CHRISTIAN EMPHASIS
George Williams Prayer Initiative
Prayer Movement
Praying for Each Staff Person & Board Member by name, starting
the first Monday of every Month.
A Story of Personal Prayer
In 1841, George Williams arrived in London to work as a fabric
manufacturer at the firm of Hitchcock and Rogers. Having recently
begun to grow in his relationship with God, he was concerned
about the spiritual condition of the 140 workers at his company.
What he saw did not look good according to this journal entry. "I
found no means of spiritual interest of any kind," He then
quickly thought to himself ' "What can I do for these young
men? And he began to pray. Shortly thereafter, he discovered
that a fellow worker was an active Christian. They began to
discuss something that God had put on George's heart to help
introduce the other staff to a relationship with God in Jesus
Christ.
Praying for staff by name
Their plan was simple. They prayed by name for each of their
fellow employees and confidently expected them to become Christians.
Williams soon made this matter-of-fact entry in his diary: "We
met, our numbers grew, and the room was soon crammed. In answer
to prayer, the Spirit of God was present, and we had conversion
after conversion. Scores of employees and even the firm's president,
George Hitchcock, professed faith in Christ. An observer of
the spiritual activity at Hitchcock and Rogers commented that
when Williams came to the firm in 1841, it was almost impossible
for a young man there to be a Christian. By contrast, three
years later, it was almost impossible to be anything else!
A spiritual movement is born
Others became aware of the spiritual fervor at the fabric company
and wondered why something like this should not be tried in
other firms. In 1844, 12 men met in a small room and an organization
was formed that would impact the world. The YMCA. The YMCA
as it initially grew, was a workplace prayer and outreach ministry
that lovingly shared the message of Christ. It spread to several
countries around the world and did not even have a building
until 15 years after it's initial founding- and this was to
house a library and allow for Christian education.
George Williams Initiative
The George Williams initiative is a call back to prayer- specifically
praying for staff by name at least one time a month, beginning
on the first Monday of the month.
How to participate
Please join us in the Metro Board Room the first Monday of each
month for a time of Prayer, the time each month will be 2:00
p.m.
Commitment to First Mondays
There are several ways you can approach this initiative. At a
minimum, it is our desire to set aside the first Monday of
every month to pray for staff by name. We believe there will
be spiritual power and encouragement when YMCAs across the
country are interceding on the same day in this way. God may
lead and guide you to pray more frequently than that or to
other prayer ideas that you might carry on throughout the month.
What To Do
There are several ways to approach praying for staff by name.
The key to each of these approaches is to make sure that the
staff persons name is spoken out loud in prayer. Not "Lord,
please bless our staff", but "Oh Lord, here are the staff we
bring before you by name…". Read out loud the list of
names-This is simple and the least time consuming approach.
Say Lord, here is our staff-read names-you know their needs
today and we pray….. Pray for groups of names-Pray for
groups of staff who have similar responsibilities and challenges.
Again read out the names in that group and then pray for that
needs that those staff members face. Pray for individual staff
needs-This can be an informal process at first, praying for
special needs you are aware of as they become known to the
YMCA staff family. However, as God leads, you can let staff
know a team is praying for them once a month by name, and if
they have a particular prayer need to let you know.
