Pray! Magazine: July/August 2005 edition

Ethiopian Prayer Network Prays for the United States

ADDIS ABABA (ETHIOPIA): Last November, thousands of Ethiopian Christians gathered in their hometowns across the east African nation to pray to the U.S. presidential election. Several of the groups gathered around American flags, laying on them and interceding for the nation's political future, as well as for its military men and women serving in Iraq.

It was all part of Ethiopia's intercessors' 90-day prayer focus for the United States, said Pamella Foster, Ethiopia's coordinator for Accelerating International Mission Strategies (AIMS).

In 2001, 650 believers gathered in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia to be trained in intercessory prayer. They were all participating in a missions training conference sponsored by the indigenous Evangelical Church Fellowship of Ethiopia (which represent 97 percent of the evangelical churches in the nation) and AIMS. From those 650 intercessors, a 24/7 prayer network, which now spans the country, was developed.

Although the primary focus of the dozens of prayer groups is the evangelization of their own nation, there is also a global focus. Each month, they pray for a different nation. Sometimes, in cases of urgent need, they extend their watch for three months. One time, they prayed for missionaries who had been taken prisoner, Foster said. They added fasting to their prayers, and after three months, the missionaries were released.

Since the prayer network began, Ethiopia has seen a greatly increased spiritual harvest. "There have been reports of miracles, dreams, and visions - even people being raised from the dead, especially among the nation's Muslims," Foster said.

For reprint information, please call the AIMS publication office at (757) 495-5850 or email the editor at aims@aims.org.

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