Why Government

Praying for the people and activities associated with government has been a prominent theme in NHOP from the very beginning. During his Link Canada prayer walk from Calgary to Ottawa, Rob Parker felt a growing desire to see an Embassy for God – a house of prayer – established in our nation’s capital. A place where God’s people could pray on site, with insight, for the course and future of our country.

But more than that, this is something we are commanded in Scripture to do:

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:1-4)

Paul calls for all types of prayers to be offered on behalf of all people, specifically mentioning kings and all who are in high positions. He connects this command to the work of the Great Commission, as he points to God’s desire for all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. We pray for our leaders so that they, and by extension the Canadians they serve, might come to the knowledge of the truth.

Over NHOP’s twenty-year history, God has opened doors for us to both minister to elected officials and staffers on Parliament Hill, and inform the Church in Canada how we can hold them up in prayer. We are both missionaries on the Hill, and people of prayer for our government.

Our mission is to call the Church to engage in both prayer and acts of service within their own church, community, and constituency, to see the Kingdom of God expand in our country. Ministering to and praying for our elected officials in Ottawa is one way we do this.