Suggestions to Church Elders for the Week of Prayer

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 22, 1906

Suggestions to Church Elders for the Week of Prayer

THE coming week of prayer season—beginning Sabbath, December 15—should be more heartily observed than any that has ever preceded it. Let every church bear the season in mind, and prepare for it, that it may be a time of victory, and a season of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.

How remarkably the events of the past year emphasize the words spoken in that first reading of the week of prayer a year ago:—

“Men are now passing the boundary line, and the Lord is permitting the enemy to do his will. We hear of floods, of earthquakes, of storms by land and sea, blotting out hundreds of lives in a moment of time; but the end is not yet. The tread of the Lord will be heard upon the land, and upon the water. For his own honor’s sake, God is now about to repress iniquity. He will soon, very soon, vindicate the claims of his law.”

It is time to pray and seek the Lord together. Make the week of prayer really a time of prayer, of definite intercession to God for victory over sin. Work for the backslidden and unconverted. Look after absent members. Arrange that those who present the readings may make proper preparation, so that the readings may be given with the spirit and the understanding.

This year a special daily exercise for the children has been provided. It is printed after each regular reading for the day. Some one apt at teaching children should be appointed to conduct these brief children’s exercises. They will do the older people good, as well as the children, where the services are not held separately.

The envelopes for the annual offering to missions should be given out the first Sabbath, December 15. Make an effort to reach absent members. Following the reading on the closing Sabbath, December 22, the offering should be gathered, and we suggest that the offering be dedicated to the Lord of the harvest-fields in earnest prayer. The rapid growth of our missions constitutes the most stirring appeal to every believer to sacrifice for God. Talk of these things from now until the time comes, so that all may understand how largely our missions in all the world depend upon this annual offering. The gifts in cash should be sent at once to your local conference office, as the money is needed in the fields. Later gifts may be forwarded at the end of the month, with other church remittances, to your conference treasury.

GENERAL CONFERENCE COMMITTEE.