PRAYER GUIDE
Local Focus
GIBC
Pray for our Fall Festival. Pray that the last couple days of preperation will go smooth. Pray that the weather will be perfect. Pray that many of our church family will be able to volunteer. Pray that the families that come will have a lot of fun and have meaningful engagement with our church. Pray that many will be drawn to join us in Sunday worship. Pray that many will read the gospel cards and information in their goodie bags.
Community
Pray for our sister church, Lifepointe. Pray for pastor Jonathan Pearson and the staff. Pray for the members, especially those volunteering in key roles. Pray that they would have a great impact on reaching the community for Christ. Pray that God would grow their fervor for telling others about Jesus, reading the Word, and prayer.
USA
Pray for our upcoming elections. Pray that God would protect the process and that any efforts to undermine or illegally influence the results would meet with failure. Pray that God would stir Christian voters to get out and vote and be lead to the candidates and amendments that will most effectively lead to biblical morality and human flourishing. Pray that all who win will know and follow Jesus.
North America:
Los Angeles
Among all of California’s iconic cities, none has more influence than the largest—Los Angeles. Hollywood alone commands tremendous sway on popular culture worldwide.
The sheer size of Los Angeles calls for considerable strategy in any attempt to reach the city. The city population alone, 3.8 million, is larger than 21 states. The county is nearly 10 million, and “greater” Los Angeles in the Send City context, has a population close to 20 million.
With a name that translates “City of Angels,” Los Angeles gives an impression that people here would be focused on heavenly things, but that is not necessarily the case. The region consists of 100 cities filled with people going after the elusive California dream.
L.A. is home to some of the biggest names in show business as well as the largest populations of ethnic, cultural and language groups in the U.S. There are some 400 distinctive groups here. The world is already here.
As a Send City, church planting is focusing on five counties around the city, home to more than 18 million people. There is only one Southern Baptist for every 17,570. The estimated evangelical presence is 8.3 percent.
Throw in a thriving seaport (where a strategic church planting effort engages large cargo vessels) and world-class universities, and the complexity of the task emerges more clearly. Los Angeles is not a one-strategy-fits-all city. A church planting focus must be five-fold, and it includes: universities, inner cities, beach cities (suburbia), people groups and Hollywood. To reach the greater Los Angeles area, it will take strong partnerships with people who pray, invest, encourage and have a desire to meet needs and engage communities.
Pray for Send City Missionary: Will Browning
Will Browning is a coach for church planters and the Send City Missionary in Los Angeles, California. Originally from South Carolina, he founded Journey Church in Charleston, where he served as the Lead Pastor for 14 years. He met Christ and his wife, Tarah, in college. He and Tarah have three children: a daughter in nursing school, a son in the Marine Corps and a son in high school. He is passionate about faith, fitness, and the Carolina Gamecocks.
Send an encouraging email to Will at
Information gathered from North American Mission Board
Every Country:
Russia
Population: 143,997,000
Unreached: 7%
Christian Population: 66.9%
From Swan Lake to the works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, Russia has shaped both classical performing arts and world literature. As the largest country on Earth, the Russian Federation covers over 6.6 million square miles and includes eleven time zones. Its vast landscape features deserts and tundras, remote villages and cityscapes painted with colorful, domed palaces and cathedrals. Over 100 different languages are spoken across more than 190 ethnic groups, who preserve unique traditions. Tatars maintain their Turkic roots through their distinctive cuisine and Islamic beliefs, while Chechens live in clan-like communities and perform traditional dances like the Lezginka. Russia was the backbone of the USSR for more than 70 years, and is ruled today by one of the world’s most powerful leaders, Vladimir Putin.
With the memories of Communist rule still fresh and the scars of oppression still healing, Russians continue to search for a future amid the lingering shadows of the Soviet Union. Today, Russia is a source, destination, and transit route for human trafficking. Millions, especially those in rural communities, live in poverty and tens of thousands of children are orphans. Narcotic and opioid use contributes to the spread of HIV/AIDS through shared needles. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has deeply impacted the nation. Thousands of Russians have left the nation in opposition, while those who stay await the return of family members at war. The government has increased its defense spending, and inflation levels have risen, contributing to hardships for low-income communities.
