The Invitation, April 11th, 2024

Sri Lanka is a beautiful island nation just off the southern tip of India whose 22 million inhabitants have been through a lot: decades of ethnic tension and civil war, a devastating tsunami, Islamist terror attacks in 2020, and a major economic and political crisis in 2022. The people of Sri Lanka need your prayer and support! Please take a moment to pray for Sri Lanka right now, and please also join us on the April 11th prayer day for YWAM’s prayer initiative called The Invitation.

1. Pray for the many families, widows and orphans in Sri Lanka who suffer in severe poverty. They live in underserved neighborhoods and have only dirty well water to drink. Without sufficient schooling, thousands of children face a difficult future. Pray for YWAM workers and other Christians around the island to join hands to meet the physical, educational and spiritual needs of Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims.
2. Pray for more drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs and facilities, especially in the Tamil-speaking parts of the country. Among young Sri Lankans alcoholism and drug addiction are widespread, resulting in an increase of crime and suicide.
3. Pray for ministries to train counselors. Often Sri Lankans who suffer the affects of domestic violence or child abuse cannot get mental health services. Please pray for Christian ministries that will train believers and social workers to counsel effectively and to promote inner healing.
4. Pray for national reconciliation. Though the civil war ended 15 years ago, tensions and mistrust remain among the ethnic groups of Sri Lanka. Join us in prayer for deeper reconciliation, mutual understanding, justice and equality among the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka.  
5. Please pray for YWAM in Sri Lanka to take root, grow and bear fruit that will give glory to our Father in heaven. Please pray for YWAM to launch training programs such as schools of counseling, School of Biblical Studies, and School of Worship. Pray for young people to bring light into every sphere of society. Also pray for the church of Jesus Christ to grow and shine in this nation.

Take Action

If you are passionate about drug rehabilitation, counseling or training, come and join the YWAM Sri Lanka team. If you would like to bring an outreach team, YWAM Sri Lanka will help you figure out the details. You can contact them at ywamtrinco@yahoo.com.

Global Prayer Initiative

In order to prepare for the YWAM Together meeting in September in the Philippines, please watch this video April’s Update and pray with us.

Join The Invitation.

Sign up for prayer emails and find translations in many languages at ywam.org/theinvitation. Please contact us at prayer@ywam.org to let us know how you prayed, to recommend a prayer topic, or to request an advance copy of the prayer guide.

The Invitation, March 14th, 2024

According to YWAM’s Deaf World ministry, the 70 million Deaf individuals worldwide constitute one of the largest unreached people groups. They form unique cultures, which YWAM Deaf World recognizes by capitalizing the word “Deaf.” There are more than 300 sign languages worldwide, and only one of those has a complete video Bible translation. According to YWAM Deaf World, only an estimated two percent of the Deaf have embraced Christianity. Please take a moment right now to pray for the Deaf, and please also pray with us on March 14th, the prayer day for YWAM’s prayer initiative called The Invitation.

1. Pray for the ongoing work of Bible sign language translation. The American Sign Language Version is the only complete Bible available in video format. There are about 80 translation projects in different stages of development all over the world. More people passionate about the Bible and highly skilled in those sign languages are needed.
2. Pray for YWAM Deaf World, a new ministry and resource to expand YWAM Deaf ministries worldwide. The purpose is to raise up the Deaf and those fluent in sign language to become missionaries by equipping them for success to reach Deaf people groups worldwide. Pray for more staff and finances to provide training and support to those in YWAM locations working with the Deaf and those wanting to get started.
3. Pray for the multiplication of Deaf Discipleship Training School students and staff around the world. The most effective way to reach the Deaf world is by sending Deaf missionaries as passionate lovers of Jesus, but they first need to be ignited, discipled, and supported. We need more fluent signers to train more leaders.
4. Pray for unity and collaboration among Christian organizations working to reach the Deaf. The amount of collaboration is growing fast. The different approaches, styles, and strategies among organizations can make partnerships challenging, but the Holy Spirit is breaking down barriers and making a way.

Take Action

To get involved in working with the Deaf through YWAM, visit ywamdeafworld.org. For information on sign-language Bible translation, go to deafbiblesociety.com.

Global Prayer Initiative

In order to prepare for the YWAM Together meeting in September in the Philippines, we are called to a three-day fast, March 26-28. Please watch these videos: Y Global Prayer Initiative #3 (Garth, Paul D & Rachel D), and  Y Global Prayer Initiative #4 (Sun Awh & Josh Cole).

