Praying purposefully together for the world

We have more access to information today than ever before, but it seems harder than ever to discern the truth of what is happening in our big, wide world.

Whether it is in relation to countries such as Syria, Venezuela, and North Korea or Islamist extremist groups such as ISIS, Boko Haram, and the Taliban (and so much more), it is a struggle to keep up with the constant swirl of breaking news and the complexity of world affairs.

Three dynamics work powerfully against the Christian engaging purposefully with the world through intercession:

• The ubiquitous nature of digital media: We can feel overwhelmed by a relentless 24/7 cycle of news and information.


• The politicized nature of the main media sources: We can feel locked into imposed narratives that communicate all news through specific biases.


• The sensationalization of mainstream news: We can fall into the trap of believing that airtime equals importance.

It is a full-time job just filtering through noise, parsing the agendas, and finding out about the world’s more neglected areas and issues.

That is why we feel that the recently released Operation World app is a useful tool for believers who care about our world and the people in it. Here are the reasons:

It is free

Our dream is to see people praying together for the nations, whether they are in a London suburb, the Maasai Mara, or a Manila slum. We are pleased that anyone with an Android or Apple internet-enabled device, anywhere, can use the app for free.[1]

Once downloaded, you can use the app offline. We hope it will be a useful source of prayer material for people and places where there is not much available, and we hope to be able to see the content translated into many languages.

It is concise

Every day there is just one prayer point for one nation or region. The last full edition of Operation World ran to over 1,000 pages—an intimidating prospect for most readers. You will get a notification (if you want) at your choice of time to remind you to pray.

The highlighted prayer point only requires a couple of minutes of your attention, but there is much more content available in the app. You might choose to pray for several points or several countries.

It is connected

When you pray for the highlighted point of the day (and the rest of the content), you are joining with many thousands of others, around the world, praying for the same thing. There is something powerful about knowing that the issue you are lifting up to God is being covered in prayer from around the globe; the app lets you see how many others have prayed for that country.

You also have the ability to share the prayer point with others, as well as linking to further Operation World resources.

It is reliable

For over 50 years, Operation World has researched every country, and built connections in each of them, so that we can mobilize the body of Christ to pray for what matters most. What we report has been vetted not just by our own team, but by our contacts all around the world—missionaries, national church leaders, and other researchers.

It is Kingdom-oriented

To quote from Operation World’s introduction: ‘We do not merely pray about the many points featured herein, we pray toward something, and that something is magnificent—the fulfilment of the Father’s purposes and His Kingdom come.’

Operation World does not treat prayer merely as a bandage to help us cover over the cuts and scrapes of the issues that afflict us day-by-day. It sees intercession as the means to unleash the inestimable power of God into our broken world, bringing redemption, reconciliation, and healing.

Why not download the app, and join us, and thousands of others, in our journey of praying for the world?

Endnote

All a person needs to do to find the app is to search for ‘Operation World’ in the app store of their device. ↑

This article originally appeared in the November 2017 issue of the Lausanne Global Analysis and is published here with permission as part of the LGA Media Partnership. Learn more about this flagship publication from the Lausanne Movement here.

Jason Mandryk is a Canadian who has lived most of his adult life in England, in Singapore, on a ship, in a tent, or in a castle. He has worked with Operation World in various capacities for nearly 20 years. His passion is to see good research and information mobilize prayer and mission around the world. Jason (and Operation World) is currently based on the campus of All Nations Christian College near London, England.