- The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Egypt released an official statement calling on its supporters to "prepare" for "jihad", in January 2015.
- "The Muslim Brotherhood at all levels have repeatedly defended Hamas attacks... including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians." — UK government expert review of the Muslim Brotherhood, December 2015.
- The Muslim Brotherhood not only funds one of the most virulent terrorist groups, Hamas, but there is barely any daylight between the various leaderships of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jordan and Hamas.
- Most of the terrorists who later founded al Qaeda were rooted in the MB. Osama bin Laden was apparently recruited as a young man to the MB, whereas Ayman al Zawahiri joined the MB at the age of 14 and went on to found the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ),"an organization that.... holds many of the same beliefs as the MB but simply refuses to renounce violence inside Egypt" — Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
- The Muslim Brotherhood believes today what it has always believed: that a caliphate, where sharia law will rule, must be established through jihad. Refusing to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization would be a grave mistake, playing straight into the strategy of the Brotherhood and, once more, revealing to the world the extreme gullibility of the West.
- The Trump administration is considering designating the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) a foreign terrorist organization, and Human Rights Watch is outraged.
"Designating the Muslim Brotherhood a 'foreign terrorist organization' would wrongly equate it with violent extremist groups like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State and make their otherwise lawful activities illegal," said Human Rights Watch. The press release went on to repeat the old claim that "...the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt officially renounced violence in the 1970s and sought to promote its ideas through social and political activities".
Adding its voice to the Muslim Brotherhood's apologists, the New York Times wrote:
"A political and social organization with millions of followers, the Brotherhood officially renounced violence decades ago and won elections in Egypt after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Affiliated groups have joined the political systems in places like Tunisia and Turkey, and President Barack Obama long resisted pressure to declare it a terrorist organization."
For decades, the Muslim Brotherhood has pushed a specific public narrative, intended exclusively for Western consumption. Just how extremely effective the MB has been was demonstrated in 2011, when then Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, unbelievably, claimed that the MB was "... largely secular... has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam...They have pursued social ends, a betterment of the political order in Egypt...there is no overarching agenda, particularly in pursuit of violence".
Nothing could be farther from the truth. The founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan Al-Banna made jihadist violence a focal point of his movement. He wrote, "Death is art" and "Fighting the unbelievers involves all possible efforts that are necessary to dismantle the power of the enemies of Islam." The MB inducts members into its deliberatively secretive and opaque network with the pledge that "Jihad is our way" and "Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."…
There is nothing peaceful, lawful or democratic about the Muslim Brotherhood. It believes today what it has always believed and openly stated: that a caliphate, where sharia law will rule, must be established through jihad. Refusing to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization would be a grave mistake, playing straight into the strategy of the Brotherhood and, once more, revealing to the world the extreme gullibility of the West and its boundless willingness to believe anything the Muslim Brotherhood throws its way.”
Judith Bergman is a writer, columnist, lawyer and political analyst.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9942/muslim-brotherhood-terrorism
Let’s pray for the exposure and overthrow of this evil terrorist organization that is trying to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Pray that the governments of the world and international bodies like the UN will see the Muslim Brotherhood for what it is--- a jihadist organization that will stop at nothing to impose their own misguided and oppressive Islamic rule upon the rest of the world.
“Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; protect me from men of violence,” Psa 140:1
Let’s pray about world peace and the central role Pakistan plays. Eastern side - WAR BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN - Both countries have fought two wars over Kashmir that involves the rights of who controls the water of the five rivers that flow into Pakistan.
Shortly after Pakistan was created the U.N. and the World Bank established the “Indus Treaty.” The rivers first flow through India and then into Pakistan. India was to get the water from two of the rivers. They are now taking water from all five of the rivers.
Without water the people perish. The prime ministers in each country have brought this up in recent weeks again and again. The Indian P.M. has said several times that he does not care about the Indus Treaty - India will take all of the water. Some have referred to the “Zero Line” (where the Indus River passes through Kashmir) as the biggest potential for World War III. Both countries have threatened to go to war using their nuclear weapons; this would draw in many other countries. Even more alarming is the fact that China is diverting water from the Tibetan plateau for their own use. Almost half of the world’s population depends on the water from this plateau.
(See the following videos) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dtsqwvOJfc (the last 4 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2BMvL8gJxI
PRAY For the resolution over the water problems of these two countries.
PRAY for peace between these two countries.
Western side - TERRORIST WAR - AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN - Terrorism will not be stopped until there is peace between these two countries. Along the border these people are relatives and move back and forth between these two counties with ease. When NATO was in Afghanistan the terrorists moved and operated out of Pakistan. When NATO left Afghanistan, Pakistan’s new military commander in chief did a superb job of cleaning out the terrorists on the Pakistani side of the border. But the majority of the terrorists moved to Afghanistan. Until both governments work together it will be difficult to resolve this.
PRAY both countries will work together to resolve the terrorist issue and bring peace, that affects both countries and the world.
PRAY Pakistan’s new military commander-in-chief will continue to bring down the terrorists.
