The 40 Prayers resource is the most comprehensive and offers a wealth of petitions. The Global Prayer Concerns is a condensed version of the 40 Prayers and works well as a self-contained handout.
| Global Prayer Concerns (20 prayers)
Print both sheets and copy back-to-back. This format is designed to be a two-sided, folded insert, so that the title page is on the front and the last prayers are on the back. It's a good idea to print a test copy to make sure you have copied the sheets correctly for folding.
Printable versions: Word | PDF |
40 Prayers
Cut and paste these into your congregation or synod newsletters or bulletins--a great tie in when you plan an ELCA World Hunger or international focus. Use them all or just a few...whatever works for you. Lent or Thanksgiving to New Year's Day are suggested uses.
Printable versions: Word | PDF |
Prayers are listed alphabetically by area, organization, country, or topic.
Afghanistan
Some reports say more than half of the country’s infrastructure was destroyed over two decades of war, internal ethnic conflicts, severe drought, the Allied bombing after September 11, 2001, and other disasters. The ELCA has worked through Lutheran World Relief, the Lutheran World Federation, and other ecumenical partners to bring extensive material aid to the refugees and displaced people of Afghanistan, including refugees returning from other countries. PRAY for a lasting system of development and peace in a land with a harsh recent past.
Augusta Victoria Hospital
This hospital, located on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem and operated by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), has faced a dire financial crisis in recent years due to the loss of a significant source of its funding through the Palestinian Authority. In 2006, the ELCA gave the hospital a $100,000 grant for emergency financial support. PRAY for the continued operation of this hospital, which daily provides life-saving treatment for so many Palestinians who walk miles and brave checkpoints to get there.
Bread for the World
Bread for the World is an ecumenical nonpartisan citizens' movement of 48,000 people of faith, including 2,500 churches. Members of Bread for the World help hungry people by presenting a unified Christian voice to lobby our nation's decision-makers on legislation that addresses hunger in our communities and around the world. An ELCA pastor, Rev. David Beckmann, is the president of Bread for the World. PRAY for this advocacy effort on behalf of people who are hungry and living in poverty, and for the leadership of Rev. Beckmann, that this movement will continue to be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.
Cambodia
In Cambodia, less than a quarter of rural households have safe drinking water. In this Southeast Asia country, the Lutheran World Federation constructed 571 deep wells, 518 shallow wells, and created active water committees in 370 villages to educate the population about the need for clean water, monitor the water supply, and maintain the wells and pumps. PRAY especially for vulnerable groups in poor rural communities, who face daily challenges such as access to clean water, landmines, food shortages, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, poor education, and land-grabbing.
Chile
One out of every six people in the world lacks access to a reliable source of clean water. In Chile, ELCA World Hunger Appeal gifts help support EPES (Popular Education for Health), where staff and health promoters tackle issues like a lack of running water, sanitation, and electricity. These health workers serve a population of shantytowns where people are hungry or lack access to safe drinking water. PRAY that EPES and similar organizations will continue to find ways to bring this life-giving access to water to communities throughout the world.
China
Torrential floods from Tropical Storm Bilis affected parts of southern China last summer. Torrential rains also triggered flooding that turned vast areas of southern China into muddy lakes and razed mountain villages, destroying more than 76,000 housing units and damaging 234,000 units. Typhoon Saomai arrived in mid-August and caused serious losses in Fujian and Zhejiang Provinces. PRAY for the victims of these natural disasters and for ELCA International Disaster Response as it pledges support to those who have been affected.
Church World Service
Founded in 1946, Church World Service is the relief, development, and refugee assistance ministry of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations in the United States, including the ELCA. Church World Service also puts on the CROP Walk for Hunger. Working in partnership with indigenous organizations in more than 80 countries (as well as in the U.S.), Church World Service works to meet human needs and foster self-reliance for people who are hungry, living in poverty, or are affected by violence and internal displacement. PRAY for this important international community of churches as it works with and on behalf of the ELCA and other denominations to improve the lives of people all over the world.
Darfur
The humanitarian aid situation throughout Darfur continues to worsen, despite mediation efforts by the United Nations and more peacekeeping troops in the area. Darfur has been described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises in recent times. Fighting between rebel groups has directly affected more than two million people. At least 1.2 million people have been displaced since early 2003. PRAY for a sustaining peace in this region, that people will stop fighting and displaced people will be able to return home and live in without fear. PRAY for and support ELCA International Disaster Response as it raises and pledges money for the effort to restore this area of the world.
