By Elaine Marshall, St mark's church - TODAY is the Women's World Day of Prayer, to which all are welcome.

It will be held at the Airedale Church (Churchill House, North Street, and commences with favourite hymns being sung at 1.45pm.

The service will be led by the Rev Brenda Sugden and the speaker is the Rev Ruth Parry.

This year's service is prepared by the women of Indonesia, and they need our prayers at this time as their people are going through a very difficult time with the sectarian violence that is taking place.

As the women of Indonesia lead this day of prayer we lift them up in our own private prayers.

The theme today is 'Talitha Koum: Young woman stand up' and is focused on Jairus and his daughter, pointing us to their hope for the future - that young people will carry our faith into the new century.

The islands of Indonesia stretch 5,000kms along the Equator, through three time zones, separating the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The climate is tropical - hot, wet and humid. There are many active volcanoes on the islands, and although potentially dangerous they do help to enrich the soil, supporting the lush vegetation with many exotic flowers, birds and animals. Much of the tropical forest has been destroyed, causing soil erosion.

The main food crop is rice, and fruit and spices are exported.

Traditional crafts are important, amongst them being Ikat weaving and Batik dyeing.

Indonesia was known as the Spice Islands and was a Dutch colony.

Independence was gained in 1947.

This order of service was prepared at a time of great danger to the writers.

Women have always been treated as inferior to men and taught to keep silent, however the situation is slowly improving.

If you want to know more please come to the Airedale Church this afternoon and share in the service these women have prepared.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.