Dear Brother or Sister in Christ,
As we celebrate our church’s 100-year anniversary this year, let’s keep praying for greater evangelistic effectiveness by our various church ministries as well as in the daily lives of each person from our church family. Pray that we’ll be faithful in sharing the gospel good news outside of our church walls. Keep praying for our church’s strategic leadership team as we prayerfully discern our church’s mission, vision, and values together. Pray for the various ongoing weekly and monthly ministries listed in our bulletin. Praise God that we were able to host our first ever youth conference! Pray for godly fruit to continue coming out of this conference. Pray for those who’ve been recently married or are preparing for marriage, that they will keep growing as a godly husband and wife team. And please remember to pray for those who are grieving over the loss of loved ones. Pray for our Grief Share ministry. And pray for those on our prayer chain, for good medical care and recovery.
Let’s also pray through each page of our new Global Partner flipbooks. Pray for the success of our Global Partners who are recruiting and training new global partners. Pray that men and women, young and old, will respond to God’s call on their life to be sent out with the gospel. Pray for those who are mobilizing crisis response, and for those who are working with at risk children and vulnerable adults. Pray for our global partners who serve with Camp Oak Hills as they prepare the grounds and facilities, as well as recruit summer staff and students to come to camp. Pray for those who are translating Scripture into other languages and cultures. May they be accurate and effective in getting God’s powerful, living Word into each person’s heart language. Pray for those working with Native peoples locally and abroad. Pray for the Storyteller ministry on the radio as well as the training at Mokahum Ministry Center and the BUILD teaching that’s going out onto the reservations.
Pray for our new Global Partners serving in France. Pray that they’ll get established and develop an effective ministry to the lost, and pray that they can plant a gospel-centered church that grows through new believers coming to faith. Pray for the ministry of Reach Global and MENA to unreached peoples. Pray for the ministry in the Solomon Islands, for church unity there and protection from heresy. Pray for global partners who are working with refugees. Pray for favor and diligence with various language and culture barriers. May the gospel be communicated clearly to all peoples. Pray for partnerships and collaboration among the various workers. Pray for protection and favor for our global partners who are working in places which are hostile toward the gospel. Pray that hard hearts would be softened to the gospel, and that resistance would melt away by the power of God’s Spirit. Pray that each of our Global Partners will be fully funded and resourced with all they need, including visas and other paperwork from various governments.
As always, please pray that E-Free Bemidji will become more and more the church that God would have us be. The importance of praying this for our church is reinforced by a prayer in our church’s hymnal, #717. Please pray the following for our church: Lord of the Church, We Pray for Our Renewing
“Lord of the church, we pray for our renewing:
Christ over all, our undivided aim.
Fire of the Spirit, burn for our enduring,
wind of the Spirit, fan the living flame!
We turn to Christ amid our fear and failing,
the will that lacks the courage to be free,
the weary labors, all but unavailing,
to bring us nearer what a church should be.
Lord of the church, we seek a Father’s blessing,
a true repentance and a faith restored,
a swift obedience and a new possessing,
filled with the Holy Spirit of the Lord!
We turn to Christ from all our restless striving,
unnumbered voices with a single prayer-
The living water for our souls’ reviving,
in Christ to live, and love and serve and care.
Lord of the church, we long for our uniting,
true to one calling, by one vision stirred;
one cross proclaiming and one faith reciting,
One in truth of Jesus and his word!
So lead us on; till toil and trouble ended,
one church triumphant one new song shall sing,
to praise his glory, risen and ascended,
Christ over all, the everlasting King!”
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, thank you for praying!
Together for Christ, Pastor Jerry