Receiving mail at a school can bring you back to reality and help you realize that there is life outside of this campus. You might have seen a slip of paper in your mailbox recently with a note about a country or group in a part of the world unreached by the gospel. This is all part of the Prayer for the People campaign under John Brown University’s Partners in Prayer ministry.
Partners in Prayer is a CAUSE ministry that strives to bring prayer for missions and those in the unreached parts of the world. Josiah Wadsack and Laura Nelson lead this ministry and have big plans to get the University community involved.
“Partners in Prayer is about praying for what God’s doing all around the world,” said Wadsack. The ministry started back in the spring of 2012 under the name Chai Time. Nelson took part in this group from its roots and later partnered with Wadsack to create what is now, Partners in Prayer.
The Prayer for the People campaign asks each student to pray 2 minutes a day for missionaries who go out to the unreached parts of the world, for unreached groups to be receptive to the Gospel, for the growth of established churches and for protection against persecution.
One of the biggest hindrances the ministry has encountered is that people tend to feel prayer isn’t enough.
However, prayer is the first step to doing anything for God’s kingdom, said Wadsack.
“Prayer does change things,” said Wadsack. They hope to show students that the efforts they put into missions, even efforts as small as two minutes of prayer a day, can do miraculous things.
“God’s global mission is bigger than just missionaries,” said Wadsack.
This campaign aims to express that everyone can play a role in missions.
“You need more people sending missionaries than actually going,” said Wadsack. “Besides financially, prayer is (the most) vital role in helping those in the mission field.”
“Prayer is two-sided,” said Nelson. “It not only affects the people you are praying for, but your own heart as well.”
Not only do the leaders of Partners in Prayer hope to ignite a desire in the students’ hearts to pray for missions and missionaries outside of the “JBU bubble,” but they also wish to see a change in the students’ personal perspective of prayer and how powerful it is.
The ministry is planning a few events this semester to keep this Prayer for the People campaign alive: a prayer seminar to focus on the biblical foundation of prayer, a “Story Time with Missionaries” to focus on what it is like to be a missionary and a small celebration towards the end of the semester are some of the events the ministry will hold.
In the long run, Partners in Prayer hopes to partner with other mission organizations here on campus and grow more from that.
Partners in Prayer meets on Monday nights in the Walker second floor lounge from 8-9 p.m., and they are always eager to pray with and serve alongside of new people.