Parents were invited to a service at Holy Trinity for World Prayer Day, a service in which Marsupials and Panthers played special part.  

This year's theme was Slovenia, a beautiful country which claimed its independence in 1991.

 

The World Day of Prayer website explains the following:

"Modern Slovenia became independent on 27 June 1991. It lies at the heart of Europe, bordered by Italy, Austria, Croatia and Hungary. It is a land of immense natural beauty, great variety of scenery and varied climate. One of the smallest countries in Europe (it is 20.73km2, roughly the same size as Wales), it has a population of just under two million people (about twice the population of Birmingham). Almost half of the people live in cities, and over a quarter live in the capital, Ljubljana.

The majority (82%) are Slovenes, but there are also Croats, Serbs, Bosnians, Macedonians and Montenegrins, and a small number of Roma, who have their own language and customs. The official language is Slovene, but Hungarian and Italian are co-official languages for those minority communities.

"Slovenia held their first World Day of Prayer in 2000, organised by Ljudmila Schmidt Šemerl from Switzerland. Corinna Harbig took over the following year encouraging women from across Slovenia to work ecumenically, preparing and centrally translating the worship service and resources. Today around 500 people from Catholic, Lutheran, Pentecostal and evangelical churches attend the World Day of Prayer in six locations around Slovenia."

The children led the congregation in a song, and  crafted special carnations, a symbol that was handed out to individuals during the service.