Praying for a quarter of the world’s population

5:17 Prayer is one of the ways in which we encourage prayer for South Asian people, wherever they are, and for the range of ministries among them. We meet regularly, online and face to face. Richard Todd reports on the online session last October.

Our October online prayer event started with reading the end of Matthew 12, which reminds us that we are part of Jesus’ family. This brings responsibilities and privileges whenever we join in prayer across South Asia – home to almost 2 billion people.

We had a series of presentations with prayer suggestions: they included work in India, including SAC partner Kachhwa; diaspora people, especially Tibetans (‘hidden people’); and Pakistan’s 20 million flood affected people. I was especially challenged when we were reminded of the increasing pressures in South Asian countries in relation to national identity and religious freedoms, and we could take time to pray against them. It was good to hear directly from a church leader in Delhi and learn about Tamil fellowships in the UK. Through all this God was opening our minds and hearts to pray for his kingdom. The hour and a half filled us with ideas for our ongoing thanksgiving and prayers for 2 billion people.

Did we manage to keep to the 5:17 split between talk and prayer? Not quite, but in each prayer time contributions flowed quickly as we offered our prayers to the Lord.

Praying in small groups online may be an acquired taste, but participants know how valuable it can be. If you have never tried then why not join us next time we meet online? Jesus may not have had an online family then, but today he uses this as one way of building his family in prayer.

Article by: Richard Todd, Southampton.