Eritrea
The ELCA sent $50,000 through Action by Churches Together for relief and rehabilitation work related to drought in Eritrea. These funds will be implemented locally by the Lutheran World Federation. PRAY for the work of the ELCA through the Lutheran World Federation as it partners with the Evangelical Church of Eritrea to provide relief to families suffering hunger and thirst.
Ethiopia
Each year, millions of people in Ethiopia are at severe risk of starvation. PRAY for the ELCA and its partner organizations, Lutheran World Relief and the Lutheran World Federation, that together Lutherans can make a strong and visible dent in this mass famine that continues in Africa.
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Central Florida
On February 2, severe storms and tornadoes swept through four counties (Lake, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia) in central Florida, leaving 20 people dead and between 1,500 and 2,000 homes damaged. Through Lutheran Disaster Response, Lutherans in Florida are now helping local communities with the clean-up efforts. PRAY for the efforts of Lutheran Disaster Response and the many volunteers helping to clean up. PRAY for the many families devastated by this disaster, that God may bring healing and strength to them in their hour of need.
Gulf Coast, United States
PRAY for the countless people affected by the Gulf Coast hurricanes in the deadly 2005 hurricane season. PRAY for ELCA Domestic Disaster Response as it works with local churches and communities to support families and congregations affected by this disaster and continue the lengthy rebuilding process.
Haiti
The ELCA has been a long-time partner in relief and development projects in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Many Haitians live on $2 a day and barely survive. Through the Lutheran World Federation, the ELCA’s lasting partnerships have offered Haitian farmers a chance to form coffee cooperatives and earn better livings as well as share their own ideas for improving their communities. PRAY that this lasting relationship continues and that the people of Haiti will be strengthened and sustained as they work hard to survive.
HIV/AIDS
An estimated 40.3 million people in the world are living with HIV or AIDS. Approximately 1 million live in the United States, and 64 percent of infected people live in sub-Saharan Africa. PRAY for the Stand With Africa effort of the ELCA as it works to combat HIV/AIDS. PRAY for U.S. ministries supported by the ELCA’s Domestic Hunger Grants Program—ministries, churches, and programs that support people affected with HIV/AIDS. PRAY especially for the people infected and affected by this deadly disease, that they be strengthened and sustained and that their families be cared for, including the countless AIDS orphans in Africa.
Hunger Ministries in the United States
In 2007, the ELCA World Hunger Program awarded 360 domestic hunger grants to churches and organizations in the United States that offer relief, development, and community organizing services and programs for people who are hungry or living in poverty. PRAY for the continued work of these ministries, that they might provide food, clothing, shelter, and efforts to help develop and organize people in their communities.
India
The ELCA is active in many areas of India, working through Lutheran World Relief to assist Indians in implementing development projects or accessing things link clean water and health care. Besides irrigation projects and specialized health care for women and infants, Lutherans work with a local partner organization in Jamkhed in a unique project that provides free artificial limbs to people who cannot afford them. PRAY for the sustained health of people in India. PRAY for the many thousands who continue to rebuild after the tsunami more than two years ago. PRAY also for the victims of the recent train crash.
Landmines
Many nations of the world struggle in the aftermath of war to clean up their war-torn lands and rebuild a safe environment in which people can live. Landmines left on the fields of battle can make any post-war peace nearly impossible. People return to and walk around their home towns and lose their lives or their limbs in a split second by stepping on a leftover landmine. PRAY for ELCA partner organizations like Lutheran World Relief that work diligently with people of post-war nations to eradicate landmines and make the land safe to inhabit.
Lebanon
The Contact and Resource Center, an institution designed to enhance the future of people living with disabilities in Lebanon, is located in Beirut. It is a companion ministry of the ELCA that supports people with disabilities who are often left vulnerable, both physically and emotionally, during the current military confrontation. PRAY for the efforts of ELCA International Disaster Response, which initially sent $30,000 in support of this program. PRAY for the staff at the Contact and Resource Center and the people with disabilities whom they serve, that all may find peace and support in a time of conflict.
