PRAYER GUIDE
Local Focus
GIBC
Pray for our Music Ministry. Pray for Pastor Shaun as he leads the ministry, as well as the numerous volunteers who help out. Pray that God would be honored by our efforts to worship Him in song. Pray that our people will genuinely engage in collective worship through music. Praise God for the many gifted and passionate people God has brought into our church family to serve in our music ministry.
Community
Pray for our ministry partner, Life’s Choices Women’s Clinic. Pray for the director, Marcia Marron, the staff, and the volunteers. Pray that they would continue to share the love of Jesus by loving women who have crisis pregnancies. Pray that they would receive all the funds and resources necessary to meet the needs of those they serve. Pray that the staff and volunteers would have opportunities for gospel witness. Pray that all who are in a crisis pregnancy would choose life.
USA
Continue to pray for efforts to protect life in the womb. Praise God for the progress made in helping to protect life. Pray that God would lead each state to create laws that protect life. Pray that the efforts being made at the state level and in Congress to create laws guaranteeing the right to abortion would be met with failure. Pray that God would strengthen and embolden those who fight for the Pro-life cause. Pray that our country’s citizen’s would awaken to the evil that is abortion and stand together against it. Pray for churches and organizations as they work hard to counsel and help those with crisis pregnancies.
North America:
Detroit
It’s the Big D. It’s Motor City. It’s Motown.
For generations, Detroit, Michigan, was the hub for what was once the most important American industry: automobiles. In fact, there was a time in which this city’s companies employed 1 out of every 6 U.S. workers.
Here “Gospel” is not a foreign word. Once an epicenter of the Gospel music industry, Detroit was home to many of the most famous Gospel singers of the last century—like the Detroiters, Della Reese and BeBe and CeCe Winans.
But as it stands today, automobile assembly lines have slowed and the sounds of Gospel music have quieted; Detroit is searching. Recent years have brought 15 percent—or higher— unemployment. Between 2000 and 2010, the city lost a quarter of its population. Time magazine called Detroit “The Vanishing City.”
This segues into the story of “The Vanishing Church.” Though church buildings can still be seen throughout the city, many that once housed some of the great Gospel voices in the country now sit virtually empty on Sunday mornings. Evangelicals make up only 10.4 percent of the population. With only one Southern Baptist church for every 33,806 people, it’s one of the most underserved cities in North America.
However, Detroit-area Southern Baptists believe there is great potential in the city. Churches—from a variety of backgrounds—are beginning to come together to reach the metro area with the hope of the gospel. But the needs are great.
Pray for Send City Missionary: Wayne Parker
Wayne Parker grew up in metro Detroit. He graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a degree in education and received his Master of Divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Parker now serves as the senior pastor for Merriman Road Baptist Church in Garden City, an inner-ring suburb of Detroit. Previously Parker has served as a church planter, a church planting catalyst and director of missions for the Woodland Baptist Association in Michigan. He has also owned and operated a remodeling company and was a licensed builder in the state of Michigan. Wayne and his wife Cindy have five children. Together, they enjoy skiing, hiking, hunting and fishing.
Send an encouraging word to Wayne at:
Information gathered from North American Mission Board
Every Country:
Nigeria
Population: 237,528,000
Unreached: 21%
Christian Population: 51.3%
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country. Their rich diversity is represented in over 500 people groups. Mangroves in the south, grasslands in the north, and wetlands along the coast emphasize this diversity geographically. Northern Nigeria is largely Muslim, feudalist, and impoverished with over 80% of the nation’s poor. Southern Nigeria is more developed and majority Christian. Deep ethnic and religious divisions threaten the nation as a whole.
Constant tensions exist particularly in the northern and central states where Muslims and Christians co-exist. Since 1999, 12 northern states have imposed Sharia law, causing many human rights abuses. In 2009, Boko Haram — one of Africa’s largest Muslim extremist groups — launched an insurgency in Nigeria intending to root out corruption and establish Muslim rule. Though they lost control of much territory, they remain a grave threat, primarily in the north. They continue to kill, loot, attack schools, abduct women and children, and conscript men and boys into their army. Years of devastating violence has left millions displaced and tens of thousands dead. In addition, nomadic Fulani herdsmen are a violent threat across central Nigeria, brutally killing many farmers and competing for their land. Though Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer of oil, nearly half the population remains in poverty. Over 30% of the rural population lacks clean water. HIV/AIDS has also left an estimated 2.5 million orphans.
