Thank you for supporting the ministries of the Christian Reformed Church through your prayers.
For daily prayer, you are invited to use the Prayer Guide below or:
You can also use the prayer section of The Network to connect with prayer coordinators across the CRC. Looking for more items to pray about? Subscribe to the CRC News weekly email.
Communities in Nicaragua have been facing increased violence as a result of government changes. As security decreases, gangs and criminals have taken advantage. The situation is dangerous for many World Renew and Resonate staff in the area, and a crisis monitoring team has been set up. Pray for peace, justice, and protection over Nicaragua.
The crystal meth crisis is growing within our inner cities and is spreading to the suburbs. Teens turn to crystal meth and other drugs out of a sense of hopelessness and lack of connection. Pray for workers who deal with these young people each day, and ask that the youth may see God as their source of hope and find God's love in Christ and through his people.
Please pray for deacons as they work in the areas of service, justice, stewardship, compassion, and prophetic criticism. May God grant them an abundance of wisdom (James 1:5), love for God and others (Matt. 22:37-39), and faith that God is able to work in them and through them (Heb. 11:6; Phil. 2:13).
Pray for Ron VandenBurg and other members of the Kids Corner ministry who seek to bring the gospel to children in a fun and interactive way. “As God’s people, we get to tell God’s big story,” shares Ron. Pray that through this ministry children can see God’s story in their own lives.
While our director Mark Stephenson is out for the summer doing additional training, thank God for and pray for Dori Dykstra of CRC Disability Concerns and Terry DeYoung and Erika Spykman of the Reformed Church in America Disability Concerns office as they fill in and pick up extra responsibilities.
Praise God for a time to rest after a fruitful academic year in schools where our missionaries work. As faculty, staff, and students prepare for the next year, please ask God to fill staffing needs, appointing people with the right skills, experience, and passion for working with youth.
Twenty-three of our 144 chaplains serve in the military (active duty, reserve, or National Guard). These men and women offer comfort, care, counsel, and lead worship for thousands of troops at home and abroad. Some serve away from home and family for weeks and months at a time. Pray for safety, grace, joy, and peace for them and their families.
Pray for 13 high school students from the U.S. and Canada who are part of our three-week Dig: Uncover Your Future program to explore how ministry can be lived out in any vocation. Pray for guidance on where God may be leading them next.
The Kutupalong-Balukhali camp, located in Bangladesh, has become the largest refugee camp in the world, with over 600,000 Rohingyan people who sought safety after fleeing violence in Myanmar. Ask God to continue providing substantial support for these people recovering after crisis.
Through a Hindi-language Bible study in northern India, Anshu has been learning more about living for Christ. As Anshu grows in faith, she has a burden for people who have suffered. She testifies, “I want everyone to know Jesus’ love." Anshu asks us to pray with her that her family, including her aunt who mistreated her as a child, will come to Christ.
Individuals and teams are volunteering this summer throughout North America and around the world. Pray for team members, their hosts, and the people with whom they engage. May God be glorified, made known, and served.
As the national debate prompted by refugees crossing Canada’s southern border continues, we pray for truth and justice. Lord God, may words spoken about refugee claimants be truthful. May myths and half-truths be far from us. May our debate, across different political persuasions and opinions, recognize first the dignity of each of your precious children.
Pray that our churches will be “vibrant, grace-shaped communities engaged in lifelong discipleship” where people of every age, gender, race, and ability will find opportunities to use their gifts as they grow in faith, belonging, and maturity.
A Resonate church planter in North America writes that Christ calls us “to enter deeply into the needs of a broken world and to join God as agents of the renewal, restoration, and reconciliation of all things in readiness for the age to come.” Pray that we learn to enter deeply into the rhythms of life to show redemption, healing, love, and trust everywhere.
China has been named the 10th most difficult country in which to practice the Christian faith. Yet tremendous spiritual growth has taken place in China. A Chinese Today devotional reader asks, “As I pass the devotional to my sister-in-law who is not a believer, pray she will be inspired by God’s words and eventually accept Jesus.”
