Five Ways to Pray for Communities in Crisis

Supporters often tell us they want to pray for the communities we serve but do not know what to ask for beyond a general blessing. Here is how our own prayer team approaches it.

1. Pray for named people, not categories

"The poor" is difficult to hold in mind and easy to pray about without feeling much. A community water committee, a teacher with forty-eight pupils, a widow securing her late husband's land — these are prayable. Our prayer wall exists to give you specifics.

2. Pray for local leaders, by role

Pastors, committee chairs, health volunteers and head teachers carry a great deal with very little support, and often in considerable isolation. Pray for their endurance, their families and their integrity — particularly when they are handling money in a community that is watching.

3. Pray about the specific obstacle

• Rain in the planting window, and not too much of it.
• A spare part reaching a broken pump before the dry season.
• A mediation meeting where both parties actually arrive.
• A clinic referral that gets there in time.

4. Pray for us, including our failures

We get things wrong. We site things badly, we move too fast, we occasionally mistake our preferences for a community's priorities. Pray that we would notice sooner, say so plainly, and be the kind of organisation that partners feel safe correcting.

5. Let prayer change what you do next

In our experience sustained prayer for a specific community rarely leaves the person praying unchanged. It tends to produce giving, advocacy, or a partnership. We think that is how it is supposed to work.