Week of Prayer – GOTM

It’s all about the Great Commission! Please join us in praying for God to give believers boldness, leaders resources, and Tennesseans openness to the Gospel. It takes 8 hours to drive from Memphis to Mountain City.  We have a large, diverse mission field. Let’s go!

The Golden Offering supports Evangelism & Discipleship ministries, student events, evangelism training, VBS equipping, and discipleship strategies for all ages.

Praying for Evangelism & Discipleship

• Pray for Tennessee Baptists to pray, connect, invite, share, love, grow, and multiply so that we can win Tennessee for Christ. Tennessee is a mission field, and we must see ourselves as missionaries. Together we can see at least 50,000 Tennesseans annually saved, baptized, and set on the road to discipleship.
• Pray for the campers, chaperones, and camp staff attending Journey Camps and YEC Camps each summer. Pray that the next generation will respond to the gospel and that churches will see an increase in children and youth being saved, baptized, discipled, and mobilized to fulfill the Great Commission.It’s all about the Great Commission! Please join us in praying for God to give believers boldness, leaders resources, and Tennesseans openness to the Gospel. It takes 8 hours to drive from Memphis to Mountain City.  We have a large, diverse mission field. Let’s go!

Since the advent of the pandemic almost every church has been struggling to rebound. We are asking God to do a new thing in our churches. We need a fresh outpouring of renewal. Let’s pray that we do everything we can to see this happen in Tennessee.

The Golden Offering supports Church Revitalization ministries through our Tennessee Baptist coaches that help struggling churches and support pastors in developing comeback strategies.

Praying for Church Revitalization

• Pray for the TBMB Church Revitalization Team as they seek to come alongside and serve churches.
• Pray for innovative as ways to broaden the appeal of church revitalization so more churches are prayerfully considered.
• Pray for opportunities to serve churches that are plateaued, in slow decline but not in crisis.
• Pray for encouragement, discernment and strength for pastors and key church leaders whose churches are on the revitalization journey.

There are communities and people groups all over Tennessee that need a gospel witness. Imagine what would happen if churches would plant new churches to reach people they can’t reach. Pray that God will bring new life to these areas of need.

The Golden Offering supports Church Planting ministries by funding church planters, providing training, and funding new spaces for worship, discipleship and Bible study.

Praying for New Churches

• All across Tennessee, churches are being planted in rural, urban and suburban settings.
• Pray for the 94 new churches that joined the network of the Tennessee Baptist Convention during the past two years.
• Pray for the new church plant in Memphis, with a pastor from Afghanistan, as they reach newly arrived refugees with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• Pray for those ministering to Somalian immigrants in Nashville as they engage the Somalis with the gospel through church planting strategies.
• More than 10,000 workers will be moving into the Stanton-Brownsville area for Ford Motor Company’s Blue Oval City plant. This will be an enormous opportunity to plant new churches and reach hundreds of people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Ask God to call people to this harvest field to invest their time, talents and treasures.

Disasters often present open doors. Victims receive hope, encouragement, help and salvation every year. God has the power to bring beauty from the wreckage. As unpredictable as a disaster may be, they occur with great consistency. Pray that God will send ambassadors of Christ to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

The Golden Offering supports Disaster Relief ministries through training, equipment, and facilities.

Praying for Disaster Relief

• Pray for volunteers as they work to bring Help (meeting physical needs), Hope (introducing them to a personal relationship with Christ), and Healing (physical, emotional and spiritual) to those affected by a disaster.
• Pray for more people of all ages to be willing to volunteer their time and talents to serve those affected by disasters.
• Praise God for the faithfulness of TBC churches and their giving through the Golden Offering, Cooperative Program and special gifts that make this ministry possible.

Two-thirds of young people who previously attended church say they stopped regularly going to church for at least a year between the ages of 18 and 22, a new LifeWay Research survey shows. Baptist Collegiate Ministries are vitally important! We have ministries on almost every major college campus in Tennessee. Pray that God will spark another great revival and awakening on our college campuses.

