For 20 years a great tool—the printed Intercessors for China prayer calendar—was available to help those who love and/or serve in China pray effectively for China. Each year had a different theme, and each day had a specific item for prayer. The printed calendars stopped in 2016 but the prayer mobilization effort continued with daily items on their website (www.prayforchina.com), Facebook (Pray for China), and Twitter (@Pray4China).
Now, after a four-year hiatus, the compilers have once again published a print calendar entitled, Pray for China: A Walk through History.
This beautifully illustrated 46-page calendar has 366 prayer items, most tied to a specific event in the history of China or the Chinese church. A daily Bible verse helps us root our prayers in God’s Word. And it arranged so it can be used every year. It is available from our friends at Ambassadors for Christ.
At the time of the last publication in 2016, we interviewed the compiler to hear the story of the calendar—how it came to be and how it was produced. You can read that interview here. We reached out to him again to ask why he decided to produce one again this year. Here is his response:
My wife and I love history because there is so much that God has to teach us from the past. Just think of the first five books of the Bible among other resources. Even though we have been posting prayer items on social media for the past few years, we wanted to take the cream of our prior work and put it into a form that could be used for many years.
I have been keeping a file organized by date on key events in the history of China and the Chinese church. The thought came to take that data and make a calendar that was not tied to one calendar year, as had been the design of our prior 20 calendars but could be used for several years. There were many days in my file without a prayer request, so for additional dates I read all the profiles in the online Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity compiled by Wright Doyle (English) and Li Yading (Chinese). That wonderful resource provided items for almost all of the available dates; I filled in a few missing dates with items about famous people like Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Ronald Reagan.
We had already written up many items for our postings on the internet and social media, but it required a major editing job to shorten those to fit the limited space available in a printed calendar. Much time was also devoted to selecting one photo for each page. Our home church generously offered us the services of a graphic designer and connected us with a printing company. Finally, we are thankful once again to Ambassadors for Christ for partnering as our distributor.
Just in time for Christmas, this calendar is a great gift for those on your list who love China and want to know how they can pray.
Image credit: congerdesign from Pixabay.
Joann Pittman
Joann Pittman is Vice President of Partnership and China Engagement and editor of ZGBriefs. Prior to joining ChinaSource, Joann spent 28 years working in China, as an English teacher, language student, program director, and cross-cultural trainer for organizations and businesses engaged in China. She has also taught Chinese at the University …View Full Bio
Are you enjoying a cup of good coffee or fragrant tea while reading the latest ChinaSource post? Consider donating the cost of that “cuppa” to support our content so we can continue to serve you with the latest on Christianity in China.