How We Prayer

January, 2024: Oral Bible Translation

“Greetings from Zambia. I would like to join as a Bible translator in Zambia. I have a passion for translation. I hope to hear from you soon” (L.M.).

Join The Invitation.

Sign up for prayer emails and find translations in many languages at ywam.org/theinvitation. Please contact us at prayer@ywam.org to let us know how you prayed, to recommend a prayer topic, or to request an advance copy of the prayer guide.

The Invitation, February 8, 2024

The global YWAM family will gather in Manila from September 3-6, and the organizing team invites every YWAMer, across all ministries, communities, locations, and campuses, to prepare. Please set aside the third week of each month from February to September for corporate prayer and fasting. We acknowledge the significance of this time in history. Our founder and spiritual father, Loren Cunningham, has transitioned to glory. At the same time, YWAM is strategically positioned to catalyze a historic move of God. In support of this global YWAM family prayer initiative, we will share a brief video every month to inspire unified, corporate prayer for the nations, the mission, and the body of Christ. The first video comes from Andy Byrd of YWAM Kona. Please join us on February 8, the prayer day for YWAM’s prayer initiative called The Invitation, and please pray with us during the third week of each month.

1. Pray for YWAM Together Manila 2024. From September 3-6, the whole YWAM Global family will be gathering as staff and students for the first time since 2018. Please pray that as many staff and students as possible would join us and that it would be a catalytic time for our mission.
2. Pray for YWAM in this season. As you listen to the launch video from Andy Byrd and hear about the importance of the tender season that we are in with Loren’s passing, please pray that we would not miss out on anything God has for YWAM as we go forward.
3. The global body of Christ. As we are living in such a critical time, please pray in YWAM we would be key catalyzers and unifiers in the whole body of Christ to see this generation turn to God in a new and world-changing way.
4. A fresh youth movement. As God birthed YWAM through the vision of the waves of young people going from every nation to every nation, please pray for a fresh release of a new wave of workers in this generation, starting with Gen Z and beyond.

Take Action:

1. Contact your supporters and friends and ask them to intercede and fast during the third week of every month, January through September. Start by watching the launch video through this link: Y Global Prayer Initiative, later on watch this video Darlene talks about Y Global Prayer Initiative. Below there are short summaries for both videos but we recommend you watch them.

• First video: Andy Byrd of YWAM Kona speaks of a tender season of reflection he senses in YWAM after the passing of our founder, Loren Cunningham. Andy says this is a window of opportunity for God to test our thoughts (Psalm 139), for us to make things right with each other (Matt 5:24), for a spirit of revelation to land in our hearts (Eph 1:17-18), and for us to gain fresh vision and clarity, so we can run into fruitfulness (Hab 2:2). Andy also has been reminded of Joy Dawson’s words to him over the phone right before her passing in 2022. She was concerned that YWAM’s leaders not lose the passion for intercession, and she wanted Andy to pass this message on to as many leaders as possible. Andy said he and other leaders don’t want the place of intercession to grow weak in YWAM. Maybe we are not as covered as we should be. Maybe we are more vulnerable than we realize. Andy challenged YWAMers to be like Bartimaeus who cried out to God for the breakthrough he knew Jesus could give him. Andy urged YWAMers to be the presence-centered people God has always called us to be, for leaders to not grow so busy that they don’t close the door and cry out to the Father, for locations and families to re-prioritize and rekindle a hunger for a worship and prayer lifestyle. He encouraged every location to set aside the third week of each month leading up to September for united prayer. He said “I’m excited for these months ahead of us and excited to be together in Manila.”

• Second video: Darlene began by thanking everyone for all the care she has received. She said she misses Loren, chatting with him. In the decisions, they went to Jesus together, which she can still do. She wants that for all of us in YWAM too. In his video, Andy said this is a time of tenderness. Darlene reflected on that word. She said we were formed in YWAM on the word of the Lord. That’s what Loren’s book, Is That Really You God, focused on. What is in our DTS curriculum: how to hear the voice of the Lord. Darlene recalled the early days in YWAM. They prayed for the nations every day. She asked, “What was the word of the Lord that brought you to the place where you are?” We must always depend on the voice of the Lord. In those first years, they would wait on the Lord, and they would go to each other and make things right. God wants to speak to us. Jesus said, I don’t do anything on my own, I hear from my Father. How much more ourselves? Resist the enemy. Seek a clean heart. Darlene said, as we prepare our hearts to go together to the Philippines, this will be our first gathering in six years. Ask if God wants you to go to the Philippines. I believe God wants to speak to us when we are all gathered. I look forward to seeing you in person. Pray, intercede, walk in unity together, and just see what remarkable things God is going to do in the future.

