Starting this past Easter Sunday, "YWAMers" around the world began the biggest prayer event in YWAM history. Five days since then, an estimated 20,000 people, or 65 percent of YWAM members have already gotten involved.

The event’s 50 Days of Prayer website received 700 visitors in the first hour after it was launched.

For 50 days until Pentecost, YWAM is renewing its calling to "embark on a journey" in pioneering places that do not yet have a YWAM mission base, said Lynn Green, YWAM’s International Chairperson.

Prayers will be focused on asking God for a fresh heart for missions. The Re-aligning With Our Foundations prayer guide on the site has 50 prayer topics – one for each day of the event.

The website, found at www.50days.net also helps YWAMers pray by letting members connect with one another. One section features a map of the world organised by "Omega Zones." Each Omega Zone represents a part of the map and contains a prayer topic allowing prayers to be more specific.

As people log in prayers, the world literally lights up as each of the nearly 4,400 zones in the map turn from black to white. In five days of activity, 205 Omega Zones have already been lit.

"It is our goal that every single one of those omega zones will be prayed for by the end of 50 days," states Dustin Barrington of YWAM.

Barrington says the response has been "pleasantly" surprising. However he says, "we’re not surprised per se because we had high expectations that this would be helpful, we've been pleasantly surprised that people are really embracing it."

"What happens within mission organisations is that after the first generation, [stamina for missions] kind of goes away." People need to start reevaluating where they're going and what they're doing. We need to recharge our pioneering rites, said Barrington.

YWAM invites all to pray with the leadership until Ascension Day (May 5), and Pentecost (May 15) during the 50 Days of Prayer.





Rhoda Tse
Ecumenical Press