Praying together for an end to global poverty
Joining together in prayer with others is powerful. Jesus tells us: ‘For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.’ (Matthew 18:20).
Praying for each other and building each other up is important. But, as Ngolsou and Caroline mention, praying for others – especially our global neighbours – is a way for us to join in with what God is doing in the world.
Fellowship is intentional and for it to work, it needs time and commitment to flourish. Therefore, the best place to start is to look at what groups you are already a part of – these could be your church small group, a prayer triplet or those you live or work with. These are groups of people you have already committed to spend your time with. You could also ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to set up something new and ask who to invite!
The next step is to look at how you can integrate praying for others in your time together. Here are some helpful tips from our team:
1. If you haven’t already, sign up to Tearfund’s One Voice in Prayer email and get weekly prayers from our global staff team. You can use the email as a guide each week in how you can pray for people living in poverty.
2. Choose a country and commit to praying for the country regularly. Pray for God’s kingdom to come. Pray for individuals and communities. Pray for those in power. And pray for the local church to continue to bring hope. You could up a news alert on your phone and share the latest information with your group throughout your week, encouraging people to keep praying.
3. Explore different ways of praying about global issues, learning from how each other prays and hears from God. You could try speaking blessings, praying the Lord’s prayer, or even go on a prayer walk together.
4. Incorporate worship into your times of prayer together. Worship can help free us from distractions and focus on God more clearly, which can help bring direction to our times of prayer. As you worship God, ask him to share with you words, pictures and Bible verses that you can then share with your group about an issue you’ve decided to pray about.
Sign up here to One Voice in Prayer and join together with thousands of people each week in prayer for an end to global poverty.