VISAS – There are still problems for missionaries getting visas. It seems to be every mission is having trouble throughout the country no matter what kind of work they are doing. Some have been promised visas even by the prime minister, and then this promise has been broken.
PRAY for God to intervene and visas to be granted
PRAY for those in this department that are blocking this.
The Syrian civil war is the deadliest conflict the 21st century has witnessed thus far.
- “Five years since the conflict began, more than 450,000 Syrians have been killed in the fighting, more than a million injured and over 12 million Syrians - half the country's prewar population - have been displaced from their homes.
What caused the uprising?
Initially, lack of freedoms and economic woes fuelled resentment of the Syrian government, and public anger was inflamed by the harsh crackdown on protesters. Successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt energised and gave hope to Syrian pro-democracy activists. Many Islamist movements were also strongly opposed to the Assads' rule. In 1982, Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafez, ordered a military crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in Hama, which killed between 10,000-40,000 people and flattened much of the city…
A severe drought plagued Syria from 2007-10, spurring as many as 1.5 million people to migrate from the countryside into cities, which exacerbated poverty and social unrest. Although the initial protests were mostly non-sectarian, armed conflict led to the emergence of starker sectarian divisions. Minority religious groups tend to support the Assad government, while the overwhelming majority of opposition fighters are Sunni Muslims. Although most Syrians are Sunni Muslims, Syria's security establishment has long been dominated by members of the Alawite sect, of which Assad is a member. The sectarian split is reflected among regional actors' stances as well. The governments of majority-Shia Iran and Iraq support Assad, as does Lebanon-based Hezbollah ; while Sunni-majority states including Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and others staunchly support the rebels…
The situation today
On November 26, the Syrian army launched a military offensive on Aleppo . In less than a month, Syrian troops, with unfettered Russian air support, were able to recapture 90 percent of the eastern part of Aleppo.
On December 13, the Syrian army claimed that 98 percent of east Aleppo was in the hands of Syrian government forces.
Besides, Aleppo, the Syrian government currently controls the capital, Damascus, parts of southern Syria and Deir Az Zor, much of the area near the Syrian-Lebanese border, and the northwestern coastal region. Rebel groups, ISIL, and Kurdish forces control the rest of the country.
Rebel groups continue to jockey against one another for power, and frequently fight each other. The Free Syrian Army has weakened as the war has progressed, while explicitly Islamist groups, such as the al-Nusra Front, that has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda , became empowered. Last July, al-Nusra front leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, announced his group's name has also changed to Jabhat Fateh al Sham, or The Front for liberation of al Sham.
In 2013, ISIL emerged in northern and eastern Syria after overrunning large portions of Iraq. The group quickly gained international notoriety for its brutal executions and its energetic use of social media. Meanwhile, Kurdish groups in northern Syria are seeking self-rule in areas under their control. This has alarmed Turkey's government, which fears its large native Kurdish population may grow more restive and demand greater autonomy as a result. Last August, Turkish troops and special forces, backed by the Free Syria Army, launched operation "Euphrates Shield" against ISIL to liberate the strategic Syrian city of Jarablus on the border with Turkey. Euphrates Shield operation is considered to be the first Turkish ground intervention in Syria since the Syrian crisis started in 2011.
The Syrian war is creating profound effects far beyond the country's borders. Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan are now housing large and growing numbers of Syrian refugees, many of whom have attempted to journey onwards to Europe in search of better conditions. Fighting has occasionally spilled over from Syria into Lebanon, contributing to the country's political polarisation. Several rounds of peace talks have failed to stop the fighting. But with much of the country in ruins , millions of Syrians having fled abroad, and a population deeply traumatised by war, one thing is certain: Rebuilding Syria after the war ends will be a lengthy, extremely difficult process.”
Please keep Syria and this ongoing conflict in your prayers. Let’s pray for His peace to come soon after seven years of fruitless fighting that has wrought so much destruction on this land and its people.
One of the most powerful combinations for the transformation of our nations is that of prayer and advocacy. Lawyers when filled with the Spirit of God and backed by the prayers of intercessors can do almost anything! Please consider this appeal for a large international coalition of about 30,000 Christian lawyers who are working on issues that will affect us all. They deeply need our prayers for the vital work they are doing. Here is their request for our support:
“In recognition of the need for prayer support of strategic and proven legal professionals engaged in the redemption of legal systems in the nations, coupled with the need for effective prayer warriors to be armed with state of the art intelligence concerning threats and opportunities in the Kingdom, this appeal is made to advance these important dynamics in the body of Christ. We have witnessed powerful outcomes when prayer and strategic action combine, in many nations. As an example, in South Australia, for 8 years not one piece of anti- family legislation passed our parliament because of the grace of God and the cooperation between parliamentarians and faithful intercessors. Just last December, the 15th attempt to introduce euthanasia was miraculously defeated in the same way.
We appeal to the readers to consider whether there is a resonance with the mission and vision of Advocates International reproduced below and a particular region listed below which has a well established leadership.
