Streams of Prayer for April 5, 2021
The Streams of Prayer for April 5, 2021, is a circular from Wycliffe Global Alliance. This is available through Wycliffe Caribbean.
Missions belong to God and the agent of missions is the Church. Please join with us as we pray for Alliance organisations engaged in the Church Participation Stream. We pray also for the Church as it participates in the Bible translation movement.
Please also be in prayer for St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Barbados, Grenada and St. LuciaThey are all impacted by the volcanic eruption in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Reports from our Wycliffe Teams in St Vincent & Barbados indicate that those on our teams are safe. The ash and debris from the volcano continue to be a daily challenge, especially in St. Vincent.
A house divided cannot stand: Africa
Churches experience challenges in many forms, and we need to pray especially for God’s protection on churches engaged in Bible translation. Please pray for a church with long-term involvement in the Bible translation movement in Africa that is going through a difficult period. Pray:
- That God will bring reconciliation and healing.
- That each person will be prepared to continue to pursue unity and continue to be willing to find a solution to the issues that have arisen.
- That this situation will not affect the smooth running of an organisation and its staff that is involved in Bible translation ministry, especially as they are preparing to celebrate the launch of four New Testaments.
Six-month campaign: Central African Republic
The staff from Association Centrafricaine pour la Traduction de la Bible et l’Alphabétisation (ACATBA) desire to connect well with churches in the Central African Republic but lack resources. They are holding a campaign between March and August. This campaign aims to inform, grow understanding and make churches more aware so that they commit to partner in Bible translation. Please pray for this campaign:
- Ask God to open doors for ACATBA staff to visit many churches and share how God transforms lives through his Word in the heart language.
- Ask God to provide equipment so that staff can easily travel to churches. Computers and cameras are also needed to produce newsletters as a follow-up to church visits.
- Pray that God will provide more trained staff, in order to develop a fruitful missiological partnership with the church.
The Bible in his language: South America
Marco, a leader of a church in his South American community, longed to understand the Bible in his language, Quechua, which he could neither read nor write. Faith Comes by Hearing held a training activity in Marco’s town to teach people how to use the Audio Bible, which they call El Mensajero (The Messenger). Marco attended the training and heard and understood the Bible in his Quechua language. Marco expressed his joy this way: “When I received the Audio Bible and held it in my hands, it was like a delicious bread that satisfies a deep hunger.” Now Marco is sharing the Word in Quechua wherever he goes and with everyone he knows. Pray that God will change people’s lives and that the church will grow as a result of El Mensajero.
Bible translation champions: Indonesia
Praise God that there are six church synods in Indonesia that are part of the Alliance which advocate for Bible translation in communities that do not yet have the Bible in their own language. There are a total of 14 Alliance organisations in the country that are serving in Bible translation and related ministry. Ask the Lord to bless them with creativity and wisdom as they respond to the current financial situation and challenges in administration of field programmes during the pandemic. Pray for God’s protection and healing as some translators are infected with COVID-19. May these Bible translation advocates continue to experience God’s grace and love.
Understanding the need for mother tongue use in churches: United Kingdom
If you live in Wales, it is possible to make contact with Carwyn Graves, Wales team leader for the Church Relations team of Wycliffe UK. Carwyn is a native speaker of Welsh and part of a lively Christian community of Welsh-speaking believers in South Wales whose worship, Bible studies and prayers are rich and theologically precise. This is the result of having the Bible in Welsh. Please pray for Carwyn and the team of Welsh-speaking church relations volunteers in South Wales. During lockdown, all of Wycliffe’s work in the UK went online and many churches continue to hold all meetings online. Praise God that many churches where Welsh is the lingua franca clearly understand how transformative Bible translation is to individuals, churches and societies. Please pray for inspirational ideas to deepen relationships with Welsh churches as the UK begins to ease out of lockdown starting in late March 2021.
Churches unite to pray online: France
France is a large country criss-crossed with small towns and many small churches. These churches remain keen to hear how they can engage with the Mission of God, participate in his mission to make the Bible accessible to all people, and play their part through prayer. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, meetings were entirely face-to-face with little interest in any sort of online virtual engagement. But things have changed! Praise God that two online prayer meetings now gather members of many churches from all points in France. Stewart Johnson, part of the Wycliffe Europe team, is working alongside members of the Board of Trustees of Wycliffe France to gather new prayer supporters. Pray that God would give discernment, creativity and courage to this team as they offer online access to prayer meetings and provide prayer resources to faithful intercessors and churches.
Serving with the church in Bible translation: Papua New Guinea
Approximately 300 language communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are still waiting for help with translating Scripture into their languages. Ask the Lord to bless the efforts of the more than eight organisations participating in Bible translation and related activities as they work with the churches in PNG to move Scripture translation forward in these language communities. Pray for greater collaboration and sharing of resources to bless and strengthen work that has started between these organisations and churches. Ask the Lord for understanding and unity as these organisations and churches serve the language communities together.
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