The Golden Offering supports Baptist Collegiate Ministries through facilities, training, events, evangelism, and discipleship.

Praying for Baptist Collegiate Ministries

• Pray for the creative efforts of collegiate ministers as they endeavor to take the Good News into campuses where young adults often have no knowledge of scripture and no awareness of their need for God. Pray for their plans to train students to be Christian ambassadors for university campuses across our state.
• Pray for young men and women as they are called into a lifetime of service for Christ. Pray that they respond to the church’s need for missionaries, pastors, student pastors and other servants for the future of the Kingdom. Pray for the wisdom of collegiate ministers as they encourage and disciple those young adults.

Christians are commanded to take the gospel to all peoples. WMU provides opportunities for adults, students, children, and preschoolers to deepen and strengthen their discipleship and impact. Tennessee WMU seeks to come alongside churches as we fulfill the Great Commission. WMU provides relevant and engaging resources for every age level to learn about and pray for missions and provides a variety of opportunities to be involved in missions. Pray for WMU mission discipleship groups and ministries that are focused on making disciples of Jesus who live on mission.

The Golden Offering supports Tennessee WMU ministries like Christian Women’s/Men’s Job Corp, Missionary Care, WMU student scholarships, children’s missions discipleship events, equipping missions leaders, and more.

Praying for TN WMU

• Pray for Christian Women’s/Men’s Job Corps instructors and volunteers as they minister to participants in jails, prisons and classrooms. Pray that the words of their mouths will be pleasing to the Lord as they share the hope and truth of the gospel.
• Pray that WMU scholarship recipients will be a light on their university campuses and that they will boldly share the gospel with others.
• Pray for missions discipleship leaders as they encourage and equip preschoolers, children, students and adults to engage in missions learning and involvement that enables them to fulfill the Great Commission.

Did you know that 15% of GOTM funds given by churches goes back to their Association? These funds helps associations and their strategists to reach the spiritually lost in their community nearby and next door. Pray that God will do a new thing in those places closest to you.

Associations use Golden Offering funds for ministries like pastor training and cooperation, church planting, compassion ministry, counseling, and evangelism events.

For more information about how GOTM funds are used in your association, contact your Associational Missions Strategist/Director of Mission.

Praying for Associational Ministries

• Pray for the new Associational Mission Strategists in Tennessee as they seek God’s direction for the work of their associations.
• Pray that they would be able to develop strong relationships with the pastors and leaders within their associations as well. Pray for new pastors of churches in Tennessee. Pray that they would see lost people saved, saved people discipled, and discipled people mobilized to multiply.
• Pray for associational leaders as they start new ministries to assist their churches in accomplishing their Great Commission mandate to “Go and make disciples!”

Now more than ever, Tennessee Baptists are responding to God’s call to meet critical needs and serve the least of these with dignity, assistance and the gospel. Compassion Ministries help increase awareness, develop strategies, provide resources, train volunteers, and connect people to address the issues that challenge our communities. Pray for compassion ministries to have resources to meet the needs of struggling Tennesseans and to ultimately win Tennessee through love and kindness.

The Golden Offering supports Compassion Ministries through church-based ministries, food distribution, unplanned pregnancy support, foster care, prison and jail ministries, just to name a few.

Praying for Compassion Ministries

• One in eight persons in Tennessee faces hunger. Pray for churches and ministries that provide food to individuals experiencing hunger and food insecurity. More than 55,000 Tennesseans are behind bars. Pray for churches ministering to incarcerated individuals, their families and those recently released.
• Pray for churches ministering to internationals through English classes, job training and other compassion ministries.
  The opioid crisis is ravaging our communities. Pray for churches leading recovery ministries and for individuals to find freedom in Christ from addiction.
• Pray for how your church can meet needs in your community and build relationships with hurting people so they can hear the gospel.