#7daysofprayer

Prayers for 29 – 31 January

The Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills (SYIS) workshop in Jos, Nigeria this week is an opportunity to grow in interpersonal skills and covers topics such as loving listening, confronting well and receiving confrontation well, building trust, helping others solve problems, managing stress and managing conflicts well. It is anticipated that there will be representatives from various mission agencies. Pray for participants’ minds and hearts to be open and receptive and pray for wisdom for the facilitators. Ask God for a joyful, light-hearted and loving atmosphere.

Pray for the three-week Discover your language workshop that begins in Chad today for teams to learn about the phonology of their language. Learning about language phonology is a necessary step in creating a writing system for any given language.

The Pokomo team in Kenya are consultant checking* Ezra today. Pray that God will give them wisdom as they work.

* A translation consultant thoroughly goes over the translation with the team, checking for accuracy, clarity and naturalness, looking for omissions, extraneous thoughts or possible misconceptions.

These prayer items come from Wycliffe’s prayer magazine, Words for Life. They are also available daily as Daily Prayer. Download Words for Life. If you don’t already subscribe to our Standing in the Gap blog posts, take a look for even more prayer requests and resources! Manage your subscription preferences.

Prayers for 22-28 January

Pray for insight and wisdom for the Allgo* translation team in Kenya as they consultant check** Romans.

A week-long Participatory Approaches workshop begins in Tanzania today. This will equip members in Tanzania to better engage the community in planning and decision-making in every aspect of a Bible translation project. Pray for safety as people travel from around the country. For all those involved in teaching to teach effectively. And for Wycliffe members to be able to use these participatory approaches as we continue to make plans for work across Tanzania – in Bible translation, literacy and Scripture engagement.

Please pray for the consultant checking of Luke in the Pimbwe and Bende languages of Tanzania this week and next week. It will be the team’s first check** with the consultant, who will be at a distance and using Skype to carry out the check with the team in Mpanda. Pray for good internet, good communication and a clear and accurate translation.

Tony Smith, Cameroon, translation consultant, Carol Smith, Cameroon, mission school teacher – Pray for Tony, that consulting translated Scripture will be effective under circumstances where we are no longer able, for security reasons, to travel in the region where translators live. Pray that practical and organisational problems will not hinder this work with remote and disadvantaged communities. Pray that the communities themselves will be increasingly motivated to promote and sustain their own translation projects at a time when an external organisation can do much less for them. Pray for Carol, that she will continue to find the energy and creativity to teach young children, a work that she loves.

Pray for Josh of the church engagement team as he speaks from Jonah chapter 1 at Glasgow Caledonian University’s Christian Union this evening.

Mary Endersby, Cameroon, literacy consultant – Audio-visual is expanding in range as an effective tool for communicating the translated Scriptures in today’s world. Yet the printed page remains indispensable. The challenge is to show how literacy fits amid changing trends. Those of us in the literacy domain need to encourage communities to keep valuing literacy – in the local language as in more widely-spoken ones. We work alongside them to give the language in written form its due place in their society. Together we prepare books to teach reading, we train literacy teachers and we produce literature of different kinds. Pray for us as partners in this long-term task!

Praise God for the launch of the Oniyan New Testament and Genesis in Senegal today. We previously prayed for the Oniyan project – which is supported by Wycliffe projects – in November 2016. Pray for a spirit of thanksgiving at the launch for all God’s faithfulness to this community in the past. Ask God that many people will come, buy and make use of this New Testament and the audio resources. Pray also for wisdom for the churches in considering how best to ensure that this translation is well used in the years to come.

*name changed for security reasons

**Translation consultants thoroughly go over the translation with the team, checking for accuracy, clarity and naturalness, looking for omissions, extraneous thoughts or possible misconceptions.

These prayer items come from Wycliffe’s prayer magazine, Words for Life. They are also available daily as Daily Prayer. Download Words for Life. If you don’t already subscribe to our Standing in the Gap blog posts, take a look for even more prayer requests and resources! Manage your subscription preferences.

