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

'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/

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

https://www.waymakers.us

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/

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.)

Sign Up for Prayer Prompts

Promotional Resources

www.40daysofhope.net

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 – 8^th to 11^th 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.

As we move into a New Year as followers of Jesus Christ, presumably we want to see our lives make a greater impact for Him and our world. One of the most powerful,impactful things we can give ourselves to is praying with others for the changes we want to see in our lives, communities, and nations. I have been encouraged and stimulated by rereading a great classic on corporate prayer that I would like to share with you.

Rosalind Rinker, who served in China as a missionary from 1926 to 1940, wrote a provocative reflection on corporate prayer based on her own experience of learning to pray with others. She found herself bored and annoyed by the way prayer meetings were conducted each Friday night as the missionaries gathered to intercede. People would go on and on, touring the world in their praying, while other participants like her would try to stay focused but would wander mentally as they listened to what amounted to prayer orations.

A friend of hers and she later discovered the power of “conversational prayer” when two or more focus on the actual presence of Jesus Christ with them according to His promise in Matthew 28:20- that He would be with us “always”. Counting on His presence, they began to learn to speak to Him from the heart as one who was very much a part of their conversation and wanted to be included. They discovered that they did not need to use flowery, well thought out, theologically correct expressions, but rather like close friends would express their heart desires, questions, and concerns in natural, brief sentences, each giving attention to one subject at a time and then moving on to another when that subject had been covered enough.

Rinker opens her book with these words:

“Group prayer has lost its meaning for many of us, so that any excuse is a good excuse for not going to a prayer meeting. Praying conversationally (that is praying back and forth on a single subject until a new one is introduced by the Spirit) makes prayer such a natural means of “spiritual togetherness” that the healing love of God touches us all as we are in His presence. Meeting the Lord in this way brings us to the anticipated realization of what it means to be consciously with Him, and to belong to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.” (p.10)

Here are some vital principles that can be derived from Rinker’s book,Prayer: How to Have a Conversation with God, that will make our times of prayer with others much more lively and exciting:

• Count on the actual presence of the Trinity-Father, Son and Holy Spirit- when you come together to pray with others. Let the Triune God prompt you as to the things you should focus on together.
• Don’t make prayer speeches but talk things over with the Lord back and forth, including Him in it as we do in human conversation.
• Speak with the simplicity of a child talking to His Father. It is not the exact words but the heart attitude that God is attentive to.
• Be aware of the others in this prayer conversation who have their own heart perspectives to share. Don’t pray a monologue (you can do that when you are alone) but let everyone pray what they are being led to articulate by the leading of the Spirit.
• Make use of sentence prayers, expressing just one angle of a subject. God knows more about the subject already, far more than we will ever understand anyway!“Now remember the Lord is here. We are speaking to him. Pray in short sentences and then let someone else have a chance. He will guide us.” (p.26)
• Keep focused on the same subject, taking turns to pray about it until there is a sense of completion and the Spirit nudges you to move on to another issue.
• Be in tune with when you should jump in and pray, being patient and letting other members of His Body play their part, trusting God to move them to bring out other aspects that should be addressed.
• “We don’t learn how to pray in six easy lessons, we learn to pray by praying… Go ahead and stumble in your prayers, go ahead and cry. Out of your very weakness your brother is made strong. Out of your own weakness you are made strong by Christ. Out of the inadequacy of your prayer, the inability to express yourself, the shame of your tears, and the urgency of your need, you meet the Savior who understands you. You are comforted and your brother is strengthened.” (p.47, 49)
• Some things we can ask for by ourselves. Other things, she writes, are like great mountains and we need the faith and prayer of others to help us when we pray. “If two of you agree (harmonize together, make a symphony together) about whatever (anything and everything) they ask, it will come to pass and be done for them by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:18-20, Amplified) (p. 63)
• “Have faith in the One who is able to answer… God has given us power over our imaginations, so that by the positive use of that imagination, we can picture ourselves receiving the answer. This is the way to believe in one’s heart, and to believe that what one has asked for, he will receive.” (p.73)

Rinker concludes her short but profound exploration of united prayer in this way:“After all, prayer is conversing with God, and to converse with someone we must be with that person. And in His presence is fullness of joy.” (p. 88)

If I may add to what Ms. Rinker has said, we in the IPC have also found how powerful, even history-changing, such united prayer orchestrated by the Holy Spirit can be. Let us all go deeper in this wonderful adventure of conversing with the Lord together and through united prayer watch Him bring His transformation into our hurting, problematic world!

John Robb
IPC Chairman
More:Prayer:How to Have a Conversation with God (Zondervan Publishing House, 1959)

Dear Prayer Family

It was about this time in late December 2015 when God gave me a wild vision for a prayer relay on New Year's Day, the vision was of people holding 'Olympic Relay Torches' (flames) at seven high points around the Illawarra, the vision then zoomed out and I saw the flames spread across Australia, and then around the world, I immediately knew this was a prayer relay and I shared the vision with Warwick Marsh from National Day of Prayer (Australia). With only 12 days until New Year's Day 2016 we shared the vision and many believers joined us to pray across Australia and around the world, then on New Year's Day 2017 believers prayed in over 23 nations, and on New Year's Day 2018 the relay continued to grow with believers prayed in at least 50 nations, including 172 public locations in Australia.

In November this year I completely laid this vision down at the altar and the Lord quickly told me to pick it up again with two fresh instructions; "SIMPLIFY" and "SOUL FOCUS", a couple of weeks later He gave me a sentence to help explain what this looks like practically;

"WHEREVER YOU ARE AT SUNRISE ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, PRAY FOR SOULS TO BE SAVED."

