Praise the Lord for many M who have decided to follow Jesus in the last six years. Pray that as they study the Scriptures, some of them will desire to receive further training in the Bible, so as to teach it and explain it accurately. Pray that whole families will give public testimony to their faith in Christ in such a way that many others follow their example.
Diaspora in Brazil
* Praise God for the B. family and for the way the Lord is opening the doors for them to go to Caxias do Sul. Pray for the two day trip, for their adaptation in the region and to start the work among Senegalese refugees.
* Pray for It. and Su. They have had difficulties to develop ministry again, as their area is still a red flag for Covid-19.
* Continue praying for the involvement of new Brazilian churches with the Diaspora Ministry.
* Pray for Brazil, especially for the south where most of our members are. At this time of winter we are going through the peak of the pandemic.
More and More of Them
Praise the Lord that while the Digo people were still sinners, Christ died for them, and that some Digo will stand before the Lamb’s throne one day praising Him for that salvation. Pray that more and more Digo will reject Islam and embrace Jesus as their Savior and only Hope.
Diaspora in Rochester, MN
Pray for developing relationship with a Somali leader who is now helping me coach my son’s soccer team.
Pray for creative ways to develop relationships and get to share our beliefs. Pray for soften hearts to be receptive to the Gospel.
Moving To Live Among Them
Praise the Lord for a couple who have agreed to move to a Datooga village that needs the gospel. Pray for their sending church to support them well. Pray for them to make many friends and have a powerful impact in that community. Pray for them to be able to plant a reproducing, indigenous, Christ-centered church in a community that has no gospel witness.
Diaspora in Kentucky
* Praise for Initial contacts with Somalis in our neighborhood and in the city.
* Pray for the establishment of good relationships and rapport among Somalis and local churches.
* Pray for J as she seeks opportunities among Somali women
Agents of Peace
Pray that the Borana believers will be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that their labor is not in vain in the Lord. Pray that through them the Word of God will spread rapidly and be glorified. Pray that the Borana will become agents of peace and divine reconciliation throughout all the tribes of north Kenya.
Diaspora in Detroit
* Pray for our ESL and citizenship classes to fill up with students and teachers! Our goal is to have classes going by October 8th.
* One Sudanese family has begun to do weekly Discovery Bible Studies through the sermon on the Mount. May they recognize Christ as savior and the word as truth.
* Please pray for Zawadi and the Zomaf African team to be able to effectively reach Swahili and French speaking diaspora youth.
This Sickness Does Not End In Death
Pray for eyes open to the hope and assurance of eternal life only found in Christ Jesus. A recent illness led to the early death of a village leader, yet his clear profession of faith in Christ in the months before his death has left the village talking about his conversion and its meaning in respect to burial. Pray for wisdom as people contemplate customs in light of being a follower of Jesus. Pray that others who knew this man would also choose to give their lives to Christ and receive the gift of eternal life.
Diaspora in Canada
* Things at Naomi House continue to be busy for Ca.- so many people looking for sponsorship and also hope. Pray that she would show Jesus’ love and that many would respond.
* Br. has loved being back at the drop- in center, even with COVID restrictions the kids have come. Pray that they will receive the Good News that God speaks to their hearts.
* Pray also for our Somali boys. Each with a different story and it seems each craving love and attention. We have been trying to see them biweekly, pray that they would feel the Holy Spirit in us. Pray for Ad. who is familiar with the Torah and likes to discuss spiritual things-that he would know there is something different about Christianity and Jesus. Pray for Sa. as his family is still trying to get out of Somalia. We have set up a fundraiser to help with travel costs.
Seeking help in the wrong place
Please pray for a couple that have been studying the word and seeking to follow Jesus for quite some time. Until now, they have not been very open in their community about following Jesus. A crisis has recently occurred as the wife returned to studying at the mosque, having felt a lot of pressure to do so. Shortly after beginning studying, she came under strong demonic attack which was frightening and she has sought help from the local religious “healers” (which has not been effective). Please pray for her to repent and meet Jesus in a deeper way. Please pray that her husband will stand firm for Jesus and not bow to community and family pressures and that he will see the spiritual battle clearly that they are in. Please pray that in all this God’s glory will be revealed and that this couple would trust Jesus and cling to him. Pray that they would be a clear sign of hope and healing in Jesus in their community.
