With the National Day of Prayer coming up (May 7), a lot of folks around the country are organizing prayer services in church sanctuaries and town halls. We’re all for getting together to say prayers … but we’re also challenged by the ways scripture stirs us to become the answer to our prayers. So we decided to start a little campaign. Here are 50 ways — some little, some bigger — that we can start to be the church we pray for. If you can join us in committing to do at least one of these things between now and May 7, consider yourself a member of the movement and share the list with your friends. Maybe we’re a little late for a national organizing committee … but, then again, maybe we don’t need one. May the Spirit spread its truth like kudzu, and may God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
- Fast for the 2 billion people who live on less than a dollar a day.
- Contact your local crisis pregnancy center and invite a pregnant woman to live with your family.
- Ask your pastor if someone on your church’s sick list would like a visit.
- Join an open AA meeting and befriend someone there.
- Adopt a child.
- Mow your neighbor’s grass.
- Volunteer to tutor a kid at your local elementary school. (Try to get to know the kid’s family.)
- Grow your own tomatoes – and share them.
- Ask a small group in your community to meet regularly for intercessory prayer.
- Build a wheel chair ramp for someone who is homebound. …
Click here to read the full list.
Shane Claiborne is a Red Letter Christian and a founding partner of The Simple Way community, a radical faith community that lives among and serves the homeless in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. He is the co-author, with Chris Haw, of Jesus for President.
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is the author of Free to Be Bound: Church Beyond the Color Line