Once those of you to whom our Lord is speaking have been identified, we can consider how to best match you to the leaders in their physical regions. A segment may be identified of those of you who have a burden to pray in accordance with specific issues such as the sanctity of life or religious freedom, rather than a particular region and this can also be accommodated. Other synergies and combinations may emerge.
Vision Statement
A worldwide fellowship of advocates bearing witness of Jesus Christ through the legal profession.
Mission Statement
To encourage equip and enable advocates to meet locally, organize nationally, cooperate regionally, and link globally to protect and promote (i) integrity under rule of law, (ii) peace and reconciliation, (iii) doing justice with compassion, (iv) the sanctity of life, (v) religious freedom, and (vi) the family and community.
Further background can be obtained from advocatesinternational.org
If you are moved by this appeal and want to help support the mission of Advocates International, please contact Brent McBurney This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Mark Mudri This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Not all have been heard or written about what led to the smooth exit of Yahya Jammeh, the erstwhile President of the nation of Gambia, who ruled the tiny African country for twenty-two years, from 1995. The peaceful exit of Yahya Jammeh still remains a surprise in a continent known for turbulent elections and “sits tight” presidents.
Unknown to many, for five consecutive years, beginning from 2011 to 2015, leading to the Jubilee celebration of the nation of Gambia, corporate prayers were held by the Church for the peace, stability and progress of the nation. It is my view, as one who actively participated in those prayers, the peaceful exit of Yahya Jammeh without any gunshot and any soul lost, could not have been but for the corporate prayers which were made for the nation from 2011 till date. No doubt, international diplomacy brought tremendous pressure on Jammeh, but behind the scene prayers were made starting from 2011. What eventually happened 21st January 2017, was God's intervention in response to prayers.
Engineer Chinedu Meribole has been a missionary to the Gambia for over 25 years. After graduating in civil engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he answered the call of God in 1986 and was sent to the Gambia as a missionary. For years, he had carried the burden of that nation reaching out to the unreached peoples with the gospel. For five consecutive years, before the Jubilee celebration of Gambia on 18th February, 2015, he held prayer seminars under the theme A NEW DAWN, and mobilized the Church in Gambia to pray to experience full spiritual Jubilee, not knowing what lay ahead of the nation. The peaceful exit of Yahya Jammeh from the stage without any blood bath was a political Jubilee of some sort. Indeed a New Dawn has come to Gambia.
Prior to the elections held on the 2nd of December, 2016 which saw the emergence of Adama Barrow, Gambia has been the most peaceful West African nation. The beautiful Gambian beaches are daily full of tourists especially from the months of January to April of each year. Though one of the most poorest nations in Africa, her main export is groundnut, yet the nation boasts of having one of the cleanest and most beautiful beaches in African which makes her a tourist attraction. What strikes a visitor is the security and the low crime rate of the nation. Visit the nation and you will see tourists roaming the streets and surrounding villages with their families as late as midnight. Credit must go to Jammeh for the low crime rate, but at the same time, he is responsible for the poor economic development of the country that has given rise to its having the highest rate of migration of youths in the African continent.
The aphorism that "when we work, we work, but when we pray God works" is exemplified in the Gambia political situation. Gambia is a testimony of the ability of the Church to unite in corporate prayers and prevail in politics. After 22 years of misrule, Yahya Jammeh finally fled the country looting the nation's treasury, and leaving the poor nation bankrupt. We must however, continue to pray for the success of the new President, Adama Barrow. We must pray that the bug of corruption and political misrule that has plagued African nations for decades will not inflict him. We must pray for him to maintain religious tolerance. Jammeh had declared Gambia an Islamic State. Barrow has started well by reversing that declaration. Prayer works even in the politics of a nation!
AUSTEN C. UKACHI
IPC, WEST AFRICA
Contact:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
New Year's Day (both solar and lunar) has come and gone and with it, Kim Jong Un's New Year's Address. Here is a link to the full text for anyone who is interested in wading through it all. A few highlights: As expected, he emphasized his nuclear program, vowing to strengthen its capabilities and issued a number of warnings to the West. He also emphasized agricultural development but without any real recognition of reality and what is needed. An interesting point was Kim Jong Un's unprecedented apology for short comings over the past year. However, there was not much of a positive response to this from a populace that wants to see actions not words.
On the economic front, the growing donju (money lords or money masters) are dropping more cash on expensive meals in Pyongyang and bidding up real estate in the capital as they follow South Korean styles in remodeling their new homes. North Korean restaurants are starting to offer free pizza to attract customers. At the same time new luxury food factories are languishing for lack of demand as people prefer imported foods. Yet, the vast majority still struggle to put food on the table and students, laboring under increased demands for "contributions" to fund growing budgets for "free" public education, are dropping out of school in order to go into business. North Korea is also selling their raw resources at a discount, especially coal to China in anticipation of China's coming ban on imports from the country. They are also making a push to get more involved with Russia's Maritime Province.
In the meantime, Kim Jong Un is giving mixed signals about building his personality cult, playing down his birthday but getting ready to erect solo portraits of himself around the country. At the same time, we are getting reports of growing discontent among the nation's elite and the potential for even more.
