A Cardiff city centre church is encouraging people to pray for the NATO Summit.

A special service of readings and prayers is to be held at St John the Baptist Church this Sunday, August 31, at 6pm.

Vicar of St John’s, Canon Sarah Rowland Jones said, “We shall be praying that the NATO Summit will promote just and lasting peace, for we know that God always supports those who work for genuine peace.

“Solving today’s conflicts are not easy. Peace can only be sustained where it is grounded in fair settlements that address historic and systemic injustices,” said Canon Rowland Jones, a former British diplomat honoured by the Queen for her work with the Foreign Office.

“These politicians need great wisdom, and the commitment to follow through, if they are to avoid easy rhetoric or short termism. Forging reconciliation sometimes also means admitting past mistakes, or taking generous and risky steps. We are praying they will have the necessary vision and courage.”

Noting that all the major religious traditions have peace at their heart, she said that people of all faiths and none are warmly invited to the service of readings, music and prayers.

“We shall also light candles as a symbol of God’s capacity to bring light in life’s dark places, and of our own commitment to be agents of true peace wherever we find ourselves.’

Those who cannot attend the service are invited to visit St John’s, open daily between 10am and 3pm, to say a prayer and light a candle for peace, though the church will be shut on September 4 and 5, due to its proximity to the city’s ‘ring of steel’ erected for the conference.

Cardiff Castle, which is due to host some events for those attending the Summit, lies within the City Parish of St John the Baptist Cardiff.

• God in war is the theme of a radio programme presented by the Archbishop of Wales on Sunday. Dr Barry Morgan examines the church’s part in supporting and opposing war and finds out about battlefield chaplains in the programme for BBC Radio Wales. God in War is one of a six-part series called Wales And The Great War, broadcast to commemorate the centenary of the start of the First World War. It will be broadcast on Radio Wales on Sunday, August 31 at 1.30pm. It will be repeated on Monday, September 1 at 6.30pm and Tuesday, September 2 at 5.30am.