At Tearfund, we are passionate about the church. We believe it is the church that God has called and ordained to bring his good news. Around the world, the church is doing great things, supporting members of their communities and helping bring change. This week, let’s pray for more churches to join our Transforming Communities programmes.
Sunday 19 January
We believe in a loving God who hears and responds to our prayers. And we believe that joining together in prayer makes an enormous difference to communities across the world. Pray for Christians in nations who don't share the same freedom to pray as us.
Monday 20 January
‘The church realised they had been asleep,’ says Naba, Tearfund’s Transforming Communities Facilitator in Burkina Faso. ‘The training motivated people and has caused revival. People now understand their value and value what they have.’ Pray that Tearfund’s Transforming Communities work through local churches will multiply.
Tuesday 21 January
Praise God that through Tearfund’s Transforming Communities training, Pastor Freddy’s church in Nicaragua realised they needed to be a local safe haven. ‘Our community suffered a flood,’ he says. ‘By opening the doors of our building for community service, it allowed us to strengthen the testimony of the church and we have grown as a congregation.’
Wednesday 22 January
Pastor Parmenas planted a church in a remote part of Chad, but numbers dwindled. ‘We almost gave in to discouragement, but through prayer, we stayed the course,’ he says. Ask God to bless faithful church leaders who follow God’s call, taking his message to people in some of the most vulnerable parts of the world.
Thursday 23 January
Pastor Parmenas attended Tearfund’s innovative Transforming Communities training and, in turn, trained his small congregation. Praise God that people began to realise their skills and resources, using them to put their prayers for their community into practice. Prayer groups blossomed, savings schemes grew, children remained in school and food was shared so no one went hungry.
Friday 24 January
Pray for unity and peace in the church. ‘From my experience, I have realised that people have trust in churches and their leaders about peacebuilding,’ says Bishop Pontien Ribakare from Burundi. ‘When different religious denominations work together for the same cause, their message is really powerful.’
Saturday 25 January
Pray 2 Thessalonians 1:11 over the church: ‘With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.’
*These prayers are all based on our 30-day guide to praying for the church transforming communities which can be downloaded here.
