Pray for the church amongst the Alagwa. May they grow in love and BE the body of Christ in their communities. May they be known as Jesus’ disciples because of their love for one another.

“I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the sovereign LORD. I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick ” Ez 34:15-16.

Pray for the Alagwa, that they would recognise the Good Shepherd. May broken hearts and lives be strengthened and healed.

“Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” Col. 3:14. Pray for deep love and honesty to be the hallmark of all the believers who gather as church here.

Praise God that the Jesus Film in Alagwaisa has so far been warmly received. Praise God for the way it has given courage to some secret believers to want to share more boldly. May they follow through and share with others. Pray for wisdom as further showings are planned and more than anything, pray that the Holy Spirit would use this tool to reveal the truth of God’s love in Jesus to many people.

Pray for the translation work as we near the end of John and move towards the book of Acts. Praise God for one of the translators who is continuing to seek Jesus and is keen to share the good news with his friends. Pray for another translator who has recently softened a lot towards Jesus. “Please God, continue to soften his heart that he would follow you with his whole life!”

Praise God for our new AICT pastor who is spending time learning language and culture here. Pray that God will continue to strengthen and envision him as he serves here.

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says: “ In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”
May the Holy Spirit bring deep conviction to the Alagwa of lostness and sin and bring them to true repentance and therefore rest.

Please pray for the new pastor and his family coming to work amongst the Alagwa who will move here in a few weeks’ time. Pray that God will give him vision and perseverance as he leads the church.

Please pray for an Alagwa lady who is a secret believer. She and her sister in law and another guy were chatting in our front room. The guy had been talking to us about how he didn’t believe Jesus is God. He asked her if she thought Jesus is God and she said, “Yes Jesus is God”! This is the first open confession of this kind I have heard from any one in the village. Please pray for her that this confession will give her strength and that she would know Jesus’ presence with her.

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of salvation of everyone who believes…”
Please pray for the second showing of the Jesus Film in Alagwaisa this evening. May the Holy Spirit touch many hearts and many conversations start in the community. May many Alagwa turn to Jesus together!

Please continue to pray for breakthrough amongst a few Alagwa believers who need healing from hurt in their past. May God continue to heal them and set them free.

Prayers appreciated as we start the voice recordings for the Jesus Film in Alagwaisa next Monday morning. We will spend a week in town with the guys voicing Jesus and the Narrator. The second week we will record the rest of the voices in our location.

Pray for the translators as they continue to work on the gospel of John. Pray that the Muslim translators would understand who Jesus truly is as they grapple with the work of translation and that the Christian translators also would grow in the depth of their understanding of and love for Jesus.

“And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” Eph 2 v22
Please pray for the church as it continues to struggle. Pray especially for restored relationships between some members and for a vision to be the body of Christ together in their community for the glory of God.
Pray for one family who have understood the good news of Jesus for some time but are not yet ready to follow him. Their children are struggling with multiple demonic attacks – please pray that they will turn to Jesus for help, the only one who has the power to set them free.

“ 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” Eph 6 ,12
There seem to be spiritual battles raging in many Alagwa communities. Pray for those who are being deceived by the pull of the witchdoctor and “medicine” of the religious leaders. May their eyes be opened to see that they are just enslaving themselves, not getting true healing. Pray for one disciple particularly who has been using “medicine” from the religious leader. May she repent and surrender to Jesus even more fully than before.

Praise God for his faithful show of power in one community. A disciple was faced with a close family member seeking to put curse on her and her children leading to death. Whilst initially terrified, she was encouraged by understanding from God’s word that this was a spiritual battle and that God is stronger than Satan! The family member tried two different witchdoctors, and was not able to curse her. She later said that because she belongs to God, she is no longer afraid. May this demonstration of God’s power impact many in her community. Please also join her in praying that this family member will also come to know and follow Jesus.

Pray for those who are being discipled to share with boldness with their families and neighbours.
Please pray for believers whose spouses are not following Jesus. Please pray that they would have courage to faithfully witness to their spouses and that their lives would demonstrate Jesus’ love.

