Questions & answers

It is a single day in the year, recognised by the state, on which the people of a country are invited — never compelled — to pray for their nation: for its freedom, its peace, its leaders and its future. The day is usually established by a parliamentary resolution or a law, and is marked in churches, in public gatherings, in communities and privately.

No. The day creates no obligation for any citizen and grants no privilege to any confession. It is an invitation, not a requirement. In the United States the observance has coexisted with constitutional separation since 1952 and in statutory form since 1988; in Ukraine it was established in 2025 within a legal order that guarantees freedom of conscience.

In practice, a National Day of Prayer is an act of respect by the state toward the spiritual heritage of its people and toward freedom of religion itself.

The movement grew out of Europe’s Christian heritage and its founding participants are Christian churches and communities. At the same time, the form of the day belongs to each nation. The observance in Kyiv on 24 February 2026, for example, was an interfaith prayer service led by bishops and leaders of churches and religious organisations. Each country decides how wide the circle of participation should be.

Ukraine is the first country in Europe to have established one at the country level: on 12 February 2025 the Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution designating 24 February as the National Day of Prayer.

Outside Europe, the best-documented precedent is the United States, where the first Thursday of May has been the National Day of Prayer under Public Law 100-307 since 1988, building on a tradition of national proclamations reaching back to 1775. It is a federal observance, set by Act of Congress for the whole country — individual US states issue proclamations of their own in addition to it.

Anyone can begin the conversation, but experience shows that the initiative becomes viable when churches and religious communities of different confessions carry it together. From there it usually passes through an interdenominational steering committee, a written vision, engagement with government and national leaders, and finally a legislative proposal.

The movement’s seven-step framework describes this path in detail.

There is no fixed timetable — it depends on the parliamentary calendar, on the breadth of support among religious communities, and on the political climate of the moment. What can be said from experience is that the preparatory work — building unity among churches and forming a credible steering committee — usually takes longer than the legislative stage itself, and that it determines whether the legislative stage succeeds.

Documented historical and legal precedents; model texts for a legislative proposal; guidance on forming a steering committee; introductions to leaders in other countries who have already walked this road; and materials for the first national observance. All of it is offered freely.

What the movement does not do is act in place of the local initiative. The National Day of Prayer of a country must belong to that country.

No. The movement is independent of any party, government or state institution. It works with parliamentarians and public officials of any political affiliation who are willing to support the initiative, and it takes no position on questions outside its own purpose.

By praying for your nation, and on your country’s National Day of Prayer where one exists. By bringing the initiative to your own church or community. And by writing to the board if you are willing to help carry it in your country.