June 25, 2010

How You Can Pray

Posted by Communications

Please continue to keep our Summer mission teams in your thoughts and prayers. Here are some ways you can pray for them and our ministry partners.

Pray for the Family trip and the Student trip:
Pray for an unquenchable excitement about what God has in store for these two Summit teams, their families and the people with whom they will interact while in the Dominican Republic. Pray for the hearts of the people with whom the team will interact to be open and susceptible to hearing God’s call on their lives, and their minds and hearts would be open to accept the love offered them in Christ.

Pray for the Progress Team:
Pray for the team while in Malawi, that God would be near and clearly present. Pray the team would allow the Holy Spirit to work through them to speak to His broken, hurting and lost children. Pray for the team relationships, that they would become closer to one another and Christ as a result of their time spent in Africa. Pray for the Malawian people with whom they are interacting, that they would build strong and lasting relationships together, and that each side of the partnership would be made better from the opportunity to learn, serve and grow with one another. Pray the hearts of the team would begin to change and grow in their knowledge of God’s work, will and want for their lives. Pray for the hearts of the people with whom the team will interact to be receptive to hearing God’s call on their lives, open their minds and hearts to accept the love offered them in Christ.

Pray for July’s Village Teams:
Pray for the team while in Sierra Leone and Malawi, that God would be near and clearly present. Pray the team would allow the Holy Spirit to work through them to speak to His broken, hurting and lost children. Pray for the team relationships, that they would become closer to one another and Christ as a result of their time spent in Africa. Pray the hearts of the team would begin to change and grow in their knowledge of God’s work, will and want for their lives. Pray for the hearts of the people with whom the team will interact to be receptive to hearing God’s call on their lives, open their minds and hearts to accept the love offered them in Christ.

Pray for COTN:
Please pray this summer for the staff of COTN, including those who are partners at Summit locally and those we serve with in Malawi and for the rest of the Malawi staff – that they will continue to grow in their respective capacities.

Pray for the Africa Windmill Project:
July marks the height of the dry season in Malawi. Please pray for the continued contribution of the Africa Windmill Project to Malawi’s irrigation issues in hopes of one day producing a year-round harvest.

Pray for International Justice Mission:
Please pray for one of our ministry partners in Africa, International Justice Mission (ijm.org), for protection for IJM staff, their families and the victims of injustice from physical harm and spiritual attack. Ask God to bless IJM staff with perseverance to seek justice and community transformation in the face of opposition, indifference, and corruption.

For more ways to pray for Africa and our ministry partners, please click here.

November 3, 2009

A Devotional: Alex

Posted by Dacia

The following story is the personal account of one man’s journey to Africa in 2008. It is his story of obedience, surrender and transformation.

“My first time in Malawi showed me a whole different world that I had, until then, never been exposed to. I went with a very sincere hope that I would be able to do something, even if it was small, for God’s Kingdom. I expected to see sick people, and looked forward to praying for them. The number of orphans was tremendous from what I had read, and it was my plan to spend as much time as I could just loving them. Most importantly, I knew that I would not come back from this trip the same. I prayed that God would use the trip to transform me and give me more of an understanding of how the Gospel is affecting the world.
I would say that the moment that had the greatest impact on me was when I visited a child named Charles, who is sponsored by a good friend of mine. I was instructed to not only deliver a few presents to Charles, but to give him a big hug, look him in the eyes, and tell him that he never has to worry, because God will always provide. I was following those steps with no problems until I looked into his eyes and began to tell him that everything would be okay. In that moment, I felt an overwhelming sadness, as all of the difficult living conditions that all the kids faced flooded my mind. Luckily, I was able to complete the hug, finish the sentence, and stand up and turn around before any tears were visible.
Being transformed at that moment was not the most pleasant feeling, but I thank God that it happened. I will not boast in the fact that I became sad. However, I will boast in how awesome God is. Those words that I spoke to Charles, about how God provides, are completely true. For ages, God has been providing for His people, just as He has and will provide for Charles and the children in Malawi, just as he provided for a sad man who almost couldn’t give a few encouraging words to a child. At that moment, I fully depended on God’s Spirit to fill me and allow his love to work through me. May there never be a time when I, or anyone, fail to realize that we are and should always be fully dependent on God.”

-Alex, 2008

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
-Jeremiah 29:11

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
-Proverbs 3:5-6

Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
-Isaiah 50:10