Remembering Our Brothers in Prison
Last month, we added Andrew Brunson to our list of pastors suffering imprisonment for the Faith. Andrew was charged by the Turkish goverment with terrorist activities and is in near solitary confinement. The accusation and actions came as a total surprise to this American family who have been serving faithfully in Turkey for 23 years. It seems that too many Muslims were coming to faith through his ministry. He and his wife are very discouraged and he is not sleeping well. His two sons are with their grandparents in Montreat, North Carolina. Hold this family up in your prayers.
We continue to pray for Pastor Hyeon Soo Lim of the Light Korean Church in Toronto as well as South Korean pastors Jeong Wook Kim, Kook Ki Kim and Choon Gil Choi and American Pastor Dong-chul Kim. We also lift up in our prayers University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier. There is little progress in his situation. Pray with us that these men be released to their homes and families soon. May 2017 be the year of full release!
Ben Torrey
Director
The Fourth River Project, Inc.
www.thefourthriver.org
Later development: Almost certainly, the North Korean regime carried out a hit-job in the assassination of Kim Jong Un’s older half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, at the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, airport on Feb. 13 with two assassination teams of four people in each.
Let’s continue to pray that this ruthless and wicked regime will be removed from power and that North Korea can be saved from the horrors of its rule. Pray too for the release of those who have been imprisoned unjustly
Dear Prayer or Mission Leader,
We have almost reached our full registration for the Herrnhut consultation in May. There are some places still left for those who lead prayer networks or mission endeavors. You are invited to a special time of convergence as key ministry leaders gather from around the world! We want to more closely and effectively connect the prayer and mission movements for the final push to the accomplishment of Matthew 24:14, that everyone may hear and “that the Lamb may receive the due reward for His suffering.” (Moravians’ prayer and mission motto).
The International Prayer Council is a team of 25 leaders of major regional and international prayer initiatives and movements, who together lead the “network of networks” known as International Prayer Connect. We have decided to invite those who lead prayer networks and ministries at the national, regional or international level to come together along with key mission leaders for a unique time in the presence of the Lord. We will unite in prayer, learn from one another, and plan strategies for closer cooperation in the international prayer and mission movements. The Light of the World Prayer Center in Bellingham, Washington, led by Jason Hubbard has close ties with the Jesus Haus in Herrnhut and has graciously agreed to help us organize this gathering. Ms. Jamie Frey, one of his colleagues will be assisting us with the administration and registration process.
This will be the first time we have met in this way since the launch of the IPC. This “network of prayer networks” around the world was conceived just after 9/11 in 2001 near “Ground Zero” and formally launched by international prayer leadership in 2002 in Cape Town, South Africa. That gathering of almost 300 prayer network and ministry leaders was called “Globalizing Prayer, Transforming our World”. It was an inspiring, magnificent time of connecting with one another in His presence, establishing relationships and regional networks that continue to be used by God to bring transformation to our world. This is the link to the video if you have not seen it. IPC Prayer Globalizing Prayer Transforming Our World https://youtu.be/5ZYVFLML1sU
May 8-12, 2017, we will re-gather, this time at Herrnhut, the Moravian center for prayer and mission in southeast Germany. It was the site of the 1727 revival that ignited a 24/7 prayer chain which was used of God to send out the first Protestant missionaries to the unreached peoples around the world. Prayer and mission were joined together intimately and powerfully!
- For this reason, we plan to include some cutting-edge mission leaders who can share the status of mission to the unreached peoples of our day along with up to date information and research so that we can move towards a closer, more integrated linking of the prayer and mission movements. That is a crucial step to bringing back the King. Jesus said that He would not return until all the nations (ethne = ethnic groups) have had the gospel of the Kingdom proclaimed as a witness to them (Matthew 24:14). It is therefore critical that these movements connect more deeply and purposefully.
- A related emphasis will be on strategic-level prayer for the overthrow of strongholds that hinder people from seeing the light of the glory of Christ, barriers both to the spread of the Gospel and social and political transformation in favor of His Kingdom values.
- We will also give a major focus to the Next Generation, the raising up of youth and children through prayer for their unique missions in life and featuring those initiatives that specialize in this kind of ministry.
- There will be times of waiting on the Lord together with a prophetic sensitivity to what He is saying to the prayer movement of our day and how we can move forward together into that desired future He has for us as co-workers in Christ. We will learn about various models of prayer ministry that He is blessing around the world and will have time to develop strategic plans together as He leads, much as we did at the launch of the IPC.
If you lead a prayer or mission network at the national, regional or international level, please do pray about coming to Herrnhut, May 8-12, and register immediately so you will get a place. We will fly into Prague, the Czech Republic, and have buses arranged to take us to southeast Germany where Herrnhut is located.
Good and comfortable accommodations are available and have been booked, but there is just room for 120 participants in this picturesque German town. Please, therefore, do not procrastinate about registering or your space will be taken by someone else. The total cost for transport from and back to Prague, accommodation (twin-sharing) and food will be $265 per person.
