This is the fourth and final web post in our ongoing look at how prayer and church planting work together to see a Church Planting Movement (CPM) emerge.

Recently I met a local man who has seen a CPM start among his people group and spilled over into neighbouring people groups. They’ve seen many churches that have started in recent years in what we would typically consider “hard ground.” We asked him what role prayer had played and he gave an interesting answer. He said in the early days they knew that they needed more prayer support and so they approached some believing widows in the community. I found it quite funny to hear how strict they were about what kind of widows they would allow to join the group. She could not have a job, she couldn’t have any children at home, she had to join a group of 6 others and she had to commit to pray one hour at 9 PM. They now have 62 widows in these groups. I don’t know why God lead them to this specific type of prayer covering or the reasoning behind some of their criteria but the big takeaway for me was that reproduction of prayer (particularly local prayer if possible) is an important facet alongside reproduction of evangelism and reproduction of groups.

It is interesting to look at the role and importance of prayer in the book of Acts by studying every instance in which it occurred. It is an incredibly fascinating study. One of the most enlightening things to discover is that it often occurred (particularly in the early chapters) in relation to opposition and persecution. What is interesting is that the people who pray never ask for the persecution to be taken away they always ask for boldness in the face of it.

CPMs don’t tend to fly under the radar for very long, if at all. The foreign workers face opposition, the early believers face opposition, and those who join the movement face opposition too.

A friend of mine recently read a quote that said when local believers who have been through persecution were asked what the number one thing the foreigners had taught them, the most common answer, shockingly, was fear.

What do workers model to those around them? What is being reproduced? My prayer is that, if not today then in the near future, the answer would be: fellow labourers (expat and national) who pray alongside one another for boldness to share.

How to pray?
* Ask God to deliver workers and believers in North Africa from fear.
* Pray that God will show workers any ways they are modelling fear.
* Pray that workers and national believers will experience breakthrough in the area of boldness and courage.
* Ask God for workers and national believers all across North Africa to realise a fresh the importance and necessity of prayer and increasing prayer as part of their lives and ministries.
* Let’s ask that all across North Africa, God will raise up more prayer, better partnerships between prayer and church planting work, which will bring about more fruit for God’s Kingdom.
* Pray for God’s sovereign protection and covering over workers and national believers in all their endeavours for prayer and evangelism.

We recommend reading a book called Miraculous Movements by Jerry Trousedale. It will build your faith and give you more ideas for how you can specifically pray for church planting movements to begin all over North Africa.