Liberia
For more than a decade, Liberia has suffered from the instability of intermittent civil war. The ELCA continues to support the Lutheran Church in Liberia and all who assist in the rebuilding effort after a prolonged internal conflict. PRAY that the ELCA, working through Action by Churches Together, Lutheran World Relief, and Lutheran World Federation, can help a mass international humanitarian aid effort to provide food, clothing, shelter, clean drinking water, and medical supplies in a country with widespread violence and instability.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service works with refugees, migrants, and asylum-seekers; helps U.S. citizens in difficult situations overseas; and enables congregations and individuals to aid in its mission. It also speaks out for fair public policies joins with other agencies, organizations, and individuals—locally, nationally, and internationally—to preserve human dignity. PRAY for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and the thousands of people it serves, people often stranded in a strange land or detained, without representation, by U.S. authorities.
The Lutheran World Federation
The Lutheran World Federation is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. It is a worldwide communion of 66.2 million Lutherans, including 140 member churches in 78 countries. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in many areas of the world to help bring theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and other aspects of church mission and development to people living in poverty. PRAY for the Lutheran World Federation as it acts on behalf of the ELCA and other Lutherans to work with people who are hungry and living in poverty.
Lutheran World Relief
Lutheran World Relief works with partners in 35 countries (including the U.S.) to help people grow food, improve health, strengthen communities, end conflict, build livelihoods, and recover from disasters. PRAY for Lutheran World Relief as it carries out God’s work throughout the world, acting on behalf of the ELCA, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and all U.S. Lutherans.
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Mexico
The ELCA World Hunger Program and ELCA Global Mission support a grassroots coalition of Mexican Christians known as AMEXTRA, or the Mexican Association for Rural and Urban Transformation. AMEXTRA provides food and services to people in some of Mexico’s poorest areas by developing community-improvement programs. The program promotes holistic reform and education of individuals, families, and communities. PRAY for Eugenio Araiza Bahena, the director of the program, his family, and all those who work hard each day to improve the quality of lives for their Mexican sisters and brothers.
Nepal
The Lutheran World Federation program in Nepal has been supporting over 100,000 refugees from Bhutan in refugee camps for more than 15 years. They fled from their homes in Southern Bhutan in early 1991. PRAY for the well-being of the people of Nepal, especially those living in extreme poverty, and that refugees may find permanent homes and rebuild their lives.
Peru
Many people lack access to clean water in Peru, primarily water for drinking and crop irrigation. Your gifts to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal support people in Peru, such as people who have created fish farms to raise trout with the help of ELCA partner organization Lutheran World Relief. After three years of drought, an irrigation system will now allow multiple crops of quinoa (a high-protein grain) to grow in another area where 60 farm families live. A mountain spring will fill their 33,000-gallon reservoir, which in turn will supply the mechanized irrigation system. PRAY that these communities will now be sustained through their newfound water and irrigation systems.
Russia
The break-up of the Soviet Union caused major economic disruptions. Many, including pensioners, lack enough to eat because of the pervasive nature of this economic crisis. The ELCA World Hunger Appeal raises money to support Lutheran missionaries through ELCA Global Mission. The ELCA works in partnership with different denominations to provide soup kitchens and other assistance to people living in poverty, especially people who are elderly. PRAY for this continued lifeline for affected people in Russia.
Senegal
Among the Pulaar nomadic herders in rural northeastern Senegal, milking is a woman's job. After rising early in the morning to milk cows, women then push a wooden cart filled with milk over rough dirt roads for miles to the nearest town where they can sell it. This is the primary source of income for some women and their families, and some villages depend entirely on milk sales for their livelihood. Your gifts to the World Hunger Appeal helped ELCA Global Mission start this herder’s cooperative nearly 13 years ago, working with local people to get the operation going. PRAY for the long-term success of this cooperative and for the Pulaar women who work hard every day to earn a living.
Souper Bowl of Caring
This national event held every year on the same Sunday as the NFL's Super Bowl is traditionally led by youth who stand at sanctuary exits in congregations following worship services on that Sunday and collect $1 and/or one can of food from each parishioner. The money and food collected supports local, national, and international anti-hunger efforts. Each congregation decides where and how their collection is distributed. Many give to both a local food pantry and to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal to care for neighbors around the corner and around the world.
Over $8 million was collected by participants across the United States! ELCA Lutherans contributed nearly $800,000 of that amount and participate every year. PRAY that youth across the country will continue to use their creativity to raise money for and awareness about world hunger.