For more information: www.prayerandmission.com
To register: www.prayerandmission.com/registration
Registration will close on March 10
Contact/Questions: Ms. Jamie Frey at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
We look forward to a life, ministry, and history-changing encounter with the Lord and one another and hope you can be with us in Herrnhut.
Last month, we featured an article on the explosive impact that Triplet Prayer had in the UK as recounted by Brian Mills. During the last week or so as those of us on the National Prayer Assembly team here in the USA pray and think through a national strategy for the prayer movement, the idea of encouraging prayer triplets has come front and center. The Lord has been using it in various parts of the world for years and is currently doing so to bring spiritual revival and transformation in part of the Texas prison system. One of my American prayer leader colleagues told me recently that they have been using prayer triplets among prisoners in the Texas prison system for some time now, and a full scale revival has been happening with 1100 of the most hard core gangsters, drug addicts, Satanists, and homosexuals coming to Christ and joining these triplets. Even the warden of the prison got impacted and repented. The revival is now in 10 of the 23 prison units around Houston and these prisoners are praying for revival for us on the outside!
I am recommending Prayer Triplets as part of our national prayer strategy for the USA and also to various international ministries we are in touch with. As Brian Mills has put it:
“It came from God and was in Scripture long before we appropriated it! Moses with Aaron and Hur in Exodus 17, Jesus with Peter, James and John on the Mount of transfiguration and in Gethsemane, and of course Jesus' teaching in Matthew 18:19-20 (He's always in the midst when we pray). God seems to think in threes - Father Son and Holy Spirit. ‘Two are better than one and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken’! So all glory to Him.”
As a prayer mobilization model, I think it would be of great blessing and benefit to many organizations and to the wider population of believers and churches as well. It is a sustainable way to mobilize prayer at the grassroots and in every social sphere. So simple and based on Matthew 18:18-20. With cell phones now in everyone's hands, it can easily be practiced when folks are in different places as well.
Here is Brian Mills sharing how this model of transformational and evangelism praying developed and the wonderful impact he and others saw in the UK. Please have a look and see what you think.
Brian Mills on Triplet Praying
For those of you who want to go deeper in exploring this model for your own city or nation, Brian has allowed us to use this chapter in his book, God is Still Speaking that is still available through Amazon.com
John Robb, IPC Chairman
“God Told Me: Prayer Triplets & Cells for Growth”
Years ago I heard of a man who had a book in which he wrote the names of all the people He prayed for. Quietly, throughout his life, he would write in the names. At the end of his life, when his possessions were being sorted through, 18 books were found, in which were over 2,400 names. Against each name were two dates. The first date was the day on which he started to pray, and the second date was the day the person was converted.
I admire the perseverance and the prayer life of someone like that. I only wish I was like that, and even more that all of God’s children could be like that. How the church would grow!
On reflection stories like that not only inspire me, but provide me with the challenge to make it happen. Before the formal start of Mission England (1982-85), the national team of Gavin Reid, Eddie Gibbs, Clive Calver, and myself, together with Tom Houston our Chairman, met together frequently. It was a time for dreaming dreams, envisioning one another, making plans, and taking initiatives. We had embarked on the early stages of a national mission to touch every sector of society, and every city, town and village in England. We all had experience in leading national movements, and were committed to evangelism. We had been part of a working group of leaders at national level that had published a report “Let my people Grow”, which had gained widespread exposure in all branches of the Church. We were learning about church growth principles from elsewhere in the world and from missiologists. If there was to be any growth in the church in England, there needed to be a fundamental change in existing attitudes. We had to embark on a period of training and envisioning, which could culminate in an extensive period of mission in multiple centres around England.
Our idea was to have two years of training, and one year of outreach, with subsequent years of follow-up and consolidation. Through the help of agencies like the Bible Society, Scripture Union and the Church Pastoral-Aid Society, we were able to publish the training courses that between us we compiled. Gavin Reid and Eddie Gibbs were particularly skilled at this, and took the major responsibility, although we each had input into the material. We set up training courses around the country in which we trained trainers, so that within their regions they could be available to provide training in the churches.
Before all this could occur, we recognised we had to do an envisioning tour around the country to bring Christians together, and to alert the Church to our vision and plans. Clive Calver, then the Director of British Youth for Christ, had a good deal of experience in arranging tours through his YFC connections, so he took responsibility for putting on a series of events called “Prepare the Way”. Then the team turned to me and said, ‘Brian you are the person to get the church in the nation praying’. I didn’t baulk at this. I was the only one at the time, I think, that was actively involved in prayer groups across the denominational spectrum. It was the time described in the previous chapter.
But how was I to go about motivating the church to pray? At the time there were few prayer movements in existence. Intercessors for Britain and the Lydia Fellowship were all I knew about. Evelyn Christenson, the American author of books on prayer, had done a tour among women, from which a small new movement ‘Prayer Chain Ministry’ had begun in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Dick Eastman, another American mission leader, had introduced his ‘Change the World School of Prayer’ at several locations. But at the time there was no existing prayer organisation to follow up on this. ‘Crusade for World Revival’ – producers of ‘Every Day with Jesus’ and ‘Revival’ magazine had a strong prayer emphasis within their publications. But that was about it!