Prayers for 15 – 21 January

Pray for guidance for the Chonyi team in Kenya who are consultant checking* Ephesians at the moment.

Pray for the two-week workshop in Chad that begins today for translation teams who are working on translating 1 Corinthians.

You can read about the launch of the Mayogo New Testament on page 16 of Words for Life. This week we pray for the ongoing work of the Mayogo project:

Pray for an effective start for the translation of the Old Testament in Mayogo. The Mayogo people have a deep passion to have the entire Bible in their own language for their spiritual edification and development in their daily lives. They are hoping that this new stage will begin with the translation of the books of Genesis, Isaiah, and Psalms.

Following the dedication of the New Testament in Isiro in March, those who participated developed a strong desire to hold dedication services in five other areas. They wanted all Mayogo-speaking people to be able to celebrate the arrival of the New Testament in their language. Pray that many hearts will be transformed by the reading and hearing of God’s word in Mayogo throughout the language community.

Pray for the choosing of one or two additional translators for the Old Testament translation in Mayogo. Pray for their training and preparation for the work. Pray that God would prepare their hearts as they handle his word. Pray that God would give the translators the ability to translate in a way that is clear and natural.

Pray for the security situation in the country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the upcoming presidential elections, including the period of time before and after the elections take place. Pray that God would give the Christian community wisdom during this process of electing the next president. Pray that Christians will choose to love and respect their neighbours and pursue unity.

Pray for the churches in the Mayogo-speaking area. The church ‘owns’ the process of Bible translation and sees translation as an effective tool for the holistic development of their members. The churches strongly believe that the Scriptures in the Mayogo language will bring about a much deeper understanding. Pray that hearts and lives will be transformed.

* A translation consultant thoroughly goes over the translation with the team, checking for accuracy, clarity and naturalness, looking for omissions, extraneous thoughts or possible misconceptions.

These prayer items come from Wycliffe’s prayer magazine, Words for Life. They are also available daily as Daily Prayer. Download Words for Life. If you don’t already subscribe to our Standing in the Gap blog posts, take a look for even more prayer requests and resources! Manage your subscription preferences.

As we head into the New Year we’ve been reflecting on all the inspiring prayer content we produced last year and dreaming of how we can keep you inspired and praying through 2017 too. So it’s the season to revamp and renew, here are some changes coming round the corner that we’d like to let you know about…

From the beginning of February we will no longer be producing the Seven Days of Prayer blog. Sad to see it go? So are we but especially if you receive this weekly resource by email, we wanted to let you know that  there are many other ways that you can access material for prayer:

Top of the list, we recommend that you download the PrayerMate app from the app store on your smart phone or tablet; it’s available in both iOS and android. This app is a fantastic tool to help you pray for your own needs and concerns but can also allow you to access the prayer feeds of several Christian organisations, Wycliffe included.

The same material that was sent to you as the ‘Seven Days of Prayer’ weekly email is also available on a daily basis on the website or you can subscribe to receive these requests by daily email.

Subscribe to receive our free magazine Words for Life which contains our prayer diary as well as informative articles and news.

If you are more interested in receiving something weekly then subscribe to our prayer blog Standing in the gap which shares timely prayer needs and stories.

Alternatively our partner the Wycliffe Global Alliance prepares a weekly Prayer Focus Bulletin. You can subscribe by clicking on the envelope icon at the top of list of prayers.

We know that we see breakthrough and progress because you stand with us in prayer. Thank you for your faithfulness. Please take a moment now to choose another way to receiving our prayer news. Which way will you choose to pray?

Prayers for 8 – 14 January

Pray for the Scripture songwriting workshop in the Saafi-Saafi language in Senegal that begins today. Pray that God will inspire the songwriters involved and the songs they write will draw many people to Christ.

Pray for the project management workshop beginning in Jos, Nigeria today. Ask God to guide the course teachers and participants.

