Pray to End Bible Poverty

On October 8, YWAM launches The Invitation, a new global prayer opportunity. Join the YWAM family around the globe as we gather to pray and seek God. Our global prayer topic for October will focus on ending Bible poverty now.
To understand more about Bible poverty, read the letter by Darlene Cunningham, who co-founded YWAM along with her husband Loren. To pray with us, see the videos and info below.

Darlene Cunningham Explains The Goal of Ending Bible Poverty

Since 1960, Loren has carried a burden to get the Bible to every person on earth who does not have access. Many have heard him tell the story of the “woman in the faded red dress” in Mexico who asked him for a Bible, because she had no access to the Word. God used that one woman to pierce his heart (he still chokes up today when He recalls her hunger and desire for the Bible) – and from the retelling of that one initial encounter, God has launched many Bible initiatives throughout YWAM to get the Word of God to whole communities and nations.
The vision of End Bible Poverty Now, is to make the Bible accessible to every home (as well as to nomads and homeless) in their mother tongue by 2033. Of course, individuals have the God-given right to refuse the Bible, but it will be available to them. Professional linguists like Wycliffe and others are hard at work translating Scripture for 2,195 language groups that do not have God’s Word. But there are an additional 1,869 languages that have no portion of the Bible – and no one is working on those languages!
There is much that we ordinary people can do to speed the process, doing oral translations, which can then be given to the professionals to edit. (For a simple, three-minute explanation of how to do an oral translation of the Bible, go to https://vimeo.com/87866960.  The video moves really fast, but watch it a few times, and you will get the simplicity of the plan – and the speed is a major point of the video. This type of oral translation can be done QUICKLY and SIMPLY by ordinary people!)
In recent months, Loren has met with hundreds of influential leaders in evangelical, charismatic and Pentecostal denominations about ending Bible poverty. And you’ve probably heard that in November of 2014, Loren and I plus a few other YWAM leaders met with the leaders of the three main streams of Christendom – Pope Francis of the Catholic Church, Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church (the oldest orthodox tradition) and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby of the Anglican Church, to engage them in this cause. Everyone he has met with has given overwhelming blessing and support for ending Bible poverty now.
This vision to end Bible poverty must include a broad foundation of prayer.  As you meet together on this first YWAM global prayer day of 2015, please pray and ask God to give you His heart for getting His Word to His world. Then as individuals, families, teams and ministries, God may give some specific steps for how you can be involved.
The job is gigantic and it will take all parts of the body of Christ to accomplish. But YWAM has people on the ground all over the world, putting us in position to make an enormous contribution. And there has never been unity and partnership between mission organizations and the Church worldwide like there is today!
Here’s the whole point: God has said that His Word will not return to Him void (Isaiah 55:11). History has clearly shown that, wherever the Bible goes, the Spirit of God brings transformation!

Kel Steiner, leader of YWAM Myrtle Beach, is committed to ending Bible poverty now

How to Join YWAM in Praying about Bible Poverty

To begin, watch this video.
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And this one about YWAM Costa Rica’s work to give a Bible to every home in the country.
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Points for prayer:

YWAM Bangkok prays for YWAM’s Bible distribution efforts in Thailand

Tell others what you sensed in prayer

Go to YWAM’s Facebook page, find the post for October 8, and add a comment about how you prayed.

To take further action:

Do something locally today to help someone engage in the Word of God.
Watch this video (only 3:26 minutes) to understand how Bible translation works and how someone like you can get involved without even knowing another language!
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Watch this video, sign the commitment form at www.endbiblepovertynow.com, and take the action of providing information about ending Bible poverty to at least three local people, then three people outside of your local reach, then three people in other countries . . . asking them all to do the same. Here is Loren Cunningham explaining how to do it.

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Conduct a training session regarding ending Bible poverty and encourage participants to sign the covenant at http://endbiblepovertynow.com/ to pray to end Bible poverty.  Here is a one-hour video showing how others are doing this within YWAM:
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For more information:

• Read The Book That Transforms Nations by Loren Cunningham.
• Read this article about Loren’s vision to end Bible poverty.
• Review work that other YWAM locations have taken/are taking and then pray for God to reveal how it would look for your location: Kona (Africa) – See this story and this one. Norway – Listen to this podcast (start at 15:10).

Upcoming topics for The Invitation:

October 8, 2015 (second Thursday of the month)
First Global Topic:  Ending Bible Poverty Now
Followed by . . .
November 12, 2015 – Praying for Local Concerns (Location and Community)
December 10, 2015 – Praying for Areas, and Where YWAM Is Not
And then repeat . . .
January 14, 2016 – Global Topic:  A Picture of a Breakthrough in the Muslim World
February 11, 2016 – Praying for Local Concerns (Location and Community)
March 10, 2016 – Praying for Areas, and Where YWAM Is Not
The second Thursday is just a suggestion. Feel free to pray close to that date at a time that works well for your location’s schedule.

Don’t miss The Invitation:

• Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
• Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation.  (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, or request other languages.)
• Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook post on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hash tag #praywithywam.
• If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us.