At first I had no idea how to go about things. I asked God to guide me and give me the key to mobilising the church in the nation to pray. One day a Christian from Guildford telephoned my office asking to see me as he had something to share with me. My Secretary tried to put him off as she knew I was very busy trying to do many things, as usual! Nevertheless he was insistent. So eventually he came to my home.
‘God has told me that you are struggling to find a key, and that others are asking you to come up with a plan. You are not to be pressured into things. God wants you to wait before Him until He shows you the key’. He could not have known about my responsibility to get the church in the nation praying. Nor could he have known that my colleagues were pressurising me to come up with a plan. I took his word as from God. And I waited.
A few weeks later, I was having a bath, reflecting on a mini tour I had just completed with Steve Maxted, during which he had talked about small group prayer. As I pondered this, I found myself thinking in threes. If we could get people meeting together in threes to pray for their friends by name – three each – so that between them the group of three became committed to pray regularly for nine altogether, then this might work, I thought. I had already discovered that God is at work in our thoughts if we are walking with Him. This was such an occasion. God was speaking to me through my thoughts.
As one does, I had a discussion with God in the bath. I asked Him about the idea. The Holy Spirit was leading to me to think of threes meeting together in neighbourhoods, colleges, schools, businesses, praying for those they had most contact with who were not Christians. Praying together in threes meant that they could encourage one another by praying for each other’s friends, as well as their own. They could be praying for each other when they knew that something positive and active was going on. This would be an active, regular weekly commitment.
And so the idea concerning small group prayer was shared with the rest of the Team. It was Gavin Reid who coined the phrase ‘Prayer Triplets’. The vision was launched through the ‘Prepare the Way’ tour that was held in multiple venues throughout England. This tour kick-started the Mission England programme of church growth and evangelism. Before long prayer triplets were multiplying all over England. Within a matter of six weeks we were beginning to hear of people becoming Christians. Some groups were seeing 5 or 6 of the prayed-for people converted in as many weeks. Scripture Union helped by producing materials targetted at school and college Christians. Groups were starting in many walks of life. Maxi-groups (three married couples) as well as mini-groups (three individuals) were being formed. This vision for prayer caught on so quickly, that we weren’t equipped to maintain contact or monitor what was going on. God took it and multiplied it. He gave us the key, we sowed the seed, and the rest was the work of the Holy Spirit.
There was a need for some teaching on prayer. So I arranged a programme of seminars throughout the country. We had to devise some teaching materials to help people understand some of the dynamics at work as we pray. Evelyn Christenson returned for another tour, which I helped to set up. I joined her at every venue. In six cities a total of 12,000 women had a day’s teaching on prayer, and were introduced to prayer triplets. Evelyn was so impressed that she took the materials and started to speak about prayer triplets wherever she went in the world. Within six months, we were hearing of prayer triplets being started on every Continent. There were even prayer triplets in the palace of the King of Tonga!
We asked for regional prayer coordinators to be appointed. Each of them took the vision and worked at multiplying it within their region. As each region was establishing church-based coordinators as well, these regional prayer coordinators then arranged some gatherings to equip church-based leaders. Within every training event during that year of 1983, prayer triplets were launched. By the beginning of 1984 we began to ask those attending preparation meetings how many were in prayer triplets, and how many of the groups had seen at least one person converted. From all the feedback we had, we estimated that something like 30,000 prayer triplet groups existed, and that 12 per cent of them had seen at least one person converted. Most of us had also met many individuals who had seen all nine of the people their group was praying for brought to Christ. Factoring this in, we conservatively estimated that 4,000 new Christians were in the kingdom of God and within our churches, as a result of prayer – many weeks before Billy Graham arrived. This was exciting and new. A few churches even doubled in size through the answers to prayers offered in their triplet groups.
When the evangelistic phase of the mission took place, the response to the preaching of Billy Graham was twice the expectation, and the percentage response was double what he had experienced elsewhere in his long and distinguished ministry. Most observers considered that the reason for this fruit was due to the success of Prayer Triplets.
A fuller story of what God did at that time has been written in ‘Three times three Equals Twelve’ – the story of prayer triplets. This book was also published in Australia as the recommended Christian book for the bi-centennial anniversary of Australia’s founding, under the title ‘Prayer Triplets’. But the story didn’t end with Mission England, or with the evangelistic phase.
Since then many British evangelists began to include Prayer Triplets as part of their preparation for missions throughout the late 1980’s and 90’s. I was involved frequently in doing prayer preparation teaching for Eric Delve, the Saltmine Team, J John, and Don Double. Mission Wales with Luis Palau included prayer triplets. Billy Graham returned for further stadium meetings in Sheffield in 1985 and in London in 1989. At the same time some 600 video missions were held throughout the British Isles. All of these also included prayer triplets as part of their preparation.