‘When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”’ Acts 2:37.
Please pray for the Alagwa, that the Holy Spirit would bring true and life-giving conviction to them and prepare their hearts to receive Him. Pray that as God’s word is shared, many would be cut to the heart and be willing to ask: “What shall we do?”

Please pray for the spouses of married believers to turn to God. Pray particularly for the husbands of a few secret women believers in one community. Lord, may these men have a hunger to know you!

Pray for the church leadership, that they would trust in God with all their hearts and not lean on their own understanding. May they acknowledge you, God, in all their ways. Give them boldness as they lead.

Lord, we pray that the eyes of the heart of Alagwa believers may be enlightened in order that they may know the hope to which you have called them, the riches of your glorious inheritance in your holy people.
May your people amongst the Alagwa be filled with hope in you today. May they know you more.

Please continue to pray for the church in Madebe- that the believers would be continually filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) and grow in their passion to share the gospel with their family and neighbours.

Please pray for three men who have gone with Petro from our team to attend a leadership training course in Morogoro. Two are Alagwa elders in our local church and the other is a local believer who is also receiving training. Please pray for safe travels and that the training will encourage and build them in their faith and gifting.

“All this is from God who reconciled us to himself in Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” Pray for the believers to passionately abide in God, who has reconciled them to himself. Pray that they would know too that they are ministers of reconciliation in their families and communities and help others also be reconciled to God.

Please pray for the church as the pastor and his wife (AICT) leave next week to lead a team elsewhere. Pray for the evangelist (AICT) as he shoulders many responsibilities and the Alagwa elders of the church to rise to the challenge and continue growing and stepping out in boldness.

Please pray for the two believers getting baptised this Saturday. Please pray for another believer who might get baptised too- he is standing firm in Jesus and it would be wonderful to see him take the step of baptism.

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ez 35, 26-7.
Please keep praying for spiritual breakthrough amongst the Alagwa. Pray for eyes to be open to see that they need to know and rely on the love God has for them; that they need God to give them a heart of flesh. May the Holy Spirit help them to go beyond their world view expectations of religion and find deep ‘akhwesu’ -fellowship- with God.

Please pray for the many people who have bought a memory card or audio player with portions of Scripture and Bible stories in Alagwaisa, as well as Swahili Scriptures. Pray that many people would not just enjoy the stories but be hungry to seek Jesus for themselves.

Pray for the Alagwa church elders, that they will continue to grow in Jesus and develop especially in the areas of teaching and preaching.

“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 realm.” Please pray for spiritual breakthrough amongst the Alagwa. Pray for the many Alagwa who are still bound by evil spirits. Pray for freedom and for many eyes to be opened to the truth of Jesus their Redeemer.

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.

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.

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.

Praise God for the way an Alagwa church elder is growing in his boldness to witness and teach. May God continue to encourage him and give him strength and courage.

Please pray for one believer in a village who has been rejected by those living around her because she follows Jesus. Pray for her to persevere and really lean into Jesus for his strength and comfort.

Praise God for seeds planted as church members went to share the good news of Jesus door to door in a nearby area two days last week. May there be good soil in people’s hearts for God’s word to take root in. Pray too for the believers who shared their faith; may they grow in boldness and continue to reach out to others.

Please pray for an Alagwa man who has started to follow Jesus. He is now encountering opposition, including being physically attacked. Please pray that he keeps following Jesus. Pray also that God will send people to encourage him as he works away from home.

Please pray for the Alagwa translators currently working on the book of John. May those translators who are not believers yet come to trust in Jesus as they work. Please pray for many Alagwa to recognise their need to repent and come to Jesus. May they know Jesus the Truth who can set them free.

Praise God for two Alagwa ladies who were really impacted by Jesus’ words in Luke 19:10 this week: The Son of God has come to seek and save the lost. They have each committed to share God’s word with one friend a few times a week. Pray that God will prompt them to do that and make those times fruitful.

Thank God for one Alagwa man who taught the word of God to a few people using an audio player last week. Pray that he will continue to teach others and also feast on God’s word himself.