Just minutes before they had prayed for the Jewish community at the start of Chanukah, then as the congregation of Bondi Anglican Church was leaving they heard shots ringing out at the beach nearby.

“A whole crowd of people ran past our church building which goes down to the beach, very close to where the violence occurred,” said Bondi’s senior minister Martin Morgan.  “So as we were leaving the church we saw people running past and we came back into the church building. Two or three of our church members who are in the crowd saw what had happened.”

As of Monday morning, at least 16 people have died, including a 12 year old girl and 29 people have been injured in the terrorist attack. They were at a Chanukah celebration at the beach.

Mr Morgan was speaking on a video on sydneyanglicans.net social media in the hours after the attack, where he asked for prayer for the community, which was just recovering from the stabbing attack at the nearby shopping centre last year.

“So we just prayed in the church building for half an hour to 40 minutes until it became safe for people to leave.” Mr Morgan said the atmosphere in the suburb had changed recently.

“The Semitic, anti Jewish religious hatred is something we've noticed after the last few years in Bondi and … we're just praying that the Lord will not allow this hatred to grow and that we can shine as a light, as an individual congregation, as a group of churches in the parish, but also with other churches around about.”

“Please pray,” Mr Morgan said as reports came in of victims undergoing surgery and police still locked down and combed the beachside. “Prayer is what is needed and there will be lots of need for trauma counselling going forward.”

Please join me in praying urgently for the injured and families of victims of the shooting at Bondi Beach. Pray for the safety of the Jewish community and residents of Bondi. Pray for the police and medical teams in their work. Lord have mercy.

Soon after the news of the shooting broke, Archbishop Raffel called for urgent prayer “Please join me in praying urgently for the injured and families of victims of the shooting at Bondi Beach,” he said. “Pray for the safety of the Jewish community and residents of Bondi. Pray for the police and medical teams in their work. Lord have mercy.”

Archbishop Raffel has made several appeals for the community to stem the rising tide of anti-semitism since the October massacre in Israel. 

Official statement on massacre

On Monday, Archbishop Raffel issued a statement calling the massacre shocking and sickening.

"We embrace our Jewish neighbours and fellow citizens in love, friendship and support. We reject antisemitism, violence and hatred,” the Archbishop said,

"We pray to the God of all comfort and the Father of compassion, for the safety and protection of the Jewish community. We pray for those grieving the tragic loss of loved ones, those injured or traumatised, for the police and medical workers, and for our government and security agencies as they respond. We pray for the peace, safety and recovery of the community in Bondi and more widely across Sydney. 

"We give thanks for the many people who offered help to those around them, including Ahmed al Ahmed who bravely confronted and disarmed one of the gunmen. 

During this Jewish festival of Hanukkah, and as Christians anticipate the celebration of Christmas, we give thanks that Jesus, a Jewish man, came into our world of sorrow and sin, to bring the light of life, and the darkness has not overcome it."

Pray

Special prayers have been written for churches, bible study groups and individual use. View the prayers in pdf here.

Archbishop Raffel also appealed for people to donate blood. There is a blood bank at St Andrew’s House at Town Hall, where queues of donors (above) have formed.

Sydney Anglicans are also volunteering to assist Lifeblood in the refreshment area, as donors arrive.