days, co-ordinated by One Voice York.

It includes five open-air lunchtime meetings in St Helen’s Square, an Open Youth Event with Silent Disco, performances by York Riding Lights Theatre Company’s Roughshod team, public readings of the four Gospels and the Book of Acts from the Bible in city centre churches, a genuine electoral ballot box set up for a week outside St Oswald’s Church in Fulford for the public to vote for prayer topics, a host of events through the final weekend with Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu, and finally a ‘Beacon’ worship event led by a team from St Michael-le-Belfrey Church in York Minster at 7.30pm on Pentecost Day (May 20).