You know what’s really cool? A pleasantly surprised pastor. Of course, pastors get surprised all the time: “A long term member has died. Can you do the funeral tomorrow?” “Did I tell you the kids are singing this morning so your sermon will need to be shorter!” And the ever popular, “We were going to give you a cost of living increase, but we decided to switch to fair trade organic coffee in the cafe instead!”
Here’s a challenge for the Muslim Connect tribe: Let’s pleasantly surprise our pastors by requesting this week three prayer times for Muslims over the coming months. However your church arranges to pray for special issues, either in a bulletin, from the front, or in a newsletter, ask for three of those slots. Tell your pastor you’ll provide great content for prayer, including the exact word count requested, a couple really nice slides and even a short video.
Here are four occasions to choose from. My approach is, “Ask for three, settle for two!”
Ramadan begins on April 2. Maybe your pastor would spring for a prayer guide for everyone. Maybe you could provide some prayer prompts on Sunday April 3, the second day of Ramadan. It goes for a month, so there’s wiggle room with this one!
Eid al-Fitr marks the celebratory end of Ramadan and happens on Monday, May 2-3. Let’s request a church-wide prayer slot on Sunday May 1st as Muslims end Ramadan and begin the Eid celebration.
Eid al-Adha, honoring Abraham’s obedience in offering his son for sacrifice, happens on Saturday, July 9th through Sunday the 10th. Let’s pray that Sunday morning for Muslims to understand the full symbolic weight of that story.
Finally, Sunday, June 5th is the International Day For The Unreached. Maybe go ahead and ask to preach that Sunday! If (when?) you get a “no,” settle for an all church prayer emphasis.
Let me know which of these slots you secure and maybe we can share ideas for killer content.
I’m recording a fun training talk with the head of GFM Ministries tomorrow. If you register here, you’ll be sent the link when the talk goes live later in the day. Thanks for giving it a shot.