Diaspora in France
The Community Center in Strasbourg will be starting classes this month and their church will start meeting again, this time in the center. Continue to lift up this strategic outreach in this part of the city where many immigrants/refugees live.
Pray for a kid’s club in a needy Marseille area to happen Sept 20. Because of Covid restrictions the schedule had to be changed twice. Pray for good contacts with families and children.
Continue praying for new relationships with those who are seeking, openness for conversation and ability to hear well with the mask challenges.
Prayer for Softened Hearts
Some Nyamwezi believe and have joined in fellowship. Others have heard the Gospel, believed, but have not left their traditions. Pray that more Nyamwezi would respond, submit, and obey the Word of God. “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” Psalm 95:7-8
Loving students
We have had such a loving and exciting time together with the students that they are already talking of training their own when the courses are over. They want to continue using the same facilities and maintain our relationship.
Please pray that our team may find ways of sharing the gospel and our lives with our students as we teach and relate with them.
May the Holy Spirit speak in and through us and may His words through us find fertile ground in the hearts of the students.
May this cause our loving relationship to grow as they seek to want to know more.
Sharing in compounds
Please pray for our Sunday story- telling times in the compounds of several families in Nagishot.
Our team goes out two by two and share stories from the Old and New Testaments that are related to the gospel narrative.
Would you pray for those who sit and listen in Charles’, Julietta’s, Magareta’s and Lino’s compounds. Pray for good listening, understanding and interaction to deepen their understanding. Please also pray for more families to want us to come share in their compounds.
Brave Souls
Praise the Lord for the Zigua people, who are beginning to soften to the gospel. Pray that the Lord will raise up some brave souls who will lead the others in rejecting Islam and clinging to Christ. Pray for the Good Shepherd to minister to them, leading them into His fold and keeping them safe in His hand.
Seeking Jesus Christ
Pray for the Zaramo of Tanzania to seek Jesus Christ during these days. May He work in each family to bring a situation that forces them to discard old gods and seek the true and living God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Pray for more and more Christians to gather together for worship and prayer and Bible reading.
Any Happiness
Pray for South Asians to be convicted of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Pray that they will find their relationships are not satisfying, nor their work, nor their religion. Pray they will ask themselves whether there is any happiness to be found anywhere. Pray that they will have seeking hearts, and that they will meet believers who love and care for them, and who share the gospel with them. Pray for their salvation.
That Christians Will Go
Pray for Christians to live among the Ndengereko people in order to share the gospel with them. Pray for the Lord to break down the resistance and reluctance of the Ndengereko to come to Christ. Pray that the Lord will send His Word to them in many forms and ways, so they can learn that anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.
Diaspora in Missouri
* Praise God that He is using the gift bags containing produce from the garden to open up spiritual conversations with our African friends.
* Our non-profit’s request to re-zone a downtown building for a community center was denied. Pray for wisdom in the next steps.
* We are having “Welcoming Week” for our diaspora friends this week! We will work on projects together, eat meals together and both harvest and plant at the garden. Pray for the building of relationships and for fruitful conversations.
Equal Interest and Openness
Pray for those Swahili Arabs who are especially proud of their heritage to come to the place of counting all things loss for the sake of gaining Christ, knowing Him, being found in Him. Pray for those who have invested much time in studying their religion to have courage to read and study the Bible with equal interest and openness. Pray that they will have a clear understanding of grace versus works, and receive grace as better.
Walked 45 minutes to church!
Praise God for the daughter of a witchdoctor who has seen us worship on a Sunday from afar and felt very drawn by what she saw. On Sunday she walked the 45 mins to join the worship and really enjoyed it. Please pray for a continued desire within her to seek Jesus and also be discipled. Her mother (the witchdoctor) was extremely positive about her going to church and she herself has listened to scripture many times. Please pray that this would be another step towards this whole family coming to Christ.