Nigeria is home to a large majority of West Africa’s Evangelicals and Africa’s largest church by membership, with roughly 65,000 weekly attenders. The Nigerian Church has sent several Christian missionaries out! But with the nation’s north-south divide, believers in the Muslim-majority north have suffered decades of persecution. Even so, Muslims are being drawn to Jesus and the Church has experienced growth. Yet, some places of Nigeria have seen such fast Church growth that the new believers lack proper discipleship and spiritual guidance. Second-generation nominalism, syncretism, tribal and denominational divisions, materialism, and immorality all threaten the Body of Christ. The false teachings of the prosperity gospel are also rampant. About 16% of Nigeria’s people groups remain unreached, many of which are being rapidly Islamized.
- Pray for the Prince of Peace to transform terrorists into disciples of Jesus.
- Pray for persecuted believers to courageously represent Christ in the face of suffering.
- Pray for Biblical Truth to demolish division and syncretism in the Church.
Information gathered from Operationworld.org and PrayerCast.com
Unreached Peoples:
Nigerian Fulani in Nigeria
Population: 20,599,000
Worldwide: 20,805,000
Christian Population: 0.1-2%
Main Religion: Islam
As their name suggests, the vast majority of the Nigerian Fulani live in Nigeria. A smaller population lives in southern Chad and Cameroon. The Nigerian Fulani are bound together by their language of Fulfulde and their Islamic faith.
Nigerian Fulani are primarily cattle herders in the savannah region. They generally migrate between two locations, one for dry season and one for rainy season. In times of abundant rain, they prosper but can face starvation in periods of draught. The number of cattle determines the wealth of a Fulani family.
These semi-nomadic people fiercely reject anything they perceive as contrary to their lifestyle of roaming with their cattle herds. This includes education (they are mostly non-literate) and permanent homes.
Nigerian Fulani are widely regarded as troublesome impediments by those who own large cattle ranchers. One businessman has established two large cattle ranches, forcing the Fulani tribal people from their historic grazing land. They were given no compensation. Their inability to read has placed them on unequal footing with those who have legal power to take advantage of them.
The Nigerian Fulani also have conflicts with settled farmers. They compete for the same land. Farmers stay put and grow crops on specific land, which restricts nomadic herders like the Nigerian Fulani.
Nigerian Fulani are gradually losing their traditional grazing land. Local governments are encouraging the Fulani to settle in one place and take up agriculture. Most wish to maintain the life of their ancestors while others are moving to cities hoping for a better life and educational opportunities for children. They often have to take menial jobs due to their lack of literacy and marketable skills.
The Fulani were among the first West Africans to convert to Islam, and this religious system is central to their identity. Leaving Islam will bring serious consequences for those choosing to follow Isa or Jesus.
They still practice pre-Islamic rituals which would be frowned upon by more orthodox Muslims. They believe Allah is too distant to help them with their daily needs.
The Nigerian Fulani are expected to follow a code of high moral behavior known as Pulaaku. Pulaaku extols virtues such as kindness, bravery, patience, tolerance, perseverance, honesty, diligence, generosity, and dignity. To be reserved is part of being dignified; thus, they are shy and modest in public.
The Nigerian Fulani need to prepare for the future. This will mean making a way in their communities for education.
- Pray the Fulani would be able to care adequately for their families and be led to be better prepared for the rapidly changing conditions of the 21st century.
- Pray they would see the need to make schooling a priority for their children.
- Pray for Nigerian Fulani families to overcome their conflicts with Christian farmers so they can open their hearts and minds to the ways of Jesus.
- Pray for the Holy Spirit to arrange for a disciple making movement among the Nigerian Fulani.
Information gathered at joshuaproject.net