In October, 2015 YWAM launched The Invitation with a call to pray to end Bible poverty. This was selected as the inaugural topic due to YWAM founder Loren Cunningham’s passionate plea to YWAMers everywhere to pledge to End Bible Poverty. While there are still 180 million people with no scripture in their native language, 1,875 people have now pledged to end Bible poverty. We are bringing some of their stories to you through The Invitation. For March we suggest that you pray into areas where there is Bible poverty.

Preparation for Prayer:

• Please review the Ending Bible Poverty updates and prayer requests from specific YWAM locations that follow.
• Seek God for how He would have you pray.
• As a YWAM team, pray for God to show you how He is calling you to partner to end Bible poverty through prayer, fundraising and/or side-by-side involvement.
• Pray for any other area in which God is leading your YWAM community to pioneer new work.

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you … Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 119:11,105, ESV

Updates and Suggested Prayer Points:

YWAM Blantyre, Malawi was so gripped by Loren’s message to end Bible poverty that while they were preparing to work with a tribe with no written scripture they realized there is Bible poverty all around them in Malawi. While there is a full Bible written in the native Chichewa language its cost is equivalent to one third of a month’s wage which is a significant barrier for people. God has given YWAM Blantyre a vision to have a copy of scripture in all three million homes in Malawi and thus, they have begun printing the Gospel of Mark and have purchased hundreds of audio Bibles to distribute to people who can’t read.

Watch this short video to learn more about YWAM Blantyre’s Bible plan:

Pray for:

• Funds for YWAM Blantyre and other locations to purchase Bibles for the visions God has made known.
• Effective evangelism campaigns and Bible studies to accompany Bible distribution.
• Revival that brings in the harvest and prepares Malawi and the rest of the earth for the return of Jesus.

YWAM Chiang Rai, Thailand received two teams in January – one from Brazil and one from Kona, Hawaii. Together with the local YWAMers the teams handed out 1,000 Bibles. The local YWAMers have taken responsibility to distribute Bibles in a village which includes 345 homes, 2 schools and 3 Buddhist temples (which happily received the Bibles). The teams witnessed healing of several people for whom they prayed and they also visited a home where they had distributed a Bible several months earlier. This family reported that since they had received the Bible their home was filled with joy and they requested more Bibles for family members.

Watch this video about the Bible distribution in Thailand:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3M961_hNno

Pray for:

• People to read the Bibles that were distributed in January and for them to develop a true hunger for the Word of God so they will produce good fruit, seeking Jesus and leading others to Christ.
• Provision for a Bible to be given to every home, to every student and to every temple in the province of Chiang Rai (approximately 600,000 Bibles, $1.2 million US dollars).
• For YWAMers, churches and other organizations to partner together to end Bible poverty in Chiang Rai, Thailand and other Bible-less areas.

YWAM Kona, Hawaii has sent 15 outreach teams to 14 countries and has delivered over 1,700 audio Bibles in 25 different languages. Their work in the Himalayas included:

• Adoption of three districts that together consists of 43,000 homes in the high Himalayas. YWAM Kona partners with the local network of churches and is helping the churches go village to village bringing audio and printed Bibles. They are also implementing a survey process so they can track where the Bibles have gone and where they still need to go. Initially expected to take multiple years to complete this work, one district is almost finished!
• Assisting a local man to in completing an oral to oral translation of the book of Matthew in a Bible-less language.

Pray for:

• Favor with the Bible Society, the government, and wisdom on how to expand what is happening in Kona.
• Other organizations to partner with YWAM so there can be adequate funding, translation, and distribution efforts to end Bible poverty.

Praise God for:

• Providing partners for funding major Bible projects in the Himalayas.
• Providing Bibles for all 195 people in a village and for the elder who was the first to receive Christ from that village.
• The 150 people from another village who were shown the Jesus film and came back the next day to receive a Bible and to be taught a Bible study.
• The man of peace who was a Hindu believer and received Christ along with his family of ten after three days of fellowship and teaching with the team.

