“Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.” Matthew 12:29
World Impact’s vision is to see 300 churches planted by 2021. Such a grand vision needs to be completely covered in prayer in order to be successful. My wife and I were a part of a church plant for 8 years and I know how valuable the prayer support was for the building of his church. Simply put, the church would have not been planted without prayer. We would like to ask you to partner with us in praying for our church planters.
The cities and neighborhoods where all of our church planters will live and minister are places of great spiritual conflict. While there are many issues and layers to the issues in our cities, if we look with spiritual eyes and peel back the surface, we will see that there are deep and powerful strongholds in place.
If we want to see the Kingdom of God advance in the city with great power, then we are going to need to learn to fight with spiritual weapons. The enemy will not just let us walk in and simply proclaim the gospel and see healing and deliverances. We must first “bind the strong man” in order to “plunder his house.” I believe that this is primarily done through prayer.
God has ordained prayer to be one of the most powerful weapons we have in accessing the authority available in heaven and seeing it unleashed in our cities. Jesus, through his victory on the cross, has already won the victory. Through prayer we are merely declaring this victory over the powers of darkness.
So on behalf of our church planters, thank you for joining us in the spiritual battle of praying for the gospel to powerfully advance through the establishment of the local church. Here are some practical ways you can pray for church planters. Please pray for:
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A deep love for the Lord, the Word, and the lost (Mark 12:30, 1 John 2:4-6 & 2 Corinthians 4:4-6)
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Emotional, physical, spiritual, and financial health for the church planters and their families (Proverbs 17:22, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 3 John 1:2 & Philippians 4:19-20)
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Spiritual refreshment and personal renewal during the rigors of ministry (Mark 1:35 & Isaiah 30:15)
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Personal holiness, integrity, and protection from the attacks of the enemy (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)
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The power and gifts of the Holy Spirit to be manifested and to flow through them and their team (Acts 4:29-31, 1 Corinthians 4:20 & 2 Timothy 1:6)
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To hear the voice of the Lord for culturally conducive strategies to reach their neighborhoods and cities (Isaiah 30:21)
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Open doors to proclaim the gospel clearly and boldly both in personal evangelism and in preaching (Colossians 4:3)
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Unity within their church plant team, church body, and with other churches and ministries (John 17:20-23 & Ephesians 4:1-4)
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Strong, clear, servant leadership for their church plant team as they disciple and train church members (John 13:3-4)
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A unified commitment among family members so that the enemy would have no in-roads into their homes (Ephesians 6:1-4)
Click here for more information on why a prayer movement is needed for a church planting movement.
