CEE Story From The Mission Field
Prayer Shoveling
August 19, 2002
Prayer walking has become a popular tool among missionaries to "break ground" in unevangelized places. The missionary is able to familiarize himself or herself with the neighborhood, pray for the people who live and work there, and begin to get a sense of how God may want to reach the people of the area with the Gospel. Missionaries in the flood stricken regions of Prague, Czech Republic have discovered that prayer walking is not enough during this time of emergency. They have transformed it to what one aptly named "prayer shoveling!"
Missionaries of the Prague Team took time out of their normal activities to lend a hand in the relief effort by picking up a shovel and helping to clean mud out of a few areas damaged by the flood. The team's leader and Strategy Coordinator for the Czech Republic, Matthew Stephens, coordinated missionary participation with the local authorities. He said, "It's not often missionaries are called to do this kind of manual labor. I felt like I was on an emergency volunteer mission trip in my own city!"
Another missionary said that he used the time to pray. Spending the day shoveling mud may not sound like an opportune time to spend in prayer, but these missionaries used this time to not only offer a helping hand to the relief effort of cleaning up the areas affected by the flood, but as they shoveled they entreated the Lord to reach down and make Himself known to the people of Prague. Throughout history, God has used such tragic events as these to bring people to Himself.
Please join these missionaries in interceding for the city of Prague and the surrounding areas affected by the flood. Pray that the Czech people would be sensitive to the Lord's message for their lives and not just on the recovery effort. Pray that the local Christians would step forward and lead in the relief effort and, more importantly, that they would boldly proclaim that Jesus Christ is the only way for the people to truly recover from their present state, physical as well as spiritual.
Not only is Prague in a physical state of emergency, but a spiritual one as well. Percentage wise, it has more atheists and agnostics than any other place in Central and Eastern Europe.
Prayer shoveling may not be something that will catch on in missionary work. In fact, it will only be used in Prague for a couple of weeks, but, just like the mud will soon dry up or be cleaned away, the opportunity for "breaking ground" in the normally hard dirt of the Czech soul may disappear just as rapidly after Prague returns to "normal" in the upcoming months.
View the photo essay of "Prayer Shoveling. "
View the photo essay of "2002 Prague Flood