PRAY FOR OHIO is a regional network of intercessors.
ABOUT
Pastors, intercessors, prayer groups, and community members all comprise our network of Christ-followers all across Ohio. Together we are seeking the Lord and praying for His Kingdom to come in our lives and cities. We take encouragement from the assurance that “the prayers of the righteous avail much.” (James 5:16). Along with our fervent prayers, we are assured that there is tremendous power in agreement. With our monthly zoom prayer call and our quarterly prayer guide, we have the opportunity to agree in prayer with our brothers and sisters in Christ across our state. In Matthew 18:19 we read “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.”
HISTORY
In response to God’s command through Jeremiah to pray and work for the peace and prosperity of the place He has called us to live, in 2016 a small group of friends covenanted to meet weekly and pray for our villages, Loudonville and Perrysville. An Amish minister joined our prayer group and he is eager for his people to understand the good news of the gospel. The following year we began publishing and distributing "Pray for Ohio" prayer cards each quarter. These cards have been used mightily to bring prisoners to Christ, hope to victims of abuse and the light of the gospel to the Spanish speaking community across Ohio.
God’s command in the Hebrew is to pray for “Shalom”, which we understand to mean well being, peace, our children avoiding substance abuse, marriages reconciling, believers living and serving in unity, crops flourishing and healthy new calves, lambs and piglets on our farms. Shalom includes merchants prospering, Village councils serving with integrity, our ministerial association meeting in brotherly love to serve our villages in unity.
Shalom is God’s will for us and we can have it if we ask, according to Jesus’ promises. We are already seeing answers to these petitions because we serve a God for Whom nothing is impossible and Who is merciful and gracious and Who loves us.
These prayer cards are our way to extend our prayer initiative to all of Ohio and invite many to join us. It is our prayer that our state would be covered every day and night in prayer.
VILLAGES PARTICIPATING
There are groups and individuals praying for Ohio villages and cities in the following areas: Loudonville, Jelloway, Perrysville, Fredericktown, Danville, Butler, North Liberty, Ontario, Mt. Vernon, Huron, Vermilion, North Olmstead, North Ridgeville, Maple Heights, McZena, Nunda, Cleveland, Toledo, Cincinnati and Columbus.
Read more about our guiding faith statement here and groups below.
GROUPS
We meet in small groups across our region on a weekly or monthly basis. In the beginning of January 2018 we launched a calendar to track each groups' commitment to pray. As our prayer force continues to grow, we eagerly anticipate the fruit of our prayers! Click on the link below to join our prayer team and sign-up to pray for our villages on a day of the calendar (monthly or weekly).
STATEMENT OF FAITH
We deeply appreciate and value our diverse Central Ohio Christian community as an expression of how God chooses to be present today. As communicated more fully in the Lausanne Covenant and the Nicene Creed, we embrace locally a commitment to an orthodox evangelical faith and mission grounded by the centrality of Jesus Christ, a Kingdom focus, and a Gospel motivation.
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We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, and that the Bible is divinely inspired, infallible, entirely trustworthy, and authoritative in all matters of faith and life.
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We believe that there is one true and perfect Creator God, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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We believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ, including his deity, virgin birth, true humanity, redemptive death, bodily resurrection, ascension, intercessory ministry, and in his personal return in power and glory.
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We believe that all people were created in God’s image, but born sinful in nature and alienated from God, yet with the promise of salvation, provision has been made through the all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone received by faith alone and apart from human works.
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We believe in the gift of abundant life in Christ through the transforming, indwelling, empowering, and guiding presence of the Holy Spirit, and as manifested and characterized by the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit.
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We believe in the spiritual and visible unity in diversity of believers and that the Church as the Body of Christ expressed both locally and globally is called to growth in the knowledge of God, Christian witness and obedience, to meaningful worship, and to faithful ministry and mission in the world.
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We believe that God invites everyone everywhere to believe the Gospel through repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, and that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, where only believers will enjoy eternal fellowship with God in the new heaven and the new earth.
In essential beliefs, we have unity. In nonessential beliefs, we have freedom. In all our beliefs, we demonstrate love: Genesis 1:26-31, 3:1-7; Isaiah 9:6; Joel 2:28-29; Matthew 3:11, 16-17; 28:19; Mark 16:17; Luke 1:35; 24:16, 36, 39; John 1:1, 2:19; 12-14; 14:17,23; 15:4; 20:26-28; 21:4; Acts 1:5, 2:1-4, 17, 38-39, 8:14-17, 10:38, 44-47, 11:15-17; 16:31; 19:1-6; 24:15; Romans 1:11; 5:12-21; 8:11; 10:9-10; 12:4-8; 14:1,4,12, 22; 1 Corinthians 1:30, 12:1-31; 13:2; 14:1-40; 15:42, 44; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 2:16, 3:8; Ephesians 2:8-9; 4:4-6; 16; Philippians 1:21-23; 3:12-14, 21; 1 Timothy 2:5; 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:5-16, 3:16; 4:14; Titus 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 5:23; Hebrews 2:4; 3:7-11; 9:22; 12:14; 1 Peter 4:10; 2 Peter 1:21; 3:18; 1 John 5:7; Revelation 3:20.
SPIRIT of AGREEMENT
We, the Church of Ohio, affirm a Gospel community that is a visibly united and sustainable movement of the Holy Spirit. As unique congregational ministries, specialty ministries, and marketplace ministries, we commit to the transformation of our state by sharing and proclaiming Jesus Christ, pursuing justice and reconciliation, presenting a faithful public witness, demonstrating biblical generosity, and building authentic relationships across all cultural boundaries.
GOSPEL VISION (“… Jesus is Lord and Christ” Acts 2:14-41)
We affirm a Gospel community that is rooted in the whole counsel of God, consistent with the Gospel foundation of the first disciples and other historical city-wide Christian expressions, and which is:
1. CHRIST-CENTERED - We proclaim the life, death, resurrection and return of the Lord Jesus Christ by faithfully living out the Gospel in word and in deed.
2. CHURCH-DRIVEN - We mobilize congregations and communities of believers to carry out the Great Commission as the people of God gathered and deployed in the city.
3. DISCIPLE-LED - We equip and encourage Christ-followers in all spheres of relationship, ministry and influence with vision, passion and resources.
4. CITY-REACHING - We collaborate with Christian leaders and city influencers to discern the city's needs and work from a posture of humility to demonstrate Christ’s redemptive power.
5. KINGDOM-REALIZING - We serve to mediate the presence of God in the world and the influence of God manifested in the various domains of culture for human flourishing.
GOSPEL VALUES (Acts 2:42-47)
We affirm a Gospel community that is guided by the whole counsel of God and consistent with the lived-out convictions of the early church, which prioritizes:
1. UNIFYING FAITH
2. AUTHENTIC COLLABORATION
3. WHOLE-LIFE DISCIPLESHIP
4. BIBLICAL GENEROSITY
5. FLOURISHING PEACE