Students going up to Universities were encouraged in their first term to form prayer triplets on the corridors of their halls of residence, as a means of providing a caring context for their own spiritual safety, as well as to enable them to reach out to others. Through the Evangelical Alliance we produced over the years a variety of materials for use by churches to encourage Mission triplets and Community triplets into being. At large scale events, like Explo 85, prayer triplets were introduced to the many thousands of young people attending the locations throughout Europe. Prayer triplets were transforming the experience of Christians in many nations, leading to large numbers coming to Christ. I’ve heard of programmes based on prayer triplets being launched nationwide in Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Australia, and India. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association adapted the vision for use in their ongoing ministry and missions.
The original intention within our Mission England strategy was for prayer triplets to continue beyond the mission phase. We envisaged that triplets would have a life of 12-18 months anyway. After that they needed to split so as to involve the new converts in good prayer habits, and to bring in Christians who had not been involved before. So the growth being experienced in the early days could continue. Unfortunately, most saw it as a tool for prayer/evangelism, which then tended to be discontinued after the evangelistic phase. Why? Because the momentum was not continued, the vision and motivation was not there. Unfortunately in Britain we tend to see prayer and evangelism as events rather than as processes. To this day it is a cause for personal regret that we didn’t mount an ongoing national strategy to encourage an ongoing prayer triplet movement. I think we could have seen much more blessing had we done so.
In the late 1990’s prayer triplets turned up in another form. The burgeoning cell church movement has included prayer triplets as their main means of growth. The process known as G12 is an exact application of the idea. Three people meet together to pray for nine. When all nine are converted, they are incorporated with the group of three to form a cell. So after a period of growing together, the twelve then split off to form four more triplet groups and repeat the process.
Mathias Bolsterli, leader of the International Christian Fellowship in Zurich was told by God that he had to postpone a planned holiday with his family and instead accompany me on a tour of Swiss cities. I had been invited to launch prayer triplets and a new publication about prayer (translated into Swiss German) that I had authored. He understood from God that he was going to learn something that would be vital for his future ministry. I had not met Mathias before, so to hear this at our first meeting was a bit overwhelming! But I had to trust God that He would implant something. Mathias came as my translator, and so night after night he heard about prayer and more specifically about prayer triplets. He had recently started a cell church. After the tour he introduced prayer triplets into the cell structure. Each week each of the cells were to break down into prayer triplets at some stage during the evening and pray for their non-Christian friends. Once a month each cell planned a social event to which they invited their prayed-for friends. From this people were attracted into other ‘sinner-friendly’ activities of the church, which included a regular Sunday evening multi-media presentation of the Gospel. The church he started has since then extended into many other cities within Europe, each having a similar DNA. The Zurich church, meanwhile, has grown to be the largest in Switzerland. It is a praying church!
So did this simple ‘idea’ get born in a bath? Not really. It was part of God’s DNA for His children long before. Jesus in Matthew 18.19-20 speaks about the power of agreement in prayer. He said ‘If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my Name, there am I with them’. Groups all over the world have found this to be true. This is more than a proof text for small numbers. Jesus never uses words wastefully. There is a dynamic in the numbers he used.
He had His own prayer triplet – Peter, James and John – the three He chose out of the twelve to accompany Him on a prayer vigil on a mountain and in a garden. On both occasions the three became sleepy and dozed off. Yet for Jesus He was having a vital, extraordinary encounter with heaven. On the first occasion the glory of God came down and He talked with Moses and Elijah, as well as His Father. In the second, He was battling with the powers of darkness, and with the horror of what He was about to go through. Through both he wanted to share His experience with his three friends, and in the process teach them something more about the deep things of God, available to us through prayer. In one God was very much present, in the other He seemed to be absent. In one it was glorious and His face shone, in the other it was agonising, and His faith was tested. These extremes of prayer, when heaven and earth are joined as one, are the substance of our ongoing communion with God. Prayer is never ordinary – it is always extra-ordinary!
Prayer triplets – a tool for today’s church in all cultures – is a God-given concept to help His church grow and to improve the prayer experience of ordinary Christians. I feel immensely privileged to have been God’s modern-day channel to bring this into existence, at least in my own country.
Taken from “God is Still Speaking”, published by Sovereign World Ltd and authored by Brian Mills. Used with permission.
1) Just wanted to share a powerful video testimony from Steve Buss (director of One Hope) and Eugene, OR! They launched the 1church1day/1 church initiative strategy in his city a year ago! With 39 churches today each taking a day of prayer once a month every month praying for 10 different spheres of culture in their community, connected through a simple communication plan (prayer guide and praise report) they are beginning to see measurable results to the Glory of God!
Here is the link below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsWmEu-BxtY
Jason Hubbard
Light of the World
2) New Mexico Prays, a movement of churches and ministries covering New Mexico in 24/7 prayer. New Mexico is in desperate need of revival and transformation.
Our vision is to mobilize churches and ministries all over New Mexico to unite in 24/7 prayer to see God revive the Church and transform our state. We are starting January 1, 2017.