Join us in praying for resources and connections that can help us make a difference. Pray for wisdom in supporting leaders as we plan for gatherings that focus on skills, personal and spiritual transformation, and mentoring practices. Pray for all to serve well in using their God-given gifts, embracing their callings, and sharing the gospel.
In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey poured 20-60 inches of rain on the greater Houston, Tex., area. World Renew has been active in responding, and there is still work to do. Our team continues working with Texas communities to help families work toward recovery. Please ask God to guide our staff and bring healing to people affected by the disaster.
Safe Church has developed a new resource, Responding to Abuse: A Toolkit for Churches. Pray that the printed and online versions will prove helpful. Pray that people will use this resource as a springboard to gain further knowledge about abuse, so that our prevention and response efforts can effectively lead to safer communities and to healing in Christ.
Pray for people who are drifting away from Islam in North America and other countries around the world. Ask God to work through our ministries to Muslims to establish meaningful relationships and connections that lead them to Christ.
Give thanks and pray for our recent grads who are acting as God’s hands and feet as they pursue further study, careers, and other journeys God has set before them. Pray also for renewal for faculty, staff, and returning students anticipating the next semester.
Please pray for every GEMS Club—from those that have been around for decades to those that are brand new. Pray that women will step forward as counselors and that girls may continuously see God’s love through the women who mentor them. Please also pray for the thousands of girls who receive our magazines but are not currently part of a local club.
The Connections project is a three-year, grant-funded project to help CRC congregations explore and connect with resources for ministry. Please ask God to continue to use and equip the 11 regional staff to serve the churches in their regions well, and that churches will use this project to further their work in the kingdom of God.
“A lot of good has happened globally in the past seventy years,” writes Renita Reed-Thompson, a missionary in Kenya. Pray that our world will continue to strive toward being globally and community minded—that all humans will have fundamental freedoms and rights, such as the freedom to worship God.
Michelangelo recently wrote to our Portuguese ministry team, “I was impressed with your words today on Facebook, and I identified with them a lot. I don’t attend any church, but I am a Christian, and I believe in God.” Pray that Michelangelo will find a community of believers to help him grow in faith and in knowing God.
For some people, working intense-labor jobs is not an option due to health reasons. World Renew and a partner, the Nebbi Diocese of the Church of Uganda, have worked to administer community self-help groups for people who face challenges like this. We thank God for the encouragement and resources he is providing in Uganda.
We are grateful for churches across Canada who prayerfully and financially support our Operation Manna (OM) program, which helps churches start or grow a sustainable, community ministry. Please pray for our OM partners as they work to show and share the love of Christ to many.
After describing the fruit of the Spirit to the churches in Galatia, the apostle Paul writes, “Behave in ways in keeping with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). Pray for Resonate’s partner Mission Montreal as the team follows Jesus into the city’s secular settings. Ask God to guide them in their discernment and work.
Coffee Break is taking root in Spanish-speaking congregations in North America. Pray for a Spanish Discover Your Bible workshop taking place Aug. 2-3 in New Jersey. Pray that many people will meet Jesus through God's Word in Spanish-speaking congregations and small groups.
Praise God for the ways he has worked in the marriage of a couple who follow our Spanish media ministry. “The idea that marriage is a ‘total happiness state’ has been sold by media,” they write. “But your series helped us enter into matrimony with our eyes open.” Pray that this couple will put Christ at the center of their marriage and continue to grow in their relationship.
A few months ago World Renew was responding to drought emergencies throughout Kenya. Now heavy rains have caused flooding and loss across the country. Many people have lost loved ones, homes, farms, and livelihoods as a result. Please ask for God’s guidance for World Renew staff as they assess needs and comfort people affected by this disaster.
Pray for our brothers and sisters in an unreached city in central Asia, asking God to give our missionaries wisdom, to open doors, and to provide ways to share Christ’s love.