PRAY FOR SHIFT!

SIX WEEKS OF UNITED, FOCUSED PRAYERIn a matter of weeks, pastors and delegates from churches across the country will meet for our first online Missionary Church national conference. Due to the uncertainty of COVID restrictions and the need to determine a conference venue early in the year, the decision was made to host an online conference. While most would prefer to meet in person because of the fellowship, we believe God can still meet with us, that He can accomplish His purposes and bring glory to His name even through an online event.Prior to each SHIFT national conference, we have called the Church to prayer. Once again, we are calling for the constituency of the Missionary Church to pray for the meetings this summer. This will be a different conference. There are a lot of unusual details to pull together in addition to the normal preparation. There are important business items and papers to discuss.While our praying needs to include praying for God’s will to be done in all of the business, we also want to pray that God will minister to each of our hearts. In preparation for SHIFT, we want to continue praying around the themes we began praying in 2019:

• Praying for a desire for a deeper intimacy with the Father
• Praying for a greater sense of dependency on God
• Praying for a deeper hunger for holiness
• Praying for a greater brokenness for lost people
• Praying for a deeper commitment to making disciples
• Praying for a deeper commitment to justice, mercy, and humility

SIX WEEKS OF PRAYER: Beginning Saturday, May 29, we will send a prayer guide for the first week of prayer that will begin on Monday, May 31. Each week we will send a new prayer guide. Remember that it is just a guide. It is a place to start. We hope that the Lord will use it to prompt you to pray beyond what is written in the guide.As we unite our hearts in focused prayer around these biblical values, God will prepare our hearts to discern His will while we conduct the business of conference. We encourage you to share the prayer guides with any in the church who will pray.This is the primary work of SHIFT! “Prayer is not preparation for work, it is the work; it is not the preparation for the battle, it is the battle” – Oswald Chambers. We are laying the foundation for what the Lord will do when we come together in July.