Thank you for joining us in prayer. With our Father in heaven, all things are possible.
We would not be as effective in the work we do without your prayers; thank you for joining with us in this way. Please continue to pray for our work, our volunteers and those we are working with.
“We can do great things after we pray, but we cannot do great things until we pray – Let us pray!”
Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin
The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.
The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is
“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4 NIV
"It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth"
Everything we do at Mission Direct is done in the name of Jesus; we recognise the power and authority of His name and know that we can do nothing without Him.
Sometimes it seems the needs are so many and so vast that we can feel helpless but the same power that healed the lame man and raised Jesus from the dead is at work today.
Please keep praying with us and if you would like to be involved in any other way do get in touch.
As a staff team we meet weekly for devotions. We pray for each other, for the charity and for our partners and projects and would love to pray for you also. If you have any prayer requests, please email them to prayer@missiondirect.org and we will be delighted to pray for you.
Thank you for faithfully praying with us.
God Bless you
Zambia
We have received the very sad news that Ketty from Kumbaya School has passed away. She founded Kumbaya School with her husband Amos in Chaisa compound in the early 2000s. Starting with a handful of children in a converted tavern, the school grew to over 900 pupils in a purpose-built school in the heart of the community. Her husband, Amos died in 2020, but Ketty had continued to provide strong leadership at the school and all aspects of the ministry. Ketty, a nurse by profession, also ran home-based care, tailoring and adult education classes.
Kumbaya Ministry has been a valued partner of Mission Direct since our first teams in 2008 and many volunteers will remember visiting the school to help serve lunch to the pupils. All our teams visited there this year and Ketty was always ready to welcome us and talk about the school. She has had a huge impact on the community and the many thousands of children who have passed through the school – and not least on the MD volunteers who visited there.
We thank God for Ketty, for her lifetime of service. We pray for God’s comfort for her family, the teachers and pupils at the school and all whose life she touched.
We also give thanks for all the sponsors involved in the sponsorship scheme at Crown of life School in Zambia. This year more have been added to the list of children so there will be a transfer of nearly £12,500 for school fees for January!
We give thanks for the impact that a short term mission trip can have on our volunteers to move them to support children in this way and even to run sponsorship schemes and become overseas staff themselves.
Footprints Zambia
Please give thanks for the amazing time that the team had in Lusaka. We pray that this experience will indeed change hearts and impact lives and that the ripples will reach far and wide.
We continue to pray especially for Roger who became unwell after the trip as he was embarking on a fundraising cycle ride. We thank God for the young man who rescued him, for the medical care he has received and for the support he has had from partners and friends in country. We thank God that he has returned to the UK and for the care he is receiving.
Cambodia
Please pray for wisdom and guidance for planning future projects in Cambodia.
We give thanks that Pastor Sara was able to join us in November for our 20th Birthday Celebrations. It was a real inspiration to hear his stories of God's faithfulness and to see his passion for God and His people.
Narok, Kenya
Pastor Patrick and Josephine are doing a sponsored walk from Narok to raise awareness of FGM and raise sponsorship money for their girls at Mission with a Vision.
We give thanks for them and all the fantastic work they do. They were recently recognised with a NGO award for Best in Children's Welfare.
Sister Clemencia has asked us to pray for the various needs of her school - teachers salaries, completion of a bore hole to bring fresh water to the school and extra buildings needed for the new regulations from the Government
Kumi, Uganda
Please:
1. Pray for our new project for 2025 at Wiggins Primary School to build new teachers homes. This will release classrooms that teachers are currently living in. Pray as we build new relationships with the school. Pray for volunteers to come and help build and for funds to help complete the work.
2. Pray for Kumi Prison where over half the prisoners are on remand. Give thanks for the work we have done to improve conditions, water supply glazing to windows and a new roof for the kitchen. Pray for them on Christmas Day, separated from families and love ones and for them to enjoy the additional food we have supplied. Pray for the work of the churches and ex-prisoners who minister to the prison Pray for the guards who care for their wellbeing.