SIGN UP:
Go to our website and sign up your ministry to pray for our state.
http://newmexicoprays.org/sign-up/
HALF DAY OR FULL DAY:
Choose a day of the month on which your ministry can pray for 1 full day (24 hours) or a half day (12 hours). If you are going to pray a half day, decide if you are going to pray Midnight to Noon or Noon to Midnight.
For example, you pray the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. of every month for 2017. We would like to cover every day of the month in prayer. Please check our Calendar for available days.
http://newmexicoprays.org/calendar/calendar/
RECRUIT INTERCESSORS:
The goal is to cover every hour of the day in prayer with at least 1 intercessor. Recruit at least 12-24 people from your ministry to cover New Mexico in prayer. People can pray from home, at work, or you can also schedule a special prayer time at your ministry to gather people in corporate prayer.
AGREE IN PRAYER:
You can include additional prayer requests, but these are the 8 main areas of need in New Mexico that we are praying for:
- PRAY FOR THE LOST TO BE SAVED.
- PRAY FOR UNITY AMONG PASTORS AND CHURCHES.
- PRAY FOR GOD TO HEAL OUR LAND OF ABORTION.
- PRAY FOR DELIVERANCE FROM A SPIRIT OF VIOLENCE.
- PRAY FOR FREEDOM FROM SUBSTANCE ABUSE.
- PRAY FOR TRANSFORMATION IN OUR ECONOMY AND EDUCATION.
- PRAY FOR GOD TO BREAK THE SPIRIT OF WITCHCRAFT.
- PRAY FOR RACIAL RECONCILIATION.
ATTACHED RESOURCES:
Church and ministry signup (24 hours) Print and pass out during service or put at your check-in desk.
Church and ministry signup (12 hours – Midnight to Noon) Print and pass out during service or put at your check-in desk.
Church and ministry signup (12 hours – Noon to Midnight) Print and pass out during service or put at your check-in desk.
Prayer Focus (8.5 x 11 landscape) This bulletin insert is meant to share our prayer focus with your members and intercessors.
Prayer Focus (5.5 x 8.5)
Easy to attach to an email to send to your church or upload to your website.
Pastor Brian Alarid, Co-Chairman
New Mexico Prays
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: https://NewMexicoPrays.org
Thursday night was storming, and in the hills of Samaria, a few miles north of Shilo, an Israeli bus traveling from a nearby settlement veered into a guardrail, broke through and plunged down the 230 foot embankment, coming to rest on its top. This is in an area of the contested “Territories” with communities of both Jews and Palestinian Arabs, but which is patrolled and under the oversight of Israel. A Palestinian family witnessed the crash from their home; they immediately called police, then tore out of their home, down the hill to render aid. When police, ambulances and troops arrived to help, there were the Arab family members down in the ravine in their pajamas in the pouring rain with flashlights trying to extract survivors and help those who were wounded. Working together, all were pulled from the wreckage, and taken up to the road where a medical helicopter was waiting. Two were dead, seven others wounded. A Captain medical officer at the scene credited the quick work of the Palestinian family with saving lives. One observer commented how the “complex reality” of the region was underscored by the arrival of troops to assist. They had been part of a brigade a few kilometers away in hot pursuit of a Palestinian terrorist who during the previous 24 hours had carried out two shooting attacks. When word of the accident reached them, they decided to split up so that some could come assist. When they arrived at the bus, there were members of a Palestinian family working in the rain to administer aid to Jewish settlers trapped under the bus.
When word of the accident was written up in Israeli newspapers, it was with a kind of wonder at the grace shown by this family to Jews in distress. “Palestinian Family was First to help Bus Crash Victims, Call Police” read one headline; “Palestinian Family saves Israeli lives in Nighttime Bus Crash” read another. There is great distrust and hostility between Arab and Jewish communities in this area. The name of the family wasn’t given—likely to protect them from reprisals by their own neighbors for daring to offer kindness to Israelis in distress.
We are touched by the actions of this “Good Samaritan” family—in the heart of modern-day Samaria. It is so essential that we realize, for all the contention and hatred roiling in this most-contested place on earth, that God’s merciful Spirit of grace is working, crossing through borders and ethnic and religious walls. And “a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”
PLEASE PRAY:
* Blessing upon the “nameless” Palestinian family which came to the aid of the stricken Israeli bus. Pray that the light of God’s Grace will shine into their lives, and illumine them on the path He has for them.
- A capacity in Israel to see one’s “neighbor” beyond ethnic lines, even, when possible, beyond the lines drawn in active regional conflict. That we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, whoever they are—because God does. That we must not depersonalize the souls of those on “the other side.”
- For the Spirit of God in kindness to draw Palestinian Arabs into revelation and the salvation of the One who loves them, who is the Saviour of the World. When this happens, may it not be they more than any others who will be able to provoke their Hebrew neighbors to the jealousy Paul speaks of in Romans 10 and 11. So that All Israel shall be Saved!
Martin & Norma Sarvis,
Jerusalem