We would encourage our prayer partners to watch, and share the links to these excellent newly re-mastered videos entitled ‘Reaching the Unreached – Prayer that Empowers Missions’ - that focus us on the need to pray for the 4,700 unreached peoples' groups. They were produced by the acclaimed Videographer / Director, Michael Lienau, a friend of IPC. There is a 3 minute and 9 minute version:
Play / Download 3 minute version: https://vimeo.com/311331983
Play / Download 9 minute version: https://vimeo.com/311342648
Give Your Church a Vision for the World
31 Jan 2019
Most of us recognise that we live in a very big, very complex world where there’s a lot going on in the global church that we’re not aware of or that we don’t quite understand.
Most of us also recognise that God desires his people to pray for his will to be done, and his kingdom to come, on earth as it is in heaven.
And a lot of the time, we don’t really know quite how to put these two together.
That conundrum is why Lausanne and Operation World have partnered to put together what we hope is a step in the right direction.
We’re pleased to share the launch of a new resource for churches around the world. It’s called Praying for the World, a series of 52 weekly inserts for church bulletins (printed or digital), which, over the course of a year, will take you and your church on a journey of exploration of how God is working in the world. It is a unique opportunity to get an overview of the global church, learn about the greatest challenges and opportunities for global missions today, and be inspired about how to pray for them. It’s short (one A5 sheet, double sided), it’s simple, and it’s free.
Once a week, subscribers will receive a brief summary of at least one country or region of the world, highlighting how believers can pray. It will also feature a thematic topic that affects the world beyond one specific geographic area. That might be something like human trafficking, least evangelized peoples, children at risk, or creation care. We always try to keep it interesting, informative, and simple, and we always shape the material to lead toward prayer. View a sample and learn more about Praying for the World.
All Praying for the World bulletins will be made available as they roll out, so you can either follow our yearly schedule or begin at any time and go at your own pace. Our original vision is that this bulletin insert would become a regular part of congregational prayer life, but the materials are designed so they can be used in any way that people imagine, such as in small groups or for your own personal prayer time. If your church does not have a printed bulletin, you can incorporate either the PDF or the text version in an email newsletter or other digital format. For Operation World (OW) users, the selection of countries in Praying for the World synchronizes with the OW prayer calendar, so you can join in with thousands of others around the world each week in praying for the same countries.
Praying for the World is just one of several ways that Operation World and Lausanne are collaborating together for the Great Commission. But this particular resource was the result of a God-ordained meeting. A Greek pastor and a Canadian missionary—that is, Sotiris Boukis and I—met at the Lausanne Younger Leaders Gathering in Indonesia in 2016. We discovered that we both shared the same vision for a weekly church bulletin insert that would help to inform and inspire churches to engage with the world through prayer. With the support of Lausanne (including a Spark grant), with persistence, and with the help of several others in Operation World and Lausanne, this vision is finally becoming a reality.
Pray with us that God will use this humble little project to grow greater passion to impact the world among the churches that use the bulletins—both for the congregations corporately and for individuals within them. Surely a growth in prayerful, missions-focused churches is an outcome that pleases him! Additionally we believe that an increase in prayer for the nations will eventually bring an increase in answers to prayer for the nations. May God work powerfully through the prayers of his people!
Pray with Us
Lord, we are grateful and humbled that you have chosen to entrust your heart for the nations to your church. What a beautiful privilege to be your ambassadors to the world. What a responsibility to stand in the gap for the lost, broken, and needy! May you awaken global vision in every congregation of believers who meet to worship you. May you stir up a spirit of prayer in every person who follows after you. And may you use our responses to bring glory to your name.
Jason Mandryk is co-director of Operation World and author of the 7th edition of the publication. Born and raised in Canada, and residing in the UK, he has been serving with the Operation World ministry for 20 years. Jason is on the IPC Leadership Team.
Read more Give Your Church a Vision for the World
Pray for Zero – 2019 Prayer Guide
31 Jan 2019
'God's Word In Every Language'
Seed Company is at the cutting edge of bringing the Bible to people who have never had God’s Word in a language they understand.
Working with over 1400 global partners, they serve the local church by providing training, consulting, funding, and project management that leads to a meaningful, accurate translation in the local mother tongue. Thousands of prayer partners provide a solid foundation for the work.
With over 2100 language groups without a single verse of Scripture, we invite you to join us to end Bible poverty, now!
There are at least 100 MILLION PEOPLE who do not have one scripture they can understand.
YouCanChangeThat!
Sign up and get your FREE 2019 Prayer Guide.
The Guide Includes:
Interactive ideas for growing in prayer
Amazing stories of God transforming lives through Bible translation
Urgent, up-to-date, prayer points to bring God’s Word to ALL
Sign up here: http://www.prayforzero.com/
Prayers that anchor your hope in God
31 Jan 2019
God is relentlessly pursuing His purpose to gather back to Himself a family from all the peoples on the face of the earth. He will not fail to fulfill all that He has spoken in scripture. In these days of uncertainty, I want to encourage you to pray with unwavering hope that our Lord will bring forth all He has promised.
We don’t always know what is coming, but we do know who is coming. The prayers in Seek God for the City are focused on Christ fulfilling the Father’s global purpose in local settings. Seek God for the City helps people pray in the beauty and authority of biblical promises of Christ bringing His life to our communities in the power of the gospel.
Now is the time to order the booklets at the same low prices as previous years. A Spanish translation will be off press within days. Unite your praying with Spanish-praying people of your congregation or Spanish-speaking churches in your community. Download the children’s version at no cost from our website.