So, I invite you to join me at sunrise on New Year's Day wherever you are around the world, to pray for souls to be saved, I am convinced that the number one priority of heaven is the salvation, and reconciliation of sons and daughters back into the intimate relationship with God that we were all created for. Jesus described in Luke 15:7 and 15:10, a joyous celebration in heaven when just one sinner repents, I believe that it is God's will for every person to be saved, our part to play in God's plan is to pray for souls to be saved, and to preach the good news so that people may hear, believe, and call on Jesus to save them (Rom 10:13-17).

You can organise to pray as a group at a public location lookout, landmark, or a church in your city or town, or you can also pray privately in your home, we suggest you start around 15 minutes before your local sunrise time and pray for around 30 to 60 minutes, or longer if you feel led.

Watch the latest video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAq7YT6eXoE

We encourage you to pray 'The Lord's Prayer' (Matt 6:9-13) aloud as the sun rises, and make a declaration that Jesus is Lord of your life, your family, your region and your nation, then contend in prayer for souls to be saved, pray for our unsaved friends and family to know Jesus in 2019, you may also like to make a declaration over your nation like “Australia for Jesus”, or “America Shall Be Saved”, these declarations are the cry of God’s heart, He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9), so let’s pray in agreement with His will and contend for our nations to be saved.

Your group might like to include praise and worship in your time of prayer, you could also include communion, a time of fellowship e.g. breakfast, and then go and share the good news.

To register your participation in the New Year’s Day Sunrise Prayer Relay 2019 and receive the prayer resources, including prayer points, and info on how you can continue to pray daily for souls to be saved in your nation, and updates please visit http://www.sunriseprayerrelay.org/registration

This year WE WILL NOT BE PUBLISHING A LIST OF PUBLIC LOCATIONS, if you are hosting a gathering at a public location we encourage you to promote locally by inviting people you know and sharing in local churches, prayer groups and via social media, we also recommend that anyone considering hosting a public location make sure you have at least one or two people you know well that have agreed to be there with you for accountability and safety before you promote the location publicly.

Please post photos, videos, and testimonies from your location on social media and use the hashtag #SunrisePrayerRelay

Let’s awaken the dawn together in 2019 with prayer for souls to be saved.

Now is the "right time", now is the time of salvation (2 Cor 6:2).

Thanks & Be Blessed
Pat Steele
More:http://www.sunriseprayerrelay.org/

Important milestone achieved towards finishing the Great Commission and reaching the Unreached Peoples: Finishing the Task 2018

Aliso Viejo, CA:  Finishing the Task (FTT) and The Issachar Initiative are delighted to report the achievement of a major milestone in the effort to fulfill Jesus’ command to “make disciples of every nation.”  At this year’s Finishing the Task Conference, every remaining known unengaged, unreached people group (UUPG) was adopted for gospel engagement in the coming two years.  A UUPG is a group of people without a single known worker doing evangelism and church planting in their people groups.  In many cases UUPGs don’t have a single believer and have never had an opportunity to hear about Christ’s love and forgiveness.  

The conference started by presenting 343 UUPGs to those in attendance.  Leaders asked the over 600 missionaries, strategists and pastors in attendance to “roll up their sleeves” and spend the week praying, planning and working to get laborers to each of the 343 UUPGs on the FTT list.  “It’s time for the Church to stop debating the Bible and start doing it,” said Rick Warren of Saddleback Church.  The mood in the room was one of action and urgency.

When final commitments were made, organizations and churches far exceeded the faith goals for the conference.  In all, 603 unique people group adoptions were indicated. Many UUPGs were adopted twice, three times and even four times, increasing the likelihood of the people group receiving a team of missionaries soon, or even multiple teams of missionaries.

Those in attendance also experienced many moments of Spirit-filled unity.  All-together 280 different organizations attended FTT, each coming in a spirit of cooperation and partnership for the greater glory of Christ.  Perhaps the best illustration of this was when a young 30-something missionary from East Asia came to the microphone and said “I’m only one man.  I don’t lead hardly anyone compared to most in the room.  But I would like to adopt all the remaining people groups in my country if you will help me.”  Four mission agencies followed this young man’s faith and approached him to partner together to see every group in that country reached.  The young man and the four agencies stayed overtime at the conference to continue praying and strategizing together.

Perhaps it was the increased focus on prayer and repentance that led to this unity.  Within two hours of the event kicking off attendees spent an entire session praying through the Lord’s prayer together.  “Who have you harmed?  Who do you need to forgive?  What needs to be made right in your heart today?” the prayer leader asked.  On the second day of the conference attendees removed shoes and walked on a near football field-sized map of the world to pray for every person in every nation.  In some instances, pools of tears were seen on the map as God led people to cry out for those who’ve never heard of Jesus in their land.            

The body of Christ will now take the next steps in the work; that of recruiting, training and sending nearby workers into these 343 people groups.  The commitments of these first missionaries will begin the process of making disciples in those people groups, thus hastening the day when the Apostle John’s vision of “a great number of people” “from every nation, tribe, people and language of the earth” “standing before the throne” of God is finally realized.”

Dusty Hoffman This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For more information on the Finishing the Task effort, seewww.FinishingtheTask.com

Please note: There are still over 5000 Unreached People Groups that are less than 5% Christian and a hard core group of about 4700 of these that are less than 0.1% Christian (one believer per thousand) that need our prayer and attention in mission outreach.

Please pray for the efforts of the FTT coalition of mission agencies and also that all the remaining UPGs will be adopted for prayer and mission engagement.