Congregational Prayer 9/13/09

Offered by Dr. Catherine Clark Kroeger

We thank you for those who from the earliest times have obeyed our Saviour’s command to carry his message from town to town, into market places and public arenas and in the first place to private homes.

We thank you for the ministry of American Baptist missionary Lauran Bethell who enters houses of ill repute to share the love of Jesus with women trapped in a life of shame and exploitation. We pray that in Christ they may find liberty both for their souls and their bodies.

We lift up to you those preparing for ministry at Eastern Seminary in northeast India. Send them out into the homes and villages and farms and factories bearing witness to the grace and power of the Gospel message. Grant that they may impact every aspect of the societies into which they move.

We ask your blessing on all of the American Baptist International Ministries. We pray for wisdom in dealing with decreasing finances, for patience and compassion in facing the need to scale back, and for your loving supply of funding for essential ministries.

We ask that all those who suffer worldwide in this time of financial crisis may find you in a new way, that they may think through what really matters in their lives. May those whose trust has been betrayed, who have lost houses and jobs and life savings know that you are the Eternal One, the One that cannot fail; and may they draw close to you in a relationship of personal faith.

We pray for our nation and its needs. We ask guidance for our president and the Congress as they wrestle with difficult matters that have no easy solution. Grant wisdom and compassion and integrity. May they grow in righteousness and balanced judgment, the strength and courage to do what is right, the humility and faith to seek your leading in all things.

We ask these things in the name of our blessed Saviour who loved us and
bought us with His own blood.