Praise God for his unbelievable love- may many Alagwa truly understand this year that the God who made them loves them unconditionally and wants a relationship with them.
Please pray for the Kwa Madebe church- may all of us grow in love for God, for one another and for those who don’t know Jesus yet. Please pray that as a church we would strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind and live in peace (2 Corinthians 13 v 11).

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that they may know him better. We pray that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened in order that they may know the hope to which he has called them, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.

Ephesians 1: 17-18

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

Father, thank you for the freedom we all have in Christ. Please remind all the believers amongst the Alagwa today of the precious and powerful freedom they have in you. May they stand firm, not letting themselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Keep them alert to your truth and grace.

Please pray for spiritual breakthrough for one believer, A, who is spiritually in a pretty bad way at the moment. One of our team is going to meet with her tomorrow (18th Nov) to pray and encourage her from the word. Please bathe this meeting in prayer- that A would meet with God in a deep way and that her eyes be opened to know how loved she is by God. May she know this truth: “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” I John 4:4.

There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. Psalm 4:6‭-‬7

Lord may the Alagwa long for your presence and seek you. May they understand and rejoice in the intimacy of knowing you, more than having their physical needs met.

Please pray for the believers to grow in their knowledge of God’s love for them. May they be compelled by Christ’s love to reach out to those who also need to know that love.
Ephesians 3 v 17-19; 2 Corinthians 5 v 14-15

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. Psalms 133:1‭-‬2

May there be increased unity in the church amongst the Alagwa! We pray that they would live as a community who deeply love one another and so demonstrate Christ to those around them.

Please pray for the Alagwa believers to stand strong. May they surrender to Jesus in every area of lives and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. May their lights shine in their communities so that people may see their good deeds and praise their Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16).

Please lift up the team ministering to the Alagwa, who have experienced particular spiritual attacks recently. Please pray for encouragement in difficult times and protection. May they sense Jesus walking especially close to them in these days. And may God’s glory be seen amongst the Alagwa.

I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.’ John 17:26

Please pray for the church and believers amongst the Alagwa. May they know God’s love more and more and may they truly love one another. Let their love for one another be known and bring glory to God in their communities.

Praise God I have just heard that the gospel of John translation is now fully approved! Please pray for all the translators as they study God’s word: may they be changed. Pray for all who will read John, that the Lord will grant them faith to believe.

One of our team went to visit a older lady from the local church who lives over an hour’s walk from the village where the church is. She took two other believers with her. One was the lady’s son, and the other a church elder. On their way home, both were excited: we should do this EVERY week! She really needs to be visited and encouraged regularly!
Praise God for this realisation and the stirring of passion in these believers to serve others in the body of Christ. Pray for them as they think about their need to take initiative. May this conviction become action and may the Holy Spirit continue to stir up within them the compassion to reach out.

Praise God for the secret believer who received an audio Bible last month. She travelled to see her extended family and whilst there, played Alagwaisa Bible portions for them every day. She also asked them good questions to help them understand the passages.
Please keep praying for her, that she continue to share and teach especially the ladies in her neighbourhood.

There was a very small Islamic/traditional “service” in a house in which nine women gathered. One was a team member. The (unspoken) pressure is always great to join in the Islamic prayers, to be seen to be part of the community. The two secret believers did not pray, and one (the wife of the local religious leader) refused to lead the prayers. Praise God for these small steps of obedience. May God increase these women’s boldness and understanding of His love for them. Please pray both would agree to get baptised.

Praise God for one secret believer who was thrilled to receive an audio player with portions of scripture in her own language. An elderly neighbour came in and she immediately started teaching him from John ch 1. May she continue to have joy in God’s word and grow in confidence to share with others too.

Another secret believer in another area has recently got a phone that she is able to show the Jesus Film in Alagwaisa on. Please also pray for her that she would show others and tell them about Jesus herself.

Please pray for the church amongst the Alagwa. Pray that they will know and rejoice in the true gospel whilst learning to reject prosperity teaching. Please also pray that they would be people after God’s heart, committing their energies to see his kingdom come in their communities.

Please pray for the local church as we work through a series of teaching on the true gospel and how to understand and recognise the dangers in prosperity teaching. Almost everyone has been exposed to the prosperity gospel through the radio, television and teaching from other churches. May the believers find new joy in the spiritual blessings we have in Christ and be able to lay aside wrong thinking. Please pray too as midweek groups have been relaunched that the believers will grow in their relationship with God and with their Christian brothers and sisters. May they also find courage and encouragement together to reach out to friends and neighbours with the good news of God’s love and salvation through Jesus.

Please pray for two believing women in different villages who we are teaching to recognise the devil’s schemes and resist him (1 Peter 5 v 8-9). Praise God for their engagement in this teaching! Please pray for perseverance in putting on the armor of God, that daily they will set time aside to meet with God in prayer and His Word.

Praise God for three women who have been discipled for some time in one neighbourhood and are now more and more looking to study God’s word and pray together. Please pray that they would become the core from which a group of believers and seekers could develop one day soon! Pray for the courage and conviction for each of them to be baptised this year.

Please pray for one believer, baptised some years ago, who is continuing to struggle with the damage done to her in the past, demonic oppression and the challenges of living as a single mother who was rejected by her husband many years ago, and the only believer in her community. Please pray for increased inner healing and increased boldness to resist the devil and his lies. May this lady grasp more and more profoundly God’s huge mercy to her and so present herself fully as a living sacrifice (Romans 12 v 1).

