What would happen if the whole church -every member – across the Northern Asia-Pacific Division – were to intentionally spend their week praying for God to open doors for witnessing to specific individuals?
I believe in prayer with all my hear. and if there’s one answer to prayer that God makes a priority, it’s a prayer to reach the people we know and love with the gospel. What would happen if your church said, “This week, we’re going to be deliberate about prayer, and we’re going to ask God to give us a simple opportunity to reach out to just one individual in a tangible way?”
What that outreach looks like is entirely up to you. You might just want to pray with someone who is struggling, or even just let them know that you’re praying for them. Or maybe you know someone who’s ready for something more. Maybe you know someone you’d like to invite to your small-group Bible study, or to study a set of lessons with you one-on-one. Maybe you’d like to invite them to church. Maybe you’d like to give them a copy of Steps to Christ and tell them what a difference it’s made in your life. Maybe you know someone who could really use your help, and so you’re going to ask God to give you a chance to help them this week, and you’ll leave a card behind telling them that God loves them, and so do you.
No matter what the schedule for your coming week looks like, I pray each member we decide to be a courageous disciple and take a chance to be intentional about making a difference in someone’s life. What I want you to do is to write the name of just one individual on your bulletin(or on a note card to place in your Bible) and then make a point of asking God for an opportunity to touch his or her life.
Acting on Our Prayers
Then, you will pray for that individual all week long, but this is actually something more – you are actually going to ask God to give you a chance – to make it possible to interact with that person.
So write down just one name, and then find a prayer partner and pray for that opportunity. And then this week, we’re going to make it a point to look for God’s answer and act on it.
Now, pay careful attention! I want you to exchange phone numbers with your prayer partner, and tomorrow, during the day some time, I want you to phone each other and pray for your names again. Ask God for a chance to interact with your person on a social level on Monday or Tuesday. Maybe you’ll meet them for lunch, or go for a walk together, or hit the mall together, or just pick up the phone to see how they’re doing. That’s it – pretty easy, right?
Then on Wednesday, phone your prayer partner again and share with each other how God answered your prayer. Then pray together, over the phone, and thank God for what happened, and then ask Him for one more opportunity. Ask God, on Thursday or Friday, for a chance to share something spiritual with that same person. Maybe you’ll pick up the phone and let that
person know that since you talked earlier in the week, you’ve been praying for them, and you were wondering if they’d be open to prayer over the phone. Or swing by the house and do the same thing. Or share a copy of Steps to Christ. Or The Great Hope. Or any piece of literature you’ve found meaningful. Maybe you’re ready to take the plunge and ask them to study a set of Bible studies with you. Or maybe offer to watch their children so they can go out and take care of errands – and then you leave behind a card letting them know you think the world of their family and pray for them daily. Whatever it is – ask God for the opportunity and the right idea.
Now, don’t forget: I want you to call your prayer partner and pray one more time that God will bless your desire to impact one person’s life with the love of Christ. And next week during our Sabbath school class, we’ll share together how God has answered our prayers.
Our Goal:
Each church member, God’s disciples in your community, will:
• call the person on their prayer note to say that they’ve been thinking about them (and/or their situation) and offering to pray over the phone.
• later in the week they’ll do the same thing, but instead of phoning, drop by the house.
• thenthey’ll share a copy of Steps to Christ or some other meaningful piece of literature.
• they’ll invite the person to church
• they’ll invite the person to become part of a small-group Bible study (a home small group Bible study or a Tuesday/Wednesday evening small group prayer meeting or Sabbath morning Sabbath school class are wonderful times)
• they’ll invite the person to study a set of Bible lessons one-on-one, saying that they want to do the lessons themselves, but think it’d be more fun to do them together.
(Adapted for NAD 7 Days of Miracles)
And that’s it! It’s really that simple. The point of Revival & Reformation, Discipleship and Evangelism is to emphasize these things:
• Witnessing is best when it’s intentional and based on faith that God is willing to give us opportunities.
• Every member is a vibrant, active disciple, with the right and privilege to reach someone for Christ.
Article by Lynn Ripley, NSD Shepherdess Ministries Director