2. Sign up your team for YWAM Together 2024 in Manilla. Click the link www.yt2024.com before April 30 to get the early-bird price.

Join The Invitation.

Sign up for prayer emails and find translations in many languages at ywam.org/theinvitation. Please contact us at prayer@ywam.org to let us know how you prayed, to recommend a prayer topic, or to request an advance copy of the prayer guide.

The Invitation, January 11, 2024

Please pray for Bible translation this month, the passion of YWAM’s founder Loren Cunningham, who died in October of 2023. Thousands of languages, spoken by hundreds of millions of people, still do not have a Bible. The goal of the Oral Mother Tongue (OMT) approach is that the Bible be accurately and clearly translated by mother-tongue speakers into their languages. This can be accomplished in as little as two years. Since launching OMT in May 2023, YWAM Nigeria alone has finished 30 translations that have been received with joy by churches, who testify to their accuracy. Please pray for oral Bible translations by taking a few minutes right now, and please also pray with us on January 11, our prayer day for YWAM’s prayer initiative called The Invitation.

1. Pray for the launching of a global prayer movement in YWAM that would birth a global translation movement.
2. Pray for more bright examples of OMT around the world, like the work Paul Dangtoumda is doing in YWAM Nigeria to equip and strengthen YWAMers with testimonies and with methods that can be replicated.
3. Pray for grassroots funding to accompany the prayer movement. For OMT to remain a movement, it must remain modular and decentralized in its finances.
4. Pray for renewed pioneering grit and grace to sweep the global YWAM family as we embrace the OMT vision that every mother tongue in the world would have the full Bible.

Take Action

• Register at prayomt.com to pray for a Bibleless language. While there, get familiar with a wide range of OMT documents.
• Start a weekly prayer group and adopt a Bibleless people group to pray for and fund.

Join The Invitation

Sign up for prayer emails and find translations in many languages at ywam.org/theinvitation. Please contact us at prayer@ywam.org to let us know how you prayed, to recommend a prayer topic, or to request an advance copy of the prayer guide.

The Invitation, December 14, 2023

YWAM Uganda asks for prayer as they reach out to an ethnic group in the northeast of their country. The Karamojong (also spelled Karimojong) number nearly one million. Cattle are their main livelihood and there are often violent cattle raids among three neighboring tribes: the Acholi, Lango and Iteso. The increase in modern firearms has increased the death toll, and there is a growing number of widows. According to data from the Joshua project, the Karamojong is about 30 percent Christian, with about two percent Evangelical. Other Karamojong follow various ethnic religions. YWAM Uganda is starting an outreach center in the midst of the Karamojong and is reaching out through medical care and short-term teams. Please pray for the Karamojong people by taking a few minutes right now, and please also pray with us on December 14, our prayer day for YWAM’s prayer initiative called The Invitation.

1. Pray for an increase in Christians among the Karamojong. Pray for courage and boldness for those who are already followers of Christ to share their faith with others. Pray also for hearts to be softened and open to hearing the good news.
2. Pray for the YWAM presence in Uganda. There are currently six different YWAM locations in Uganda. Please pray for an increase in staff, resources and financial provision for these ministry centers.
3. Pray specifically for the YWAM Soroti, Uganda location. YWAM Soroti is pioneering a new YWAM location in Kaabong, a town in the midst of the Karamojong people. YWAM workers are helping to feed the patients at the local hospital. This enables families to stay with their sick family members there. Pray that this ministry will lead to more opportunities to share the gospel at the hospital. The Soroti location also runs a Discipleship Training School which is doing its outreach among the Karamojong people. Please pray for their safety and for God to use them to bring hope to the people.
4. Pray for those who are ill. In general, care for the sick is lacking. Most family members drop their sick family members off to the hospital and then leave. Please pray for an increase in care for the sick, both in terms of resources and ability for families to stay with their loved ones.
5. Pray for their crops to thrive. The rainy season is short where the Karamojong people live and it is a very hot and dry environment. Pray for enough rain for their crops to mature.

How We Prayed

YWAM’s founder, Loren Cunningham, died on October 6 at the age of 88. Many have been praying for the Cunningham family and for YWAM. Please join us in prayer. Also, you are invited to attend one of the celebration of life events planned for the coming months. Please go to lorencunningham.com to find out more.

Join The Invitation

Sign up for prayer emails and find translations in many languages at ywam.org/theinvitation. Please contact us at prayer@ywam.org to let us know how you prayed, to recommend a prayer topic, or to request an advance copy of the prayer guide.