Praise God for all the ways He has worked in and through our lives and our church over this past year. Thank Him for how He has so faithfully sustained us and granted us perseverance throughout 2022. Ask Him to grow our hope in response to all He has done, continues to do, and will do in the future. Pray for Him to help us all faithfully follow Him wherever He may lead us in 2023 and to confidently rely upon His Spirit to empower us as bold witnesses to His gospel here and around the world.

This week we are praying for the Brook Hills ESL Ministry (English As a Second Language). The ESL Ministry serves over 130 English learners in the community by providing free English classes to international men and women on Thursday mornings and evenings on both our campus and FBC Hoover’s campus. The ESL Ministry aims to extend hospitality, establish community, and share the love of Jesus Christ with internationals living in Birmingham. We’re also praying for First Baptist Church of Hoover and Pastor Eric Roberts.

Day 1: Pray for the over 130 international adults representing 23 countries who have been a part of our ESL ministry this year. Pray that God would give them the patience, skills, and mental strength necessary to learn the English language.

Day 2: Pray for those who have come to know Christ through the ESL Ministry to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, grow in their faith, gather with a local church, and make disciples. Pray that the Holy Spirit would draw many others to Himself through the love, care, and intentionality of the volunteers. 

Day 3: Pray for the kids who participate in the ESL Preschool, Children, and Teen programs while their parents are in class. Pray that they will be peaceful and eager to learn new truths about God each week from their Bible-centered lessons and tutoring.

Day 4: Praise God for the faithfulness and commitment of the nearly 100 volunteers that serve in the ESL program. Pray that the Lord would continue to stir a desire to meet the needs of the students and their families through language barriers and different cultural backgrounds and that genuine relationships would develop that foster gospel-weaving opportunities.

Day 5: Pray for the ESL Women’s Bible Study at Brook Hills and for future Bible studies for the Hoover ESL Community. Pray that these students, from a variety of spiritual backgrounds, will receive the Word of God and be transformed by it.

Day 6: Pray for more small groups to consider bringing meals for both ESL classes when they start back in January–brunch on Thursday mornings for women, and dinner on Thursday evenings in Hoover for men, women, and children. This is a unique opportunity to get a glimpse of how the ESL program works and what it looks like to engage with people from different countries and cultures. Email jroberts@brookhills.org for more details.

As we praise the Lord for all that we were able to celebrate from the Global Offering in 2022, we now look forward to the new year. The Global Ministry team will be meeting to consider and pray over how the Lord might have us steward the Global Offering for the progress of the gospel among all nations by sustaining our long-term workers in some of the least-reached places and coming alongside various partners in gospel ministry. The Global Ministry Team is made up of deacons and elders who pray and consider how we as a church will steward the Global Offering to serve our global strategy.

Day 1: Praise God for the Global Offering and the faith-filled and sacrificial giving towards missions.
 
Day 2: Pray for the members of the Global Ministry Team to have wisdom and discernment from the Lord as they consider the various projects and partners. 

Day 3: Pray for the gospel-advancing work to be multiplied through the stewardship of the Global Offering and that many would come to saving faith in Jesus.

Day 4: Pray for the church to be strengthened and more firmly established in some of the least-reached places through the Global Offering. 

Day 5: Pray for the partners that will receive support through the Global Offering to be sustained in the work and place in which God has sent them.

Day 6: Pray for unity and clarity among the Global Ministry Team as they pray and consider how to be faithful in the stewardship of the gifts that have been given to Brook Hills.