"Now. Pray." (Lent 2024)

Lent Season is upon us once again! Welcome to 40 Days of Prayer 2024! Our theme this year is now. pray. This is appropriate since, as The Christian and Missionary Alliance, we are engaged in the now. strategy. As we’ll see, now is a word and concept that appears in Scripture. The word now can communicate our current reality—what we are now. It can also communicate a sense of urgency—what we need to do now. We’ll see both of these aspects of the word now surface during these days of focused prayer. Week 1 will focus our ears and minds on an urgent spiritual wake-up call. In week 2, we’ll be invited into a call to urgent intercession. Week 3 will remind us that in this current reality, we belong to the Lord. In week 4, we’ll see that now is the time to worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth. In week 5, we’ll celebrate the reality that we are all part of the same Body, all part of the family of God. And finally, week 6 will remind us of the urgency of evangelism. Along the way, please pray for the Spirit-enabled fulfillment of the five goals that are part of the now. strategy: • SEND one new international worker per week. • OPEN one new open door for Alliance missions advance per year. • PLANT one new U.S. church plant per week. • BUILD one Alliance Place by 2025. • RAISE one hundred million dollars per year (combined support need for the Great Commission Fund and Project ReImagine). Some of you who have been in this Alliance family for a long time will remember an old chorus written by Dwight Hall that was used as our Missions Conference theme song in the early 1980s. Appropriate to our now. theme, this song says, “Lord, in this urgent hour, we long to see Thy pow’r; send forth a mighty show’r of holy love. Millions are lost from Thee, great God of majesty. Oh, Savior, set them free, great God of love.” So, let’s pray with a sense of urgency and pray that, above all else, we will see all kinds of people across this nation and around the world come to faith in Jesus Christ. Keep the faith! Terry D. Smith Vice President for Church Ministries