Local churches are at the heart of God's movement in Austin. Here are two recent challenges from one pastor in Austin to other fellow pastors in the city:

• “It is no longer enough for us to commit to not speak against another church. We must now commit to speak well of each other.”
• “You should no longer think of yourself as the pastor of a church in the city; instead consider yourself a pastor of the church in the city.”

“Dallas (Willard) got up to speak. He opened with these attention-catching words: ‘I am going to tell you what is the single most important task of a Christian, especially those who are in church leadership.’ . . . He leaned into the microphone and said, ‘The most important task we have, especially for those in church leadership, is to pray for the success of our neighboring churches.’

I was stunned. The most important task? . . . According to Dallas, the most important thing we can do is to pray for the success and well-being of the other churches in our area. I pressed Dallas later to explain what he meant. He said that when we pray, genuinely pray, for the success of the churches that are in our proximity, we are breaking the narrative of selfishness and entering into the mind of God, who is also praying for the success of those churches. The practice, he said, puts us in sync with the kingdom of God.”

Told by James Bryan Smith in The Good and Beautiful Community

Once you sign up ...

• You provide us with an administrative contact
• We will send that contact the name and information of another church.
• Each week in your staff meeting (or another meeting), you say a simple Biblical prayer of thanksgiving for that church.
• You tell us the grace and calling God has given your church. Another church will be thanking God for you!
• Every three months, we switch up the assignments and will send you a new church.

We ask that your church or ministry support AHOP with a minimum donation of $24.70 / month. Why? We want you invested in the prayer movement, and we think that this amount should be affordable for most churches.

... or ...

Your church or ministry will enjoy the following benefits from participating in Cor1:4:

• Connection to other local churches - you are thanking God for them, they are thanking God for you
• Growth in Prayer - Availability of resources from a community with years of experience in sustainable, joy-filled, Biblical prayer
• Biblical Prayers - We will guide your staff in grounding the prayers of thanksgiving in Biblical Prayers (such as Paul's prayer in 1 Cor. 1:4)
• 56:7 free to staff & youth - We will make the 56:7 video email series available for free to church staff and to the high school youth group

We find that many faithful followers of Jesus do not find prayer joyful. Instead, they experience shame and failure in prayer. We would like to offer ourselves and our stories to help your church grow in enjoyable prayer. Here are some ideas ... we could:

• Teach a Sunday School class on prayer
• Lead an evening of focused Biblical prayer
• Conduct prayer workshops
• Introduce the 56:7 Video Email series to your congregation
• Facilitate a season of 24/7 prayer in your church
• Connect you to the Unceasing Prayer Initiative

Please contact us to let us know if we can be of service.