The 2022 March for Jesus is set to take place this Saturday starting at the Iberia Parish Courthouse.

The national event calls Christians of all denominations to take the joy of knowing Jesus beyond church walls and into the streets with praise and prayer, according to a prepared statement.

Churches across the country celebrate the event, and Iberia Parish will also be participating.

The event is organized to support praise, prayer, proclamation, unity, denominational reconciliation, racial reconciliation and repentance.

Humility, spiritual warfare and preparation for personal evangelism are also themes reckoned with during the course of the event.

March organizer Zack Mitchell said in a prepared statement that Christians from different denominations, affiliations and races will be marching through the streets of New Iberia joyfully proclaiming their faith, singing praise songs and praying for their country.

“We believe God is doing something new in our cities through the March for Jesus,” Mitchell said. “This national day of praise, prayer and proclamation will bring thousands of Christians to the streets of cities around the nation.

“Obviously this is something that no one organization or group of people could make happen,” he added. “We believe only God’s hand could orchestrate something so magnificent and far-reaching.”

This year’s event will include church participation from Cornerstone Cowboy Church, Little Zorah Baptist Church, Glorious Church and others.

Those participating in the event will gather at the Iberia Parish Courthouse back lot and march up St. Peter Street to Bank Street Park.

Marchers will sing praise songs and then gather for a prayer assembly following the march. The event is not a protest or political march, but simply a march for Jesus, Mitchell added.

The first March for Jesus in the United States was May 23, 1992. On that day, Christians openly exalted Jesus in 142 U.S. cities as well as 25 European countries, according to organizational information. At the time, 300,000 people participated in the march in the U.S. as well as another 300,000 overseas.

Lineup for Saturday’s event begins at 9 a.m. at the Iberia Parish Courthouse.