I’m thrilled with the new app. The Seek God 2019 app is now available from iTunes or Google Play for your smartphone or device for only $0.99. This app links to the awesome Prayercast videos and puts the rich info of Operation World at your fingertips.
Check out our website for these and other great tools and resources.
I urge you to join me, and many thousands of others, as we seek God for the transformation and blessing of our cities. The prayers of Seek God for the City begin in early March. Order today to be sure you get all the books you will need to equip the people you are leading.
“Rejoice in hope! Endure in troubled times! Be persistent in prayer!” (Romans 12:12)
Gladly in His grace,
Steve Hawthorne - WayMakers
Pray for the 31 – Prayer Guide
31 Jan 2019
One fourth of the world's households live in Frontier People Groups - with virtually no contact with believers, and no sign yet of a gospel movement bringing God's promised blessing to their families.
Half of these households live in these 31 largest Frontier People Groups.
This is a Prayer Guide for the 31 – an invitation to the
Body of Christ to Pray for the Harvest.
Download the PDF guide from this link below. Print copies are available.
https://inheritthenations.net/resources/the-31-a-prayer-guide/
Buddhist World 15 Day Prayer Guide
31 Jan 2019
World Christian's FIRST annual Buddhist World Prayer Focus calls Christians and churches worldwide to set aside ANY 15 days in 2019 to learn about and pray for our world's over half a billion Buddhist neighbors. The informative prayer guide booklets will help Christians to know how to pray for the people(s) growing up within this major world religion.
It is not our intention with this prayer focus to disparage Buddhism's attempts to understand the mystery of life and to seek solutions to the problem of human suffering. We acknowledge that Buddhism is a great and enduring tradition, and as such it would be inappropriate to simply or easily condense, explain or take lightly within a mere booklet.
At the same time, however, it is no secret that as Christians, we long that all the world's people(s) will have tangible opportunity to freely see, hear and understand the grace of God incarnated in Jesus Christ. To this end we inform ourselves, pray for and want to support respectful efforts to make that grace known also within the world's Buddhist communities.
We invite all Christians and churches to participate, and to learn about and pray for Buddhists.
More info and order here: https://www.worldchristian.com/productdetails.php?product_id=37788
March 6 - April 14, 2019
This is Your Invitation to Join The Journey
In 2013, the Body of CHRIST united around the things GOD cared about on 2nd street in El Cajon, California. This set us on a path to continue to expand each year to what is now known as 40 Days of HOPE for California. The LORD used a street full of homelessness, underage drinkers, and businesses struggling, to ignite the Body of CHRIST to pray, love the lost, and be a part of the solution to these problems.
Today, across California, the Body of CHRIST is being invited to unite around the areas that we all value; to pray, fast, worship, and do outreach together for 40 Days leading up to Palm Sunday to be a part of the solution to California's problems.
This is our first year opening up this initiative to California. Will you join us, and believe with us, that GOD's heart is fixed on California? HE loves California and is awakening HIS Body to join HIM in bringing HIS power and solutions to our great state.
Here is how it works...
For 40 days we are asking you to pray with us by following our daily prayer prompts and fast, as the LORD leads you, during this time.
We are also asking that you join or lead prayer meetings, worship events or outreaches and open them up to your community so other people from different congregations can unite and join with you. (Don't miss this part...when the Body is joined together in our regions and state, this is where the power of GOD is poured out.)
An invitation is going out across Europe for a unique gathering of 3,000 young people from all 51 nations of the continent, taking place in July 2019. United Prayer Rising (UPRising) Europe will draw together believers for 72 hours of united worship and prayer with a mandate to contend for a youth awakening across Europe.
JJ Waters, Director of UPRising Europe said, “Following God’s lead, we are incredibly excited to gather together people from every nation in Europe to contend for a youth awakening. This is such a critical time for Europe – much is being shaken whilst at the same time God is moving powerfully in many nations. We believe He is doing something beautiful in the hearts of young people, in what is now one of the most unreached continents on earth. Now is the time to come together from different nations, across denominations, honouring fathers and mothers, and to worship and pray for a mighty move of God in Europe.”
We want to invite young people and anyone with a heart for Europe, to save the dates – 8th to 11th July 2019 and to plan to be part of this event.
The backbone of UPRising Europe will be 72 hours of non-stop worship and prayer led by worship teams of young people from all over Europe. We want to see young people from each of their nations bringing their own unique flavour, style of music and worship songs in their own language alongside English songs. These are the grassroots, passionate worship and prayer leaders who are faithful to where God has placed them and willing to contend for Europe.
Out of this will flow prayer and intercession for Europe, with occasional inspiration from speakers in our main sessions and seminars. There will also be prayer for these young people to be sent with a lasting fire to see their cities and nations changed by Jesus.
UPRising Europe is part of the global UPRising movement that was birthed out of the World Prayer Assembly in 2012 in Indonesia. The first UPRising event was in Seoul, South Korea in July 2016. Since then, there have been UPRising events in the Philippines, South Africa, Mongolia, Bolivia, Malaysia, Canada, Chile, Mexico and California.
UPRising Europe will take place at Ashburnham Place, Battle, East Sussex – a Christian retreat and conference centre set in beautiful grounds with three lakes, gardens and an abundance of nature. Delegates will be able to stay in Ashburnham place itself or camp in the spacious grounds.
We want to bring together young people from every nation in Europe and to make this event accessible to all. In order to do this, we intend to make ticket prices reasonable for those from all parts of Europe. If anyone or any church wishes to help subsidise these costs, please contact us via the website.
Anyone interested in finding out more and pre-registering for UPRising Europe can do so at the website:
www.uprisingeurope.org Also, follow us on social media. Pricing and tickets will be released shortly.