Praise God for a secret believer in one village who prayed on her own for her own healing, after having sustained an injury which continued to cause significant and debilitating pain at times. God graciously and instantly healed her some weeks ago and she has not had any pain since. Please pray that she would continue to see more clearly the God who loves her and cling to him. May she be transformed from one degree of glory to another.

We are becoming more aware of the effects of prosperity teaching, from the obvious to the subtle. We see this in church members and also seekers and believers in the community. This can come through the radio, phones, or sadly through church sermons. Please pray for the true gospel to be fully embraced and for believers to resolve “to know nothing… except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” I Corinthians 2,2

Please pray for the team and church leadership as we launch new mid-week groups in the church with a whole church seminar on 9th April. We have a vision to see these groups intentionally encourage:
* more personal growth in church members’ relationship with Jesus
* more accountability with one another
* and more reaching out to their neighbours and communities.
May your Kingdom come, may your will be done, Father, amongst the Alagwa!

Pray for the spouses of secret believers that they too might surrender their lives to Jesus. Pray for couples and families coming to Jesus together.
Pray for the translators: one particularly who was antagonistic towards Christians, but now his heart has been softening for quite a few months now. May the Holy Spirit draw him to fully surrender his life to God.

Pray for a neighbourhood where some of the team live. There are a few hidden disciples and many more asking questions, along with a strong attraction amongst many to listen to God’s word. Please pray for a community of believers to start meeting regularly this year. It’s a big prayer but nothing is impossible for God! May the fear of consequences be overwhelmed by knowing the love of God in their lives. Please pray Ephesians 1 v 18-20 for the secret believers and those who are drawn but too scared to commit themselves to Jesus.

Please pray for a couple who have had a consistent gospel witness for many years. Praise God the husband is now opening his heart more to Jesus and thinking about the possibility of following him. Pray that this couple would make a decision to follow Jesus together.

“Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ‘People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship – and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.” Acts 17 v 22-3 May the Alagwa know Jesus, the fulfillment of all their spiritual hunger and hopes. Bring an awakening amongst them as a people Oh Lord! May they know they were made to worship God in spirit and truth!

Pray for the local church, that God would envision them for the coming year, bringing unity and a passion for their communities.

Pray for the Bible translators who are not yet believers- as they are learning more and more about Jesus, may they give their whole lives to him.

Please pray for one lady who was initially and for a long time full of excitement and joy to study God’s word and was thinking about baptism. She now seems to have “hit a wall”, as we call it. Please stand with her and pray she will persevere. Whether she is now counting the cost, or is facing some other barrier, may she push through and surrender her whole life to Jesus. Pray for other seekers, that they would push through the barriers before them.

“…because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.’”
May many Alagwa will be guided onto the path of true peace, wholeness in God. Praising God for his tender mercy, we ask that Jesus, our rising sun, would lead Alagwa out of darkness and the shadow of death.

Please pray for Alagwa believers this Christmas. May they know their Saviour more deeply and share the good news of salvation with many others.

In one village, there will be an afternoon showing of the Jesus Film especially for women this Wednesday. Please pray that God will prepare hearts to receive him.

Please pray for one Alagwa believer as she seeks to support a handful of believers and seekers in a rural area about 50 km from where she lives. Please pray for God’s guidance and for his kingdom to be built. Pray for all those involved: for our team as we seek to support her, for her local church in town to catch the vision, for the Alagwa and Rangi believers and seekers in that location to be built up in Christ, and for the two churches nearest to that location to be a part of the vision.

“One who is wise can go up against the city of the mighty and pull down the stronghold in which they trust.” Proverbs 21 v 22.

Please pray for wisdom in pulling down the spiritual strongholds in which the Alagwa have mistakenly put their trust. May these strongholds, which have gripped many Alagwa hearts and held them captive for so long, be pulled down! May many Alagwa find life and freedom in the saving grace of Jesus.

Please pray for one seeker who is under pressure to go back to Islamic classes with the ladies in her community. They have threatened to turn their back on her and exclude her if she doesn’t attend the mosque with them. Last time she gave in to this, she struggled for months with demonic attack as a direct result. Please stand with her, that she might also find the strength in Jesus to stand firm this time.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3, 17
Please pray for an Alagwa believer who is step by step being released from many hurts in the past which left deep scars and ways for Satan to continue to oppress her. Praise God for the freedom she already has and for the way she is more secure now in her identity in Jesus. Pray that she would know the gospel in increasingly deeper ways and that she will cling to Jesus when pain, lies and fear threaten to overwhelm her. May she know that God, who called her, will never let her go.

Please pray for a mini survey trip we are taking this week. An Alagwa seeker has asked us a number of times to come and build a church in his village because he-and some other believers/church goers there- walk a long way to attend services on Sundays. (He is thinking about a physical building; we are focusing on a body of believers being established there.) We are hoping to go with an Alagwa Christian who has just finished a bible college course and has a vision to church plant. May God give us wisdom and good connections with both the Alagwa seeker and the believers where he is. May that seeker surrender his whole life to Jesus and lead the rest of his extended family to Jesus too.

Pray for the women who are grappling with what it might mean to be public about their faith. Pray that they would receive boldness and wisdom from the Holy Spirit. Please pray for their husbands to come to Jesus.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6 v 12
Pray against the principalities and powers still holding many Alagwa hearts captive. Pray for breakthroughs. May the believers put on the full armor of God and take their stand!