Diaspora in UK
* Praise: several ladies from the International women’s sewing group continue to join our Zoom online sewing times. In our most recent sewing time, we shared a brief devotional with the ladies. Pray for a good response.
* Praise: places of worship have been given permission to reopen provided there are social distancing measures in place.
* Pray that hearts will be prompted to seek and find the Lord during these stressful times of the pandemic
* Pray for God to direct us to the activities of his choosing as lockdown restrictions continue to shift week to week and Covid cases are on the rise here
Softer Attitude
The Digo have been known for their resistance to the gospel and adherence to Islam. Pray that they will instead be known for their zeal for Jesus. Pray for the Christians who work among them to notice a softer attitude, a hunger and thirst to be set free, a desire to love and be loved by the living God. Pray for many to be saved.
Diaspora in Portland
*Ethiopian Youth Bible Club. We’ve taught 8 weekly Zoom sessions so far, with 10-15 Ethiopian kids. We interact around music, chronological storying, and videos. Each week, we also meet with our Ethiopian colleagues who had this vision and prepare and pray over the final touches. Please continue to pray for these children to grow in faith.
* Sunday morning tent services—Next door, at our daughter and son-in-law’s home, our team has just launched an outdoor “tent” interactive fellowship as a welcoming place to seek and worship, even for those from other cultural backgrounds. Pray that this will be used of the Lord to grow His Church among the nations.
Break fear
Holy Father, please give courage to your children to speak to family members about the Lord Jesus. We ask especially that fathers and brothers would be ready to hear and believe the gospel, and that the Islamic fear would be broken.
A Movement To Send Them
Please continue to pray for Datooga evangelists and pastors to be sent to all corners of the tribe. Pray that the Lord will raise up those men and women.
Then also please pray for the churches in Tanzania to be filled with a passion to see the Great Commission fulfilled in every tribe in the country, including the Datooga. Pray that it will be their own sons and daughters they send out. Pray they will support them generously, visit them, care for them, and stay in touch with them.
Great Enthusiasm
Praise the Lord for the Christians among the Borana of Kenya, and the churches that have been established, and the Scriptures in their language. Please pray that the Borana believers will have a great enthusiasm for sharing the gospel and Scripture with others. Pray also that through their influence as salt and light, conflict between their tribe and other tribes will die down. May their fellowship with believers from other tribes be a great testimony to the truth of the gospel.
Troubled Man
A neighbor came to dinner. His family is out of town and for ten days he had no one to cook for him. He is truly concerned about the world- the wickedness, the immorality, the cheating and lying and greed and violence. In every country and every culture he travels to he sees it. He worries about his children, and the next generation. Only religion, he said, would bring peace to the world. He means his religion, not ours. But it opened a door to share with him the transformation we saw in one culture when we took the gospel to a UPG. He listened. Please pray we can keep sharing with him and his family so one day he can know the Prince of Peace and not be afraid and troubled any more.
The Good Fight
Please pray for our 37 evangelists from FLM (Lutheran Church of Madagascar) and FJKM (Reformed Church of Madagascar) who have been trained in Missions and Evangelism. Pray that they will use all the tools they were given and in the power of the Holy Spirit will boldly share the Gospel, going to the villages where Christ is not already known. Also pray that our partners will focus on unity and working together for the sake of Christ, leaving behind all intrigue, envy, and unholiness. May they fight the good fight and show the church how to be more gospel-centered and mission minded.
Rock of Salvation
O unshakable Father, many Arabs are facing uncertainty and death because of unrest and disease. Thank you for your patience as you long for their repentance. Please strengthen your children to abide and then to speak the gospel compelled by love. Would you reveal yourself as the Rock of Salvation and shake all that is shakable.
A Flood Coming Into the Kingdom
Father, please call the Somali to Yourself. It is unrealistic and definitely impossible for us as humans, but because You are God, You can accomplish the unrealistic and the impossible. So, we come to You in Jesus Name and ask that, in Your mercy and grace, and for Your glory alone, please “bare Your holy arm” and show Your awesome power by bringing the Somali people from every corner of the world into Your kingdom. By December, 2020, would You call so many Somali people to Yourself, that the flood speaks for itself, that they are a “reached” UPG. Amen.
