The Church of England is making a bid to put God into Fathers’ Day with a prayer for children to include in their cards on June 21, asking God to help dads grow in love and wisdom.

The Bishop of Worcester, the Rt Rev John Inge, said, “Let’s celebrate Fathers’ Day in our churches, honouring those fathers who have shown us something of God’s love, and remembering that our ‘Father in Heaven’ loves us and watches over us, always.”

Children ‘lost for words’ this Fathers’ Day are encouraged to paste or write in their cards a prayer specially written for the occasion, thanking dads for their love and support and asking God to support and guide them.

“I have always believed in my head,” said Bishop John, “that God loves me unconditionally but it was only when I became a father myself that I began to understand it with my heart.”

The prayer is backed up by a new page on www.cofe.anglican.org with more prayer material. Churches are offered: a sample service to customise for Fathers’ Day; a podcast in which Bishop John explains how becoming a father gave him a new understanding of God’s unconditional love; and a link provides a gateway to the WhatDadsAdd website created by the Church or England and the Mothers’ Union.

“I have never known a love quite like the love of being a father and I rejoice in the great gift of fatherhood,” said Bishop John Inge. “I rejoice in it because of my children, to whom I am devoted. But I also rejoice in it because it helps me to understand how God loves me, and how nothing can separate me from that love.”

Prayer for Fathers’ Day cards:

I thank God for all the love and support you offer me,

and I ask for God's blessing on you this Father's day:

   may God our heavenly Father keep you in his care,

   support and guide you each day

   and help you grow in love and wisdom.

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Notes to Editors

The Fathers’ Day section of the CofE website is at www.cofe.anglican.org/fathersday.

Bishop John’s podcast about Fathers’ Day is at http://www.cofe.anglican.org/podcasts

Issued by Rachel Edwards, Acting Press Officer for the Diocese of Worcester and the Bishop of Worcester

Email: redwards@cofe-worcester.org.uk

Tel: 07852 302516

ENDS.

The Diocese of Worcester is one of 44 dioceses in the Church of England. It covers an area of 671 square miles and includes parishes in the County of Worcestershire, the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, and a few parishes in northern Gloucestershire, south east Wolverhampton and Sandwell.