Youth '98 Missions Trip
Prayer Requests

Below is a letter from John Torrens, who is the CSM director in Toronto with some suggestions for prayer for this trip. The team going includes:

Dear team leader,

As you make your preparations for your mission trip to Toronto, we want to encourage you to be in earnest prayer for your trip. Your spiritual preparations are probably more important than anything else, and we are seeing a marked difference between the groups that are "prayed up" and those that aren't. Here's some tips on how you can be praying for your trip:

1. Pray through your tentative schedule. Pray for your CSM host, and for the staff at CSM. Pray for the ministry sites where you are scheduled to go.

2. Pray for the personnel at those ministry sites. Now the key to this ministry is flexibility, and what we have planned for your group may not necessarily teach you what God wants you to learn, so He may change your schedule around. Stay open to what will happen, and pray that God may rearrange the schedule if it would lead your group towards greater growth.

3. Pray for Toronto. Pray especially for the poor, the homeless, and the downtrodden. Pray also for racial harmony in our communities and reconciliation where there has been problems. Pray for the refugees and other new immigrants. Pray for those conducting VBS programs and for the children who attend them.

4. Pray for members of your group. We've seen a lot of numbers dropping at the last minute because of sickness or injuries. We've also seen youth ministers burn out and resign, forcing the group to have to cancel their trip. PRAY FOR EACH OTHER!!

5. Pray for the safety of the group. We have yet to have a student injured or accosted while at a ministry site, and we strongly believe it's because God is watching over us.

6. Pray that God will grant you all the resources you need to be effective ministers and witnesses here in the city. "And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work" (II Cor. 9:8)

7. Pray for your pre-trip training. Groups that have prepared for their trip get much more out of it and come better able to jump right in and get involved in the city.

Thanks for your prayers. They will make a difference in the world for your upcoming trip. We look forward to your visit, and are praying for you,also.

In Jesus' name,
John Torrens
City Director, Toronto Project