There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted much of our world but one area impacted in particular has been the attendance of in-person churchgoers. According to a 2022 Pew Research study, 33% of people in the USA who used to attend church regularly before the pandemic have not returned to in-person services after the pandemic. We are seeing similar effects in other countries as well. Whether it is fear of returning to in-person meetings or that people got used to either not attending church or only attending virtually, a lot of churches are seeing a big drop in numbers. As a result, some may have to close their doors permanently. Please take a moment right now to pray for a fresh revival in the church and please also pray with us on January 12, our prayer day for YWAM’s prayer initiative called The Invitation.
Topic suggested by a participant in The Invitation’s survey, 2021. Written by Indy Korff in Scotland with input from Tim Svoboda in the USA. Photo by John Price from Unsplash.
Pray for God to raise up more church leaders. According to surveys done by several denominations, many churches are experiencing a shortage of pastors. As an example, here in Scotland, many churches all over the country are needing to combine and sell their buildings because there aren’t enough ministers to lead the congregations. Please pray for provision for churches to keep their buildings and that God would stir the hearts of more young people to train as ministers and pastors so that these next generations would have well trained, godly leaders.
Pray for continued growth in community outreach. One of the good things to come out of the pandemic has been that the church in general increased their involvement in their communities. And particularly for YWAM, it shifted our perspective on missions and gave us the opportunity to partner more with the local church because international travel was so limited. Please pray that just because travel restrictions have been lifted now, that won’t stop the local outreaches from taking place.
Pray for those who have not returned to church. Fellowship with other Christians is so important but we don’t just want to see a change in attendance, we want to see the church passionate about God and pursuing Him wholeheartedly. Please pray for those who are no longer attending church and have not returned since the lockdowns have lifted, whether that’s due to fear or other reasons. And please pray that churches worldwide would experience a fresh revival in this new year.
Take Action
If you know of anyone who hasn’t returned to your church after the pandemic and you haven’t talked to them already, why not try and reach out to them today? It’s very easy to think someone else has probably done it but often that means no one has.
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.
In Genesis God created mankind to “Abad” and “Shamar” all of creation. These terms in Hebrew can be interpreted in many ways but when used together mean to serve and take great care over. It is also the role that the priests are given in the Old Testament for the nation of Israel, to represent God to those they are looking after but also represent those they are looking after to God. How are we representing God to all of creation and how are we representing all of creation to God? Please take a moment to pray for creation right now as it is part of our God-given responsibility and please also pray with us on December 8, our prayer day for YWAM’s prayer initiative called The Invitation.
Topic suggested by Lynn Green in England and written by Christy Summerton, Phil Summerton and Ben Richards from Scotland and Richard Leakey from Switzerland. Photo of a Farming God’s Way demonstration farm in Kenya; supplied by Richard Leakey.
Pray for restoration of biodiversity in areas where there has been great loss. Rich biodiversity is vital for the natural God-created systems on earth to function well. Without this variety of life, areas that would otherwise have been very productive become barren deserts. This in turn leads to the suffering of the people who rely on these areas for their livelihood and food. Please pray for the communities that have been negatively impacted by the loss of biodiversity.
Pray for the countries being impacted by plastic waste. While plastic has been an amazing innovation, it also takes hundreds to thousands of years to degrade and can end up in our food and water. According to a report from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) in Feb 2022,plastic consumption has quadrupled over the last 30 years. All around the world plastic is being burned, releasing harmful gasses, blocking drains and causing floods or being washed into the oceans via riverways, causing harm to fish and other aquatic life that people rely on for food. Pray for continued innovative ways for us to step away from plastic, especially single-use plastic. Please also pray for the funding to scale up these pioneering biodegradable methods.
Pray for those in the world that are experiencing unusual weather extremes. We can see this in Nigeria’s extreme flooding, Europe’s low rainfall, fires and floods, East Africa’s two-year drought and India and Pakistan’s very long heat wave this year – plus many other regions. These people need relief and rebuilding. Please pray for YWAM’s ongoing pioneering efforts to provide aid. Please also pray for ways to reduce the levels of climate pollution that continue to make these things worse. In addition, please pray for more God-centered solutions to provide nutritious food for all people.
Take Action
Create a pollinator-friendly area in your location to benefit the local pollinating insect populations. This can be planting pots of native wildflowers or allowing an area of grass to grow long and not mow it through your growing season to give the insects a rich feeding area.
Look at changing your light bulbs to LED bulbs if you have not already. They consume much less power, both saving money and reducing the amount of excess gasses contributing to climate pollution.
Part of our challenge when we think of creation care is to find God-centered solutions. Farming God’s way is a great example developed by an African farmer. Read more about this example at https://www.farming-gods-way.org/overview.htm
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.
Throughout YWAM’s history Bible distribution has been an important part of our mission’s work. In the last few decades, more organizations have begun to collaborate with YWAM who have the same heart to translate and distribute the Bible. In late 2014 several YWAM leaders, including YWAM’s co-founders Loren and Darlene Cunningham, visited Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican and Evangelical leaders around the world, urging them to do all they could to help end Bible poverty. There was great unity of purpose around this theme among these influential leaders. As a result, “The Covenant to End Bible Poverty” (ywam.org/a-covenant-to-end-bible-poverty) was written, calling on Christians everywhere to pray, translate, publish, distribute, educate and motivate people for Bible engagement. It is our hope that intercessors will be raised up so that there is 24/7 prayer for those without Bibles to get them. Please take a moment to pray right now and please also pray with us on October 13, our prayer day for YWAM’s prayer initiative called The Invitation.
