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Prayer Ventures

November 2006

1 On this World AIDS Day, pray for all persons infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, and pray for those who minister to them, including the AIDS Circle of Hope of North Texas, located in Wichita Falls, Texas, and Rebecca and Dr. Kris Hartwig, who offer palliative care services to AIDS patients through Selian Hospital in Arusha, Tanzania.

2 Give thanks for short-term mission personnel who serve around the world as volunteers. In 2006, 22 people volunteered for three to eleven months through the ELCA Global Mission Volunteer program. Thank God for the generosity of these teachers, medical trainers, financial consultants, and pastors.

3 Advent 1

God of the nations, we give you thanks for the Christian communities in India, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Give them strength to be witnesses to your love and peace. We lift up to you the companion relationship between the South Andhra Lutheran Church of India and the Northeastern Minnesota Synod, and between the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Northwestern Minnesota Synod.

4 Give thanks to God for the years of service given by members of the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality, whose first meeting was in 2002.

5 Pray for Lowell and Junko Gretebeck who serve the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church. Lowell provides leadership training for the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Association, a Lutheran-affiliated mission foundation of the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church.

6 Pray for Barbara Robertson, AIDS awareness coordinator in the Morogoro Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania. Pray for her new ministry, training local leaders for HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention campaigns.

7 Give thanks for those who teach at seminaries, colleges, and schools, inspiring and challenging their students to hear God=s calls for their lives.

8 Pray for Kyle Patterson and Catherine Rabenstine, ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission participants who are serving in Kerala, India, where Kyle teaches at CMS College and assists with the college Web site, and Catherine teaches at Bishop Moore College.

9 Pray for Tabor Community Services Jubilee House program and the women and children who reside in their transitional housing in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

10 Advent 2

Merciful God, we thank you for the growing peace in Angola and Mozambique. We also lift up the companion relationship between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mozambique and the ELCA Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod that they may grow in the sharing of their gifts.

11 Pray for Lutheran Social Ministries of New Jersey and its immigration project, which educates church members about injustice in the current U.S. immigration policy and how that policy leads to hunger among immigrant families.

12 Thank God for the service of Robert Kasworm, a health consultant working with the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Moshi, Tanzania. Drawing on the companion relationship between the ELCA Nebraska Synod and the Northern Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania, he is creating strategic alliances between Tanzanian and US-based health providers to strengthen health-care delivery in Tanzania.

13 Give thanks to God for the leadership of David Wunsch and Kate Lawler-Wunsch. As regional representatives to Latin America, they embody accompaniment to the Lutheran churches in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. Kate is also site supervisor of the new Young Adults in Global Mission program in Argentina.

14 Remember Christine Eige, Paul Forsyth, John Haines, and Nicholas Mason, who teach in Japan in Lutheran schools and congregations, where English lessons help reach out to young adults. Remember the faculty, staff, and students of all of the educational institutions related to the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church.

15 Thank God for Pastor Doug and Monica Cox in Madagascar. Doug is engaged in evangelism ministry with the Malagasy Lutheran Church, and Monica works with Manna Madagascar, a craft project benefiting women.

16 Pray for Pastor Andrew and Barbara Hinderlie, regional representatives for East Africa, who work with churches of Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, and Uganda. They recently moved from Kenya to Madagascar, where Barbara will serve as administrator of the ELCA mission.

17 Advent 3

O God, look with mercy upon the people of Botswana and Zimbabwe as they continue to struggle with economic and political uncertainty. Give strength especially to the companion relationship between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe and the ELCA Upstate New York Synod.

18 Pray that leaders of new congregations and worshiping communities for African nationals will be filled with the Holy Spirit and strengthened for joyful ministries. Remember Gemechis Desta Buba in Atlanta, Ga.; Titus Clark in Baltimore and Teka Obsa Fogi in Takoma Park, Md.; Mawien Ariik in Anoka, Minn.; Ivo Mounto and Damon Laker in Omaha, Neb.; Jordan Long in Rochester, N.Y. and Moses Dennis in East Lansdowne, Diedone Diela in Telford, and Heeralal Cheedie in Tannersville, Pa.

19 Give thanks for ELCA Mission Founders B individuals and congregations who generously give Aover and above@ their regular mission support to start ELCA congregations across the country.

20 Pray for Rob Nelson, a math and computer teacher at Moringe Sokoine Secondary School in Tanzania. Pray also for the students at the school, all of whom yearn to develop skills that will help them in life.

21 Pray for encouragement for new mission developers Robert Downs in Highland, Illinois, and Don Hanberry in Bethlehem, Georgia.

22 Offer thanks and praise for the deepening relationship between the Central Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (ELCSA) and the ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod, which supports the HIV/AIDS programs of the diocese.

23 Praise God for the ministry of Louis and Mytch Dorvilier, ELCA regional representatives in West Africa. Based in Dakar, Senegal, the Dorviliers provide a ministry of accompaniment to Lutheran churches in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.

24 Christmas Eve (Advent 4)

As we thank God for the gift of God=s Son, pray for missionary children, who live, learn, and grow in their faith in a variety of settings around the world.

25 Nativity of our Lord

Almighty God, we give you thanks for showering your Spirit upon the churches of Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland. May they find continued strength to engage the social, economic, and political challenges within which they witness.

26 On the second anniversary of the 2004 tsunami, give thanks for the resilience of the survivors. Praise God for the courage of relief workers and organizations, and ask God's continuing guidance and grace as affected communities emerge from the trauma and work towards long-lasting solutions to the underlying conditions that make them vulnerable to major disasters.

27 Pray for the ministry of Paula Powell, who is beginning service with the Lutheran Communion in South Africa (LUCSA), a regional group with member churches in Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. LUCSA is located in Johannesburg, South Africa.

28 Thank God for the gifts of two missionaries concluding service in Namibia this month: Nicole Becker, a teacher at Oshigambo High School, and Loretta Carter, whose 15 years of ELCA international mission service included teaching in Tanzania, Nigeria, Madagascar, and at Oshigambo High School and Paulinum United Theological Seminary in Namibia.

29 Pray for continued lively and faithful mission at St. Paul Lutheran Church, a 98-year-old Arenewing congregation@ in Wichita, Kansas, that provides day care and after-school programs, classes in English, and weekly breakfasts for homeless people.

30 Pray for Pastor Philip and Lou-Marie Knutson, who serve with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (ELCSA). Philip works as a resource person, advisor, and trainer for ELCSA=s Christian education program. He also serves ELCA Global Mission as regional program assistant for Southern Africa.

31 Christmas 1

God almighty, we pray that your Spirit of peace may reign within the people of Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

Prayer Ventures is a guide to daily prayer for the global, social, and outreach ministries of the church. The Sunday prayers, based on the New Ecumenical Prayer Cycle from the World Council of Churches, take us on a prayer journey through various parts of the world. In addition to their use for daily prayer, Prayer Ventures can be incorporated into the prayers at Sunday worship.

This resource may be copied and shared among members and friends of the congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Prayer Ventures is produced by ELCA Evangelical Outreach, Church in Society, and Global Mission program units, in cooperation with ELCA Communication Services. Contact the units for additional information: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 8765 W. Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631. Tel. 1-800-638-3522.

Prayer Ventures is available electronically. Visit us at www.elca.org/prayerventures

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