Southeast Asia
PRAY for the millions of people affected by the tsunami that devastated this area of the world at the end of 2004. PRAY for the ELCA’s work with companion organizations and churches, that this work might be strengthened for the many years of rebuilding that lie ahead in the wake of such a powerful and overwhelming tragedy.
Stand With Africa
Stand With Africa is an ongoing emphasis of the ELCA that supports African churches and communities as they withstand AIDS, banish hunger, and build peace. The ELCA continues its support of Africa in this special way by recognizing the unique challenges that our African sisters and brothers face. PRAY that this effort will allow Lutherans to reach even more people in Africa as they battle a deadly disease, struggle to fight starvation, and seek an end to violence in many nations.
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Tanzania
Many people in Tanzania are affected by the HIV/AIDS and food crises of the region, resulting from lack of health education and disease prevention as well as severe droughts. Many households are headed by children as young as 14 or 15 years old, children who often care for multiple younger siblings. PRAY for the Lutheran Church in Tanzania and the ELCA as it relates in many ways to many people in this country, such as by supporting the HUYAWA program that works with orphans and children who are head of their household.
Texas
Floods, tornados, and hurricanes are regular occurrences in this state off the Gulf of Mexico. Lutheran Disaster Response works there regularly with local churches and organizations in Texas as part of massive recovery efforts. PRAY for the people constantly affected by these disasters and having to live in fear of the next disaster, especially people living in poverty who now have little or no resources on which to survive.
Uganda
The rate of HIV infections in Uganda has dropped from 30 percent to 6.2 percent since 1992 thanks to early cooperative efforts between the government, churches, local and international non-governmental organizations, and United Nations member agencies. Gifts to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal have supported a Lutheran World Federation vocational program that provides training for AIDS orphans who are now responsible for earning their own wages and, in many cases, caring for younger siblings. PRAY for this vital ministry, for AIDS orphans in Uganda and other African nations, and for the continued reduction and increased awareness of HIV/AIDS.
United States
American Indian and Alaska Native families, the first inhabitants of this abundant land, continue to experience a poverty rate more than twice as high as the general population. PRAY for these families as the ELCA and its partnerships with Native communities work to break this harsh cycle of poverty through food assistance and community organizing and development projects in the continental U.S. as well as Alaska.
Unnamed, unknown victims of hunger and poverty
Lord, in every corner of this earth you have created we know there are people who are hungry, who live in poverty, or who live in fear of persecution. We confess that we do not always see these, your children, in their time of need. Sometimes we do see them, but we look the other way and hope they won’t bother us. We PRAY that you will open our eyes and our hearts to pour out on them the compassion that you pour out on us every day. Help us to know their names and their faces, that we might be moved to walk with them so that they do not suffer anonymously in our backyards.
ELCA Washington Office
PRAY for the ELCA Washington Office as it represents the ELCA and its position within the area of public debate, witnesses for social justice on domestic and foreign policy issues facing the nation, and provides communication between the ELCA and the federal government, working on behalf of people living in poverty who may not be able to make their voices heard.
West Bank/Jerusalem
PRAY for the many victims of violence, political upheaval, and unrest in this region. PRAY for the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities—hat they might ultimately know a lasting peace and coexist peacefully in and around the Holy Land. PRAY for the ELCA World Hunger Program and ELCA Global Mission as they actively work with and through the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan, its bishop, Munib Younan, Augusta Victoria Hospital, Lutheran schools in the Holy Land, and many more people and programs in the Middle East.
What a Relief! program
In the spring of 2006, nearly 1,100 college students, campus ministers, professors, and other members of 54 campus communities participated in the first-ever Lutheran Disaster Response “What a Relief!” alternative spring break. Participants volunteered in the hurricane-damaged areas of the Gulf Coast. PRAY for the participants of this now annual event, that they might be strengthened to do this vital work.
Your community
What can you do to help people who are hungry in your community? Where can you volunteer? How could you lead a simpler lifestyle in order to share more of your blessings and material wealth with others? Do you have a special talent that could be put to use? PRAY that God might lead you to a ministry you might not have considered or to a place where your gifts might be a blessing in service to others.
Youth
PRAY for the youth of the ELCA, including the 40,000-plus young people who attended the 2006 Youth Gathering and are now faced with making a difference in their own communities and out in the world. PRAY that they be strengthened to do God’s work, to be an example to their peers, and to be energized and passionate about what they have learned and the gifts they have to share in service to others.