Pray with us for worldwide Bible mission

Here in New Zealand as we pray our morning prayers, those in the United Kingdom will be saying their evening prayers. And in the many countries between, individuals and groups will be offering prayer all day long. What a great privilege we have to be part of ‘the voice of prayer that is never silent.’

Join with us in prayer for the worldwide mission of Bible Society to bring God’s Word to all people in a language they understand, in a format that is appropriate, and at a price they can afford.

These monthly prayer points provide a guide to prayer, giving a brief paragraph about the Bible work each national Bible Society would like us to focus on.

Every Bible Society is grateful for your prayers and we ask God that all who pray for the spread of the Gospel may be blessed by it themselves.

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, requests, and thanksgivings be offered to God for all people

- 1 Timothy 2: 1 (GNT)

JUNE 1 – 7

PAKISTAN: Please pray for programmes which are being run as part of the 150 year celebration of Bible Society work in Pakistan including a Bible quiz, an art competition and a sports festival that many will be further engaged with the Bible and with the work of the society through them.

LAOS: Give thanks for the Revised Lao Bible, which was launched in November 2012. An initial print run of 5,000 has been sold out and 10,000 more Bibles are in the process of being printed. Please pray for the safety of Bible Society staff in this country where Bible mission is sensitive.

VIETNAM: lease pray for a new project starting this year, providing Scripture texts in the original languages of Greek and Hebrew, and Study Bibles in Vietnamese to seminary students. Please pray for translation projects in ethnic minority languages and that a license for the printing of the Jarai New Testament will be granted.

JUNE 8 – 14

CAMBODIA: Please pray for the audio recording of a new literacy programme for Vietnamese migrants living in Cambodia. Once completed, the programme will also be used in Vietnam. Please pray for Bible Society’s Mobile Distribution Unit which travels regularly to rural areas, that through it many people will have access to the Bible.

INDIA: Please pray for the Bible Society of India’s projects including Equipping Widows and Suffering Women through Scripture Engagement, which Bible Society New Zealand is helping fund this year, and Equipping School Dropouts through Scripture Engagement, that many lives will be transformed through the Bible.

BANGLADESH: Please pray for the Bible Society of Bangladesh’s literacy projects which run through rural churches, but which urgently require funding. Please pray for peace to be restored in the nation following a wave of violence which has swept across the country, and for all those who lost loved ones in the tragic factory collapse.

JUNE 15 – 22

MYANMAR: Please pray for the printing of the Judson Burmese Bible, which is being printed to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the arrival of American missionary Adoniram Judson in Burma (now known as Myanmar). He was the first person to translate the Bible into Burmese, and it was published in 1913. Please pray for the printing of Bibles for other ethnic groups including the Khualsim New Testament.

CHINA: Please pray for literacy classes that people will not only learn to read and write, but that they will grow in the Christian faith. Please pray for both the preachers who take the classes and the participants.

AUSTRALIA: Please pray for audio recordings of Scriptures into indigenous languages, that many Aboriginal people, who often suffer from low literacy rates and poor eyesight, will come to faith through these recordings.

PHILIPPINES: Please pray for the May They Be One campaign which aims to place the Bible into five million homes, for funding, and for transformed lives. Please pray for the Bible Museum that it will be an effective outreach to the many from churches, parishes, schools, companies and organisations who visit it each year.

JUNE 23 – 30

SOUTH PACIFIC: Give thanks for the Fijian New Version Bible which was launched in Suva last month. Please pray for ongoing translation projects including the Tuvalu Bible and the Tongan Bible.

JAPAN: Give thanks for the progress being made on a new Bible translation and pray that it and other Scripture resources will help spread the Gospel message in Japan.

ISRAEL: Please pray that the Hebrew-Russian Bible for Russian Jews living in Israel, and the Hebrew-French Proverbs for Jews who have migrated to Israel from France in the wake of increased anti-semitism will be effective outreach tools for these two groups.