God, We come before You with humble hearts, pleading for Your protection over our seminaries, churches, and all who teach and shepherd in Your name. Guard them, Lord, from deception and from every distortion of Your holy truth. Raise up leaders who walk in integrity and discernment—men and women who know Your Word deeply and love it purely. As long as they speak Your truthful Word, remove any lingering fear that what they say may push away members. Grant them courage to speak the truth in love, even when the world resists it, and fill their voices with grace that enlightens rather than condemns. Strengthen Your Church to pursue wisdom, to stay steadfast amid confusion, and to shine as a beacon of truth in a darkened age. May Your Spirit continually guide us into all truth, that Christ may be exalted and Your Word honored in every heart.
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. Acts 20:28 ESV
“But when we come to a contemplation of the immediate conception of the principles of human relationship which went into the Declaration of Independence we are not required to extend our search beyond our own shores. They are found in the texts, the sermons, and the writings of the early colonial clergy who were earnestly undertaking to instruct their congregations in the great mystery of how to live. They preached equality because they believed in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. They justified freedom by the text that we are all created in the divine image, all partakers of the divine spirit. Placing every man on a plane where he acknowledged no superiors, where no one possessed any right to rule over him, he must inevitably choose his own rulers through a system of self-government. This was their theory of democracy. In those days such doctrines would scarcely have been permitted to flourish and spread in any other country. This was the purpose which the fathers cherished. In order that they might have freedom to express these thoughts and opportunity to put them into action, whole congregations with their pastors had migrated to the Colonies. These great truths were in the air that our people breathed. Whatever else we may say of it, the Declaration of Independence was profoundly American.” – Calvin Coolidge Address at the Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence July 05, 1926
Hold Fast, Spread the Word and God Save the Republic.
Operation World Pray for People’s Republic of China : South & Southwest China: Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, Yunnan, 2 Autonomous Regions (Guangxi Zhuang and Chongqing) Over 350 million people live here. Only around 4.5% are Christian.
• The unreached peoples of South and Southwest China number tens of millions of individuals, in hundreds of different groups, each with different cultures and languages. Difficult geography and poor transportation keep many villages isolated from the gospel. The Holy Spirit worked powerfully among some tribal groups of Yunnan in the last century (Lisu, Hmong, Wa, Jingpo, Nu). Other peoples have a large number of Christians, but it remains only a small beginning.
• Guangxi is one of China’s least-developed and most remote provinces, and perhaps up to 90% unevangelized. The Zhuang people are China’s largest ethnic-minority population. Pray for Christians to reach even the most remote corners of this region.
• Yunnan’s minorities number 16 million, in at least 208 peoples. Steep mountains, different languages, old hatreds, and spiritual bondage all hinder the gospel. 95 peoples in Yunnan have no known Christians.
• The Nosu peoples (Sichuan) once dominated their area and made slaves of Han Chinese until the Communist government gained control here in 1953. The Li people groups (Hainan) have a history of rebellion against Chinese rule. No Scripture exists in the 7 main languages of the Li. Tibetan people groups (Sichuan) are unreached. Many of these people groups are related, but they cannot understand each other’s languages. The Bible is available for the Khampa and Amdo Tibetans, but no other group has access to it. Hundreds of other minorities, such as the Miao and Hmong (mostly in Guizhou), and the Yao- Mien (mainly in Guangxi), need to hear the gospel. Pray for the small Christian churches in them to become strong, effective witnesses.
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