After hearing Loren speak about making Bible poverty history we realized that this is an apostolic call for this generation that we must be part of.

Daniel Dugmore, YWAM Blantyre, Malawi 

Take Action:

• If you haven’t already:
  • Heard Loren speak about Ending Bible Poverty, please watch this video (in English, with Spanish subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PLIT6XNTlo
  • Signed the covenant to end Bible poverty worldwide, please do so now: http://endbiblepovertynow.com/
• Contact the YWAM Kona Bible Team: konabibleteam@gmail.com to share stories of what you are doing to end Bible poverty.
• Pursue opportunities to end Bible poverty within YWAM. Here is one example: http://www.generationhero.org/opportunities.php
• Share how God spoke to you.
  • Share on facebook.com/youthwithamission, find the post for March 10, and add a comment about how you prayed.
  • Go to twitter.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture.
  • Share with other YWAMers in person or through other channels.

How We Prayed:

February 2016 – Local – Governments

• YWAM Quebec, Canada prayed for reconciliation between English and French Canada, Christians who curse the government and a federal bill regarding assisted suicide for patients. YWAMers were led to wash the feet of one another, specifically, English Canadians washed the feet of the French Canadians and vice versa as an act of reconciliation that they expect will affect the government through the Holy Spirit.
• Y360 Colorado Springs, United States prayed that local government leaders would view the four YWAM locations in Colorado Springs as an organization with relevant answers and solutions. They specifically prayed for their mayor and city council members.

• A former DTS student encouraged the continued focus on operating in every sphere of society.
• Prayer requests were received for the governments and people of Tasmania, Uganda and Pakistan.
• An individual from Jamaica reported the he prayed for the elections in Jamaica that were to happen at the end of February and that God would be present in the plans and people leading the government.

Upcoming topics for The Invitation:

• April 14, 2016 – Global Topic
• May 12, 2016 – Praying for Local Concerns (Location and Community)

The second Thursday is just a suggestion. Feel free to pray close to that date at a time that works well for your location’s schedule.

Don’t Miss The Invitation

• Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, or request other languages.)
• Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook post on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hash tag #praywithywam.
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.

Save The Date:

Loren Cunningham Invites You to Kansas City:

The gathering together at YWAM KC September 4th-10th will be unlike any that we have had before. We are inviting not only our YWAM family from around the world, but our alumni, many of whom are working in the spheres.

These 5 days will help move us into the next wave of what God has for us. Please get the word out! Tens of thousands have been in YWAM and we don’t have a way to communicate with them. So we need you to let them know they are invited to this historic event.

For more information, go to the website www.ywamkc2016.org.

Darlene and I will be looking for you to join us in September.

Blessings to you,

Loren

Script for Ending Bible Poverty in Malawi Video:

After hearing Loren speak about making Bible poverty history we realized that this is an apostolic call for this generation that we must be part of. We have started to plan to make an audio translation where there is no scripture at all. But we wanted to make a difference in Malawi now. As we looked for Bible poverty in our nation in Africa we saw that we have Bibles in Chichewa and New Testaments, but these Bibles are so expensive that the poor cannot afford to buy them and there are no portions of scripture in print here. So we edited a new public-domain translation of Mark’s gospel in our language, Chichewa. On the back we put a salvation tract and together with local churches we printed the first Mark’s gospel at just 20 cents each. We have begun implementing a strategy to distribute the first 12,000 copies. We asked for a vision that needs a miracle from God to accomplish, so our vision is to have scripture in every home in Malawi. We only need 3 million copies for every home to have one. For those who cannot read we are distributing these audio Bibles. Please pray that the distribution of the Word of God will be effective. Please join us in intercession as we pray each day in our prayer house before going door to door. Please pray that the evangelism and Bible studies we are doing alongside the distribution will be effective. We will see a revival here that brings in the harvest and prepares for the return of Jesus.