And we ask God that You work among local believers in powerful ways. Grant them wisdom, guidance, and freedom from fear.
Bold believer
Our bold new sister has been sharing online and two from other cities have come to Jesus so far. One was threatened by his family but he has stood firm saying nothing can turn him from Jesus. Please pray that these young believers (and those we don’t hear of) would abide in the Word and be deeply grounded and not fear.
Diaspora in Spain
* Pray for Th., an African immigrant who has completed his resettlement program, but still cannot find work. He is now homeless and living with a friend temporarily.
* Pray for sports to be allowed to continue this fall. Two of my biggest outreach opportunities here in Spain are through sports. I am helping to coach a football team of African migrants. Also, right before quarantine, I had just joined the coaching team for a football club of underprivileged kids and reconnected with the kids of several Sahrawi immigrant families I met during AIM’s sports camp last year. Pray that we can get these clubs going again.
* Pray for a meeting I have coming up soon. I was just invited yesterday to sit down with a Muslim refugee friend and the imam of the local mosque in Jerez to discuss Jesus, the Bible, and the Qur’an.
Diaspora in Portland
Pray for protection from the mosque warning people on the WhatsApp group to stay away from receiving services from our English center. Pray that this would reveal those who are open and seeking. Pray for boldness.
Pray as we are planning to start in person classes September 8 following the governors guidelines. It will be challenging. Please pray for all of the logistics and staff in order to make that happen.
Pray for the Algerian believer that he would grow in his faith. Please pray for the Somali lady that is coming to our Sunday fellowship that she would come to know the Lord
Ready to die for Jesus
Praise God for the strategic meeting between 100 Toposa leaders that took place in mid-August in Naliel. They appointed 6 to oversee the Toposa movement. Praise God that some even walked 96 kilometers over two days to meet. Pray against the increased persecution that has emerged in 4 areas with severe attacks and beatings. Pray for the believers that testify that they are ready to die for Jesus as they continue to meet. May this fuel even more hunger and thirst for righteousness. May the Kingdom of God be made manifest in every Toposa village. Please also pray for the Toposa, Nyangatom and Jiye (TNJ) cluster strategy coordination team as they meet. Pray for effective distribution of needed resources such as Jesus Film solar backpacks, audio Bibles and chronological Bible story cloths. Pray for the on-going training of disciple-multipliers from each group and the fulfillment of their commitment to engage 72 new villages by the end of 2020.
Open to Friendship
Please pray for a S. Asian family who seem to be more and more open to friendship with their Christian neighbors. Pray that they will be interested in studying the Bible and comparing it with their holy book and that the Holy Spirit will open their eyes to who Jesus really is and what is the true Way to God.
Diaspora in USA
ESL classes are starting the first week of Sept. Pray for a good turn out of immigrants to study English. Pray for good conversations about eternal things.
Sept. 13-20 is Welcome Week at the new RAISE house; we’ll be introducing immigrants to RAISE services and activities and providing lunch during the week.
Es. has had several opportunities to pray with immigrants as she goes door to door for Census 2020. Pray for these brief connections to bear fruit.
Hard Times
Please pray for an Alagwa believer whose husband (not a believer) is moving to divorce her. Please join his wife in praying for her husband’s heart to be changed, for him to follow Jesus. Pray too that she would lean on Jesus and continue to trust him. That God would use these hard times to cause growth in her.
He Reached Out to Reconnect
We were concerned that our Somali language teacher was getting rather quiet and saying he was busy. We prayed for God to reconnect us and last night he sent a text to find out how we are doing! … and wants to resume the language classes. We praise God for answering our prayer and reconnecting us with our friend. Sometime back we presented this brother with a Somali Bible and we pray that God will give us opportunities to delve into His Word with him. We also thank God for the leadership, guitar, and computer classes which are going very well. They have really connected us with these Somali friends.
