Covenant News

Prayer Walks Connect Women with Needs

CHICAGO, IL (October 19, 2005) - Eleven Evangelical Covenant Church women from across the United States returned from Europe last week with a deeper understanding of the personal cost that people are paying for their faith as well as how the gospel is being spread despite adversity.

The women, ranging in age from 17 to 71, participated in Women Ministries "PACE in Europe" initiative. Begun in England, PACE (Prayer and Cultural Education) is an alternative to short-term mission trips, says Ruth Hill, executive minister of Women Ministries.

Unlike regular mission trips, PACE focuses on prayer rather than physical labor. The aim of the two-week trip is to learn how Christ is presented in a culture and spend time in each setting praying for missionaries, nationals, ministries and ministry settings.

Finding prayer needs was easy, given the difficulties Christians continue to face in Europe, which is hostile to religious faith in many areas. "One woman, whose family had high positions in the Communist regime, was cut off from her family," says Hill. "A wealthy woman was divorced by her husband and estranged from her children. Another was denied access to the college of her choice, and yet another's husband, a former pastor, struggled to be considered for other employment."

Praying in specific locations increased the women's sense of connectedness to those for whom they were praying. "I could have read about Kelly Prudek (Covenant missionary to Czech Republic) ministering to prostitutes in Prague, but walking the area in which this ministry is done, picturing her there late at night reaching out to the prostitutes, seeing the bar where the prostitutes are allowed to get relief from the cold, fueled our prayers in a profound way," one participant noted.

Despite the needs and adversity, the gospel still continues to make inroads, said women who shared testimonies in each country. "It was fascinating to learn how they, in such non-Christian, even anti-Christian environments, heard the good news," Hill says, adding, "Christian Businessmen's Club, Navigators, gift of a Christian book, Campus Crusade, English camp – no two were the same."

Each visit included prayer walking. Missionaries prepared information sheets on important places in each city and suggestions of how to pray while walking in that area. The team divided into groups of two or three and spent considerable time praying while walking.

Jan Epps-Dawson, who with her husband, Richard, serve as regional coordinators for Europe for the Department of World Mission, arranged the trip and accompanied the group, working with Covenant missionaries in Prague; Halle, Germany; Paris, France; and La Coruña, Spain.

A PACE trip to Yaounde, Cameroon, and Gambola in the Central African Republic is scheduled for March 2006.

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