While a majority of Russians are Orthodox, 25 percent identify as atheist or non-religious. Though the nation has a long history with the Christian Church, believers suffered immense persecution under the former Communist regime that destroyed many churches. Today, church attendance has risen, but persecution is on the rise again. Non-Russian Orthodox churches, such as evangelical Protestant congregations, have been denied registration and are viewed with suspicion. The Yarovaya laws passed in 2016 restrict and regulate missionary activity. More Bible teachers are desperately needed to provide sound doctrine despite these barriers. Only God, manifested through the Body of Christ, can bring the hope and deliverance this nation seeks.
- Pray for Russians to seek Christ’s peace, truth, and justice.
- Pray for transformed leadership that upholds freedom of expression and human dignity.
- Pray for hope in Jesus for those struggling with addiction and poverty.
Information gathered at operationworld.org & prayercast.com
Unreached Peoples:
Chechen in Russia
Population: 1,400,000
Worldwide:1,704,000
Christian Population: 0-0.1%
Main Religion: Islam
Chechens live in the remote valleys of the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. They are a strong, determined people with a long history of fighting for their independence. Soviet rule dominated the Chechen during the first half of the 20th century. For years the Chechens had based land tenure upon joint-clan ownership. When the Soviets introduced the idea of property ownership by society rather than by clan, the Chechens fiercely opposed it.
When World War II broke out, most Chechens opposed the Germans and fought alongside the Red Army. Despite this, in 1944 many of the Chechens and their neighbors, the Ingush, were deported to central Asia. They were allowed to return after 1968. On October 27, 1991, the Chechen Republic declared its independence. Since then Russian troops have invaded Chechnya to regain control, and as a result much of their homeland lies in ruins.
Chechens span a variety of occupations and income levels. Most grow grains, vegetables or fruit; others work in oil refineries or are stockbreeders, particularly of fine-fleeced sheep. Chechen women work outside of their homes daily, as do other women in the former Soviet Union. Chechens generally marry outside their own clans. Marriage between blood relations is forbidden within a span of three generations. A dowry is paid by the bridegroom’s family to the bride or her family as a guarantee against divorce. Traditionally, a Chechen wife is not allowed to eat with her husband or to speak to his relatives; her role is one of subordination.
The core of the Chechen society is the taip, a clan-like organization whose members descend from a common ancestor. An assembly of elders, with their own court, rules each taip.
Ruins of church buildings indicate that at least some Chechen had converted to Christianity by the 8th century. During the 16th century Islam was introduced by other peoples who settled among the Chechens. By the late 17th century all remaining ties to Christianity had disappeared from this region.
A number of Chechens have received religious training at Dagestan, an important center of Islamic culture located the south of the Chechen-Ingush Republic.
Chechens are among the most devout Muslims in the former Soviet Union. Several anti-Soviet uprisings have fueled their religious fervor, particularly the opposition to their deportation in the 1940s. At that time Russia attempted to completely eliminate Islam in the Chechen-Ingush territory. All mosques and other religious buildings were closed. These restrictions only served to boost Islamic missionary work in the area. Following this attempt to discourage Islam, two mosques reopened in 1978. Despite leaning toward Islam, some Christian heritage can be seen in the Chechen language. Their word for Sunday translates to “God’s day”, and the word for Friday translates to “day of Mary”.
The Chechens have been referred to as the “Mafia of Russia”, and they are generally feared by other Russian groups. Their strong Islamic faith is very difficult to influence. In recent years the rise in Chechen nationalism had strengthened their Islamic beliefs; however, it has also brought devastation upon them in form of Russian military invasion.
If you lived among the Chechens of Russia, fighting and military action would be commonplace. With so few Christians living there, you would have virtually no one to encourage you in your Christian faith. You may even face torture or death for your beliefs. Although Chechens are a despised people, God does not see them that way. He has a future and a hope for them. He longs for them to know a peace that can only come through the gospel.
- Pray for political stability and justice in the Chechen homeland.
- Pray for freedom from war and destruction.
- Pray that the Chechens will have the opportunity to choose Jesus.
- Pray that God will establish his children among them who are committed to their needs.
- Pray for the endurance and protection of the few known Chechen believers.
- Pray for the Lord to send dreams and visions of Christ to Chechen family leaders.
Information gathered at joshuaproject.net