Praise God for the gift of a new year. Ask Him to grow us in our faith through our worship and study of God’s Word together. Pray for Him to strengthen our small groups and to help our members not yet in a group to find one with whom to connect.

This week, in observance of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, we are interceding on behalf of human trafficking victims in the Greater Birmingham area, especially those who are minors. Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery that involves the recruitment, transfer, or receipt of an individual by means of force, coercion, or deception for the purpose of exploitation, many times involving minors. Research over the past few years has shown that this is a $110 million industry annually in the Birmingham area.

DAY 1: Pray for God to protect, rescue, heal, save, and restore human trafficking victims in our own city, especially those who have been unable to escape their circumstances. Ask God to send his Holy Spirit to comfort the afflicted and be a very present help for them in times of trouble.

DAY 2: Pray for God to bring awareness to the Body of Christ concerning human trafficking, awakening the community, nation, and world to the personal and societal destruction caused by this exploitation.

DAY 3: Pray for the Church to be compelled by the biblical mandate in Scripture to seek justice for the oppressed. Ask God to speak through His Body in word and deed. Also, pray for local government authorities as they seek to combat slavery in all its forms.

DAY 4: Sex trafficking and pornography are closely linked. Pray for sexual purity within the Church. Pray for individuals struggling with sexual sin and ministries like Awaken that are helping adults find freedom in Christ.

DAY 5: Ask Jesus for an awakening among all offenders of human trafficking. Pray for them to repent of their sin, turn to Jesus, and become forces for freedom.

DAY 6: Pray for our partners, The WellHouse and Blanket Fort Hope, and other organizations in Birmingham God has called to serve victims of human trafficking.

As we praise the Lord for all that we were able to celebrate from Global Offering 2023, 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 faith-filled and sacrificial giving to the global offering this past year! 

DAY 2: Pray for gospel-advancing work to be multiplied through the stewardship of the global offering, and that many would come to saving faith in Jesus.

DAY 3: Pray for the church to be strengthened and more firmly established in some of the least-reached places where our people live and serve. Pray the money they receive from the global offering would help the gospel go forth in these places.

DAY 4: Pray for the partners that will receive support through the global offering. Pray this support would help sustain them in their work and in the place which God has sent them.

DAY 5: Pray for the members of the Global Ministry Team to have wisdom and discernment as they consider the various projects and partners that can benefit from the global offering. Pray for unity and clarity among the Global Ministry Team as they pray and consider how to be faithful in stewarding the gifts that have been given.

DAY 6: Pray for the Global Ministry Team members. Pray they would seek hard after Christ as they serve our church in this way. Pray for them and their families. Pray for the Global Staff Team as they walk alongside them to love and serve our long-termers, mid-termers, and partners well.