The Church of England’s “rapid response prayer unit” issued a new spiritual invocation to shed light in the darkness that threatens to overwhelm the nation during the “disturbing days” of financial crisis.

Bishops are urging Anglicans and others affected by the credit crunch not to keep debt burdens to themselves but to confess them to family, friends or advisers who can help.

The Church posted the “prayer for the current financial situation” on the official Church of England website last night. It tells believers to focus on the certainty of God’s eternal promises to mankind, as “prices rise, debts increase, banks collapse, jobs are taken away”, and urges God to “be a tower of strength amid the shifting sands”.

The debt initiative received the backing of the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams. He told The Times: “At this time of international financial turbulence, it is important that the Church should be offering the opportunity for prayer and reflection.”

The Established Church, which believes that it has a duty of care to all people in its parishes and not just Anglicans, published rapid-response prayers in the past for war, exams and, most recently, the Olympics. But it relaunched the financial area of its website yesterday to focus particularly on the credit crunch.

The new resources include a “debt spiral” to help people to work out the gravity of their own credit crisis, and how far down they have to go before becoming one of the 100,000 people expected to go bankrupt this year.

Church leaders believe that as many as seven million people are in danger becoming overwhelmed by debt.

The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Right Rev John Packer, said that the crisis was exacerbated by rising energy and housing costs. He said that people should be prepared to talk about their debt problems with others.

“One of the dangers, which may be more so for Christians, is that they do not want to admit to being in debt,” he said. “There is still an element of pride in people, that we can cope with our finances at a personal level. But some of the things that are happening at the moment, such as in the areas of energy and housing, are things that are very damaging to a large range of household budgets. Some people are under substantial pressure and the important point is that there should be care for those hit by the crisis.” By coincidence tomorrow is the Feast of St Matthew, the patron saint of accountants, bankers and tax collectors.

St Matthew, author of the first Gospel in its original, Aramaic form, was sitting behind his desk collecting taxes when Jesus commanded him to “follow Me”. Although little is known about his life, some hagiographers believe that after the Crucifixion, he went out to evangelise and suffered a martyr’s death in Ethiopia.

The rapid response prayer

Lord God, we live in disturbing days:
across the world,
prices rise,
debts increase,
banks collapse,
jobs are taken away,
and fragile security is under threat.
Loving God, meet us in our fear
and hear our prayer:
be a tower of strength amidst the
shifting sands,
and a light in the darkness;
help us receive your gift of peace,
and fix our hearts where true joys
are to be found,
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.