
Throughout the month of March, we will be providing daily prayer prompts for each day of the week, Monday through Saturday. Each Sunday, as you gather with the fellowship of believers in your local church, we are asking you to pray for all the new believers that we have seen come to know the Lord within that week. For the first three weeks, we’ll focus on the prayer needs of one of our ministry partners. We will then share Doulos specific prayer requests as we finish out the month.
Week of March 2—7: DOOR International
Through training and sign-language Bible translations, DOOR takes God’s Word and reproduces Christian fellowships among the estimated 70 million deaf people around the world. Taken together, the deaf represent the largest unreached people group. Roughly 68 million of them do not know or follow the Lord. Most of DOOR’s staff and leaders themselves are deaf, and DOOR is actively seeking additional, qualified deaf leaders for positions around the world. Please pray for them this week. Matthew 9: 37—38.
Daily Prayer Requests
Monday, March 2: Pray that the Lord’s blessings, guidance and wisdom will rest on DOOR’s roughly 170 staffers, employees and translation consultants around the world. Pray specifically for DOOR’s new International Operations Director, Carrie, as she begins to navigate her new responsibilities. 2 Timothy 4: 1—5.
Tuesday, March 3: Pray for the ongoing selections of DOOR’s “2 by 2 teams” in local communities around the world. These leadership teams, comprised of one deaf evangelist and one deaf teacher, are taking God’s Word in local sign languages to those who have never read it in their heart language. The teams start “believers’ fellowships” among the deaf in each community. Pray especially for the six new teams just launched in Asia, that their work will be fruitful despite the additional challenges resulting from the coronavirus. Romans 10: 14—15.
Wednesday, March 4: Pray for the deaf “believers’ fellowships” around the world as many new believers learn to worship and praise the Lord “in spirit and in truth” even if somewhat differently than “hearing” people. John 4: 23—24.
Thursday, March 5: Pray for healthy marriages and families for deaf Christians. About 90% of deaf children are born to two hearing parents, and 85% of those parents choose not to learn sign language. About 80% of deaf children receive no formal education at all. The statistics unsurprisingly tend to be worse in developing countries. Many deaf children have very dysfunctional family and interpersonal communications, which often carry over into their own future marriages and families. Ephesians 6: 1—4.
Friday, March 6: Pray for the selections and success of the sign language translations among the estimated 350+ known sign languages. So far, 26 sign languages have at least some portion of scripture available, and DOOR has participated in 16 of those translations. DOOR and its partners have a goal that by 2025, 50% of the world’s deaf population will have access to God’s Word in their heart language and a church planting movement in their own ethnic people group. Hebrews 4:12.
Saturday, March 7: Pray for DOOR’s other ministry partners besides Doulos and the unity of all these Christian groups as more evidence that the Father sent the Son. DOOR’s partners include churches in and near the targeted communities, and the following four Christian deaf ministries: Asia Pacific Sign Language Development Association; The Seed Company; Deaf Harbor; and Deaf Bible Society. John 17: 20—23.
Sunday, March 8: Pray for all of the new believers who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus this week.