Dear Hope family,
Thought for the Week
Praying Evangelistically
Colossians 4v3-4 “And pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message … pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should.” (NIV)
 
As, with St Christopher’s Trust, we approach one of our big evangelistic seasons of the year, Paul calls us to pray. We are to pray from two angles:
1. “That God would open a door”. This covers both that an opportunity would arise and that an individual’s heart would be open to the message. This is clearly God’s work – we depend on him. In some of the elements of the Fun Week, the Gospel is naturally proclaimed – there is an open opportunity. But let’s pray also that doors would open in the one-on-one conversations that we have. Let’s also pray that God opens people’s hearts to the message (Acts 16v14) so that it doesn’t just bounce off, but goes in and bears fruit.
2. “That I may proclaim it clearly”. There are many participating in the week in different ways. Whether it is Sharon and Emily up front in the club, those leading various groups, others in personal conversations, testimony at the youth night and so on … let’s pray that each one proclaims it clearly. The clarity is for the hearer – in other words, we need the supernatural gift of God to put it in a way that has meaning for the hearer in their situation.
 
I encourage us all to pray at this present time.
 
With love and blessing,
 
Roland