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:
Ken, a veteran with disabilities in West Virginia, lost his home to flooding in 2016. This month volunteers from Holland and Zeeland, Mich., will build a new house, from foundation to finish, for Ken. Please keep Ken and the volunteers lifted in prayer.
Please pray for CRC church planters and their families, asking God to provide needed resources and leaders. Pray also that church plants may find ways to partner in causes of justice and that new planters may be raised up.
Pray for participants in our Cohort of Missioners program, which pairs together young adults from North America and Central America to do ministry alongside long-term ministry leaders, discerning God’s calling for ministry in their lives. Pray that they will gain meaningful ministry experience.
Many churches are searching for a pastor or worship leader. Ask God to provide qualified persons to fill each of these ministry roles. Pray for smooth transitions of leadership and working harmony between councils, ministry staff, and church members.
In response to a Groundwork program, Maria asked us to pray that Jesus will remember her children, who, she says, have “left him to follow the ways of the world.” Pray that all who have left Jesus will see his loving work in their lives and return to him.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the U.S., and the first week in May is Mental Health Week in Canada. Pray for grace and recovery for the millions of people living with mental illness and for their loved ones. Pray too that the stigma surrounding mental illnesses will be replaced by love and support.
Praise God for vibrant church leaders and church plants. In the early 1990s Pastor Rob Hogendoorn planted a church in London with the help of Home Missions, seeking to draw people who have lots of questions and skepticism. Today more than 2,000 people attend services regularly.
Missionaries often face a lot of challenges that come with exposure to different cultures, worldviews, values, political systems, corruption, poverty, or civil instability. Pray that God will comfort missionaries who are struggling with cultural adaptation.
Heavy rain and mudslides are having deadly effects throughout Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, affecting over a million people. World Renew is committed to responding where the needs are greatest. Please pray for support for those in need.
Graduation this year will include our first cohort of Distance Learning students and our second cohort of Hispanic Ministry and EIRENE Certificate students. Rejoice with those who graduate, and pray for guidance in their next steps in ministry or further education.
Last month coleaders and members of the Reformed Leadership Initiative’s implementation team attended a gathering to celebrate developing leaders in network churches, share stories of bright spots and challenges, prepare for equipping teams, and learn new leadership skills. Pray for fruit-bearing in the remaining seven months of this project.
Praise the Lord for Eric Kas, a new Safe Church associate who will help in developing safe church teams in every classis. (At present, less than half of CRC classes have a safe church team.) Volunteer safe church teams equip congregations for the important work of preventing abuse and providing relational support.
After taking Educational Care teacher training with CRWM staff in the Middle East, a participant says she has learned new ways to help her students realize that God loves them, even as she faces legal issues with sharing the gospel in her country. Pray that these students will continue to experience God’s love.
Please pray for farmers in Zambia. Those who planted early on high ground are expecting a good harvest, while farms in the lowlands have been flooded for over two months and are expecting crop failure. Please pray that these farming families may all have enough food.
Pray for inmates and for all who have joined this unique church within prison walls. Pray for healing amid the severe brokenness in prison life. Praise God that his beauty breaks into this world, that hearts change when Christ is “at home” in them.
Pray for a newly formed listener group in Kurgi, an area of great poverty. New and seasoned believers meet to listen to the Word of God and to encourage one another in faith. Thank God that we are able to provide Bibles and radios for them. Pray that they may grow in faith.
As the commission investigating missing and murdered women and girls continues, pray for wisdom and clarity. Please pray for safety for society's most vulnerable people.
CRWM partners with Kyiv Christian Academy in Ukraine to provide a biblical worldview for children of missionaries. Pray that God will work in this school community of about 150 children. May each student understand and develop their God-given potential.
World Renew’s team in Cambodia will be facilitating youth camps over the next few months. Please pray that these camps will inspire over 200 young people to become leaders in their communities, motivated to contribute to development and governance in their communities and nation.
The message of the cross offers invitation and challenge, so it's an oasis for some and a stumbling block to others. To all it's a call to live into the work of redemption and reconciliation. Pray that the Office of Race Relations may be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves (Matt. 10:16; see also Matt. 4:1-11; Titus 2:7-8) as we invite and challenge everyone in the CRC to proclaim and live the message of the cross in this heightened time of polarization. Ponder Ephesians 2:16 and 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.
Inspire 2017 is a conference to connect people from across the 1,000+ churches of the Christian Reformed Church in North America for three days of worship, workshops, speakers, and conversation. Please join us in praying for the event and all who will attend. This month, please pray for the speakers and session leaders at Inspire 2017 as they prepare to speak and interact with people at the conference, and pray for all who will hear them there.
As Canada remembers and celebrates 150 years of confederation, it’s important to recognize both the joy and the pain in our history. Let us pray with thanks for the gift that Canada is, and with lament for the injustices of colonialism and assimilation toward First Peoples. Lord God, our Creator, may the next 150 years be characterized by reconciliation!
Some CRWM missionaries are studying for degrees and taking online classes in addition to their regular ministry work. Pray for peace of mind and focus during stressful times in these study programs.
Pastor Jamie VanderBerg shares Jesus with students from various faith traditions or none at all. Pray for him and our more than 35 other campus chaplains who meet students at a crucial point in their life journey, bringing the grace of God into situations of challenge and learning.
Pray for Hiago, who shared our Portuguese resources with his colleagues at work. “There are people of all religions in my office,” he reported. “Everyone enjoyed the studies.” Pray that God will use these resources to bring Hiago’s coworkers to faith in Jesus.
The International Cadet Camporee is planned for July 12-19 in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Over 1,000 men and boys will gather to spend time together and learn about how God is seeking each of us. Pray for the boys preparing to attend, and pray that the counselors may build exemplary relationships with the boys in their groups during this event.
East Africa has been experiencing a drought, and some of the areas served by World Renew’s Tanzanian partner organizations have been especially hard hit. The rainy season has now begun again. Pray that rains will continue to fall in due time and in sufficient quantity so that farmers will see good harvests this season.
Sonia, who listens to our Spanish programs and reads the Cada Dia devotional, asks prayers for her family. “They are far from the Lord,” she writes. “As the programs reflect Christ and shine his light into my everyday life, pray that I can share the great love that God has been showing me for more than 30 years.”
When events such as terror attacks and natural disasters affect the lives of large groups of people, chaplains are often called upon to provide emergency support, critical incident debriefing, and encouragement. Please pray for chaplains providing such support in the year ahead.
Praise God for the conference attended by 950 women last month, sponsored by Coffee Break Ministries and Christian Reformed Home Missions. It challenged participants to risk surrendering completely to God to allow his transformation in their lives. Pray also for ongoing translation work being done so that Bible study materials are available in over 22 countries throughout the world.
Cambodia has experienced a dramatic increase in urban migration, especially among young people. The population of Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh is expected to reach almost 3 million by 2025, nearly double the reported 1.5 million in 2005. Pray that the ministry of churches may also increase to serve this influx of people.