Pray for the training sessions that are currently being held amongst the Oniyan speaking community in Senegal for potential facilitators of listening groups that will meet to listen to a portion of Genesis each week. Pray that they would be excited at the prospect of members of their communities meeting together to listen to God’s word, and for the provision of materials so these groups can get underway immediately. The hope is that once they have finished listening through Genesis, they will transition into listening to the New Testament.

Pray for the linguistics and translation students of TCNN (Theological College of Northern Nigeria) as they begin their fieldwork this term. Ask God to guide each one on the field and give them wisdom and understanding. Pray also for spiritual and physical protection and good connections with people in the language communities. Ask God also for wisdom for those advising and teaching the students in this process.

Pray for safe travel for Sam, Carwyn and Stewart of the church engagement team as they leave today to spend two weeks visiting the work of Wycliffe Bible Translators in the Philippines.

Pray for those leading and for all those who come to find out more about Wycliffe at First Steps tonight at All Souls Clubhouse, London.

Pray for the launch of the Nyole New Testament in Uganda today. Pray that it will be a day of great joy and celebration and that the Nyole New Testament will impact many lives. Thank God for the UK churches that have supported this project through Wycliffe Projects.

These prayer items come from Wycliffe’s prayer magazine, Words for Life. They are also available daily as Daily Prayer. Download Words for Life. If you don’t already subscribe to our Standing in the Gap blog posts, take a look for even more prayer requests and resources! Manage your subscription preferences.

Prayers for 1 – 7 January

Pray for new members Nathan* and Becky*, that God will guide, strengthen and protect each of them as they prepare to go and serve in sensitive countries. Pray that their work in those countries will bring many people to faith.

Pray for the Digo and Duruma teams in Kenya as they begin consultant checking** Habakkuk and Joel today. Ask God to watch over them as they work.

David and Evelyn Baines, Scotland – David is a member of the language software development team and a teacher at Redcliffe College. Evelyn has a new role as member care assistant for Wycliffe members in Scotland. At this time they are both focusing on raising their support back up to 100%. Please pray for opportunities for us to share about our work and for new partners to join our support team.

The Linguistics for Literacy and Meaning and Communication courses start at CLTL (Centre for Linguistics, Translation and Literacy) in Gloucester today. Please pray for the students as they return from the field to continue their studies for the next five months.

Margaret Beckett, Dodoma, Tanzania, literacy coordinator – Pray for the Alagwa, Burunge, Rangi and Mbugwe communities where Margaret works, that literacy work will equip them to receive and understand translated Scripture, in audio, visual and written forms.

Chris and Marina Darby’s assignment as literacy specialists in the SIL Senegal Branch came to an end in July 2016, and they have returned to live in their house in Berkshire. Praise God for the hugely enriching opportunity to serve in Senegal for 11 years and pray for ongoing work, especially among the Manjak people and through the multilingual primary school project in the Seereer language, bringing hope to hundreds of learners and the wider community. This year, Chris is doing a full-time MA in education at Reading University, with plans for ongoing consultancy work in francophone West Africa. Please pray for this time of transition and readaptation for them both.

Joe & Heather Patrick, Alotau Regional Centre managers, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea – Over the last 10 years, this regional centre has been used to train Papua New Guineans to translate into their own languages, in literacy and Scripture use. Mini-Bibles have now been launched in 11 Milne Bay languages. Pray that these Scriptures will be well used and bear much spiritual fruit.

*names changed for security purposes

** A translation consultant thoroughly goes over the translation with the team, checking for accuracy, clarity and naturalness, looking for omissions, extraneous thoughts or possible misconceptions.

These prayer items come from Wycliffe’s prayer magazine, Words for Life. They are also available daily as Daily Prayer. Download Words for Life. If you don’t already subscribe to our Standing in the Gap blog posts, take a look for even more prayer requests and resources! Manage your subscription preferences.