Topic suggested by Loren Cunningham and written by Seth Aumock from YWAM’s End Bible Poverty Now ministry. Photo taken from Unsplash – photographer Aaron Burden.
Pray for translation and publication. Please pray for innovation to continue so that translation and publication can happen quickly and accurately.
Pray for distribution. Please pray for donors to continue to partner and give financially so that Bibles can be distributed to the nations. Pray that the body of Christ would continue to be informed and choose to do outreaches and mission trips with Bible distribution as a main focus.
Pray for education. After people have received a Bible, we believe providing biblically sound teaching is at the epicenter of the discipleship process for people around the world to have a grounded understanding of God’s Word. Please pray that believers in other nations would have access to Biblical teachings and revelation from the Holy Spirit as they read Scripture.
Pray for the Habakkuk Initiative. God has given us vision as a mission to not only end bible poverty around the world but to disciple all nations as Jesus commanded us in Matthew 28:19. The goal of the Habakkuk initiative is to holistically disciple 80 nations in 10 years. To do this we need partnership and motivation from local churches who will carry the bulk of this task to reach their cities and nation. Please pray that local churches in these countries will be moved by the Holy Spirit to commit to see their nation reached with the Bible and that more YWAM staff would join this initiative to see it through.
Take Action
Please join us in contending for the Bibleless on Zoom every Thursday at 9:00 a.m. Hawaii Standard time at this link (with passcode: 6913): https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82712830927#success
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.
It has now been nearly six months since the first bomb was burdened upon Ukraine, laying the foundations of an agonizing war that has now killed thousands, and displaced millions more. As this war in Ukraine continues, so does the work of the YWAM teams in Ukraine as well as the surrounding territories. Your prayers to support these teams are treasured and appreciated. Please take a moment to pray right now and please also pray with us on September 8, on our prayer day for YWAM’s prayer initiative called The Invitation.
Topic suggested by the YWAM Slavic Ministries team in the USA and written by Joshua Jayraj in England. Photo of a food delivery, by YWAM Ukraine.
Pray for the neighboring countries. According to a recent article by The Guardian, there are more than six million refugees from Ukraine currently, of which 90 percent are women and children. This is now the largest refugee crisis since World War II. The countries taking in the largest volumes of refugees are Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova. Please pray that these countries are provided with the resources necessary to take care of the refugees currently seeking help, and please pray for Christians in these countries, including YWAM teams, who are caring for the needs of refugees.
Pray for YWAM’s teams in Ukraine. The YWAM teams in Ukraine continue to deliver food, medicine and other essentials to victims of the war. They face food and water shortages, sanitization issues and of course the threat of death.
Pray for Russia. Please pray not only for those in Russia who are against this war, but for those who are for it.
Pray for holistic healing. Not only has this war caused casualties and wounds, but it has caused invisible wounds; those pertaining to relationships, mental health and spiritual health. Please pray for the immediate and ongoing healing needed in all of these areas.
Take Action
If you would like to do more to help those affected, you can donate directly to YWAM Slavic Ministries, which will provide aid to those affected. Donate here: https://www.ywamslavicministries.org/
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.
This month, please join us as we pray for the long-term survivors of sexual exploitation. There are more allies in anti-trafficking efforts than ever before, but there is still a huge shortage of beds and residential services which can provide safety and trauma-informed care to both adult and minor victims, especially those who have their own children. Please join us this August in YWAM’s prayer initiative called The Invitation as we pray for these victims of exploitation. Please take a moment to pray right now and please also join us on our prayer day, August 11.
Topic suggested on The Invitation Survey by a former YWAM student. Content and photo used with permission from the prayer guide, 15 Days of Prayer to End Exploitation.
Pray for the ones who have been rescued. Pray that victims would become survivors who thrive, experiencing abundant life, supportive community, and joy. One survivor in Canada writes “But now I see a new light! I see people differently. I walk by faith, and my hope is not in this life nor in humanity. Jesus is faithful to his promises, He heard my cry and because of this I know I am never alone.” Pray for more testimonies like this one!
Pray for the ones involved in this ministry. Pray for those who are ministering to people still trapped in trafficking. Pray for ministry leaders and survivor mentors. This is a hard and sometimes overwhelming journey (Romans 15:13). Pray for more residential services for survivors of trafficking, and for more caregivers with trauma-informed training.
Pray for transformation in mindsets around the world. In one Indian brothel, Nepali sex workers were asked why they stayed in their work, even though they hated it. They gave answers like this: “My family has so much debt and soon will lose our small plot of land where we grow our food. They need me to pay off their debts.” Without good income-generating options the poor are vulnerable to exploitation at the hands of others who make a profit from them. Pray for cultures and governments so that women’s bodies are respected and valued, and families have options for survival (Galatians 2:10).
Take Action
Do research and ask questions to find out who in your area is actively engaged in fighting trafficking and what their needs are. If you are looking to start an anti trafficking business we would love to help! We would gladly share what we have learned and coach you to make an impact through your business or ministry. You can contact matt@kairostraders.com if you have any questions.
Read more stories and continue in prayer by using the prayer guide 15 Days of Prayer to End Exploitation, available at kairostraders.com.
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.
