Brothers and sisters in Christ,
Soon we will begin prayer walking the city of North Chicago. We will do this for the purpose of learning specifically how to pray for households and individuals who live there. As we begin to lift up in prayer the needs that are shared with us, we will also follow up with those who share prayer requests. Our follow-up may include visits, cards, phone calls, texts, emails, Bible studies, invitations to worship, and other acts of Christian kindness.
As a missionary in New Jersey, I was so blessed to see God work through prayer walking. These blessings included the Christian fellowship extended to people living in fear and darkness. Also blessed were all the Christians who grew in their discipleship as followers and confessors of Christ. More than one Christian was a little skeptical/ scared at first; but as they also experienced the Holy Spirit literally open up doors for Christian relationships, they became convinced that prayer walking works.
We will be using our prayer app, PrayerCares, to leverage our prayer ministry and organize our efforts. By God’s grace, we currently have 23 PrayerCares partners in our church. If you would like to learn more about our prayer app or even become a prayer partner, please reach out to me and I will help get you set up.
As Lutherans, we believe that prayer is one of the marks of a true church and is one of the fruits of the Christian faith. We believe this because God says, “My house will be a house of prayer, for all the nations” (Isaiah 56:7).
The city of North Chicago does not have an LCMS congregation, so our District is very glad to see outreach here, especially outreach that intentionally focuses on Hispanic families—an area in which our church body needs to grow.
God is blessing us at Faith Lutheran Church. We praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
V/r,
Pastor Jim