3. Pray for Ngora School for Deaf Children and the work going on over the Christmas break to make the floors safe for the children. Pray for funds to help us repair the many broken beds. And pray for the massive five acre orchard expansion and environmental project we are supporting, for all the benefits it will bring to the school in terms of food and income.
4. Pray for the continuation of the Porridge Fund and we have taken a step in faith and will be feeding at four schools in 2025 instead of two. Pray for all the benefits this brings to helping children study.
5. Pray for our partnership with Atutur PAG as we continue supporting the community with Village Homes and with the Chicken Income Generation Project and the Vocational Training Tailoring School.
6. Pray for all the people in Uganda who look after us so well. Alex our driver and the staff at all the places we stay, Banana Village, North East Villas, etc. We are grateful for all they do. May they be blessed this Christmas.
7. Pray for volunteers to come and experience God at work in 2025. Just bring your loaves and your fish and watch Him do the rest.
Malawi
Please
• Pray for Trinity School at Moyo after a strong tropical cyclone ripped through Malawi at the weekend and left much devastation in its wake. The school sufferred with a complete roof being blown off the second classroom that was only completed last year, with funding from Mission Direct. We give thanks that the roof has been repaired in time for the start of the new term,
• Pray for the development of a new location and new partnership in 2025 and for the school team who are preparing to go out.
Dominican Republic
We are so thankful to God that the project went ahead despite the challenges of not having a team this year.
Give thanks that the kitchen and dining area at the school in Arroyo de Leche is complete and already in use, what a difference it will make.
Pray for volunteers to sign up for next years trips, that even now God would be stirring hearts and leading them to apply.
Continue to pray for The Dunwell family as they follow God's calling to live in the DR.
New Booking Platform!
• We are really grateful to God for the successful launch of a new booking platform which makes booking and payment much easier for all volunteers..
• Please give thanks that we have received bookings already which is a wonderful encouragement.
• Pray that anyone who was put off by issues and challenges they may have experienced previously will try this new system and that more and more volunteers will book for this year and next
More Prayer
We want more people to commit to pray regularly for Mission Direct, the Mission Direct Family in the UK and Overseas and for the Projects God has given us to complete. Will you join us and will you share our prayer updates with your family, friends, groups and church? Will you keep praying with us?
We also want to reach more people and bring change in more communities, that all costs money will you pray with us for God to bless our work with the finances that we need?
We also want to pray for MORE VOLUNTEERS to GO and to fundraise for the projects, please join us in asking God to stir the hearts of those He wants to join a trip next year.
Please pray that everything we do will continue to have Jesus at the centre. That God will be glorified in all things.
Our volunteers:
We thank God for all the teams that travelled last year and those preparing to travel in 2025. Pray with us for all our volunteers who have returned from trips that their experiences will be positive, inspirational and motivational; that they will be moved to tell their story and inspire others.
WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS. Please pray for God to inspire people to book a trip with us, so that together we can complete vital projects which will impact our partners and our volunteers. Please ask God for opportunities to share about our work with those you meet, with your family, with your church.
Finances:
Rising costs both here and overseas, including flight costs, mean that we need to make up a significant shortfall in our finances. We thank God that we have made significant progress already and are so grateful for the sacrificial giving of individuals and for God's blessing with unexpected income.
Please pray for an increase in one-off and also in regular donations to enable us to continue serving others who are in much greater need than we are.
Finances are being squeezed both here in the UK and for our partners overseas, we have been astounded by God's provision and people's generosity and we pray confidently that God will continue to sustain us.
20th Anniversary Year:
We have just celebrated 20 years of Mission Direct. We celebrated all that has been done, remembered all the people who have been involved over the years, fundraised for projects and core costs and now we look forward to the next 20 years encouraging others to join us.
We give thanks for the 20th anniversary celebrations which took place in November. It was a wonderful time of looking back at all that God has done through Mission Direct. We were so delighted to have Pastor Sara from Cambodia as a special guest.
We thank God for every life which has been impacted by Mission Direct in 20 years, beneficiaries, partners, supporters, volunteers and staff.
You can sign up for our regular monthly prayer updates. Just fill out your contact details and we will send you a few prayer points every month from around the world. Occasionally we may update you with any urgent prayer needs.
We will not share your details with anybody else.