tilling the soil one step at a time

It’s a Tuesday morning around 9 a.m. It’s January, and the weather is a brisk 25 degrees. I’m bundled up from head to toe as I walk a two-mile loop down my street and back again. The snow crunches under my shoes with each step I take, and my eyes are attentive, my mind engaged, and I am listening. Something shifts in my spirit and I find myself praying for a family as I pass by their house. What, Lord, are you busy doing in this home, on our street, and in this neighborhood? Who are the people, Father, whose hearts are ready to receive your good news?

For some time now, God has been speaking to me about the importance of prayer in the spiritual receptivity of a neighborhood, city, region and country. Most of us wouldn’t argue about the importance of prayer, yet I find that I don’t always give the time and energy to prayer that would demonstrate its importance.

I have started to dedicate several hours a week to the practice of walking the streets in prayer. And, as I prayer-walk, the picture that I keeps coming to mind is one of tilling the ground, preparing the soil for the harvest that is to come. I am also praying for specific people of peace, who are seeking God and are ready to receive the Gospel, and who will connect us into their sphere of influence and relationship.

Essentially, there are four places/people groups I feel lead to pray for at this time:

·        Hamline-Midway neighborhood – I’ve had a strong sense that I am to start right here where I live, work and play; therefore, I am specifically praying along a one-mile stretch of Van Buren Ave. I have also been praying at Groundswell coffee, which is located in the center of our immediate neighborhood and serves as a hub for this community.

·        Many Somali families work and shop at the Walmart, which is located just a half mile from our house. In 2009, there were 103,000 Somali in the U.S. with more than ¼ (28,000) living in the Twin Cities. As I prayer-walk the aisles of Walmart and engage people in conversation, I am praying/looking for people of peace in the expanding Somali community.

Dayton’s Bluff is the area just outside of downtown St. Paul where our teammate, Tony, will be planting a church later this year. The area has a reputation for being low-income and rough, but God has been/and is doing great things in that neighborhood. Again, we are tilling the ground, exploring what God is already busy doing, and considering the specific neighborhood where the church will be located.

·        There is a substantial American Indian population in Minnesota.  My interest in Native Americans began when I was young, and has resurfaced since moving to the Twin Cities. The two major tribes in Minnesota are the Ojibwe (Chippewa) and Dakota (Sioux). I know there are strong Christians within the American Indian population, but I am praying for fresh expressions of church that will capture the hearts and imaginations of the younger generations.

As I learn and move forward with prayer-walking, I am inviting others to join me. I would also like to invite you to join me as well in praying for fertile soil in the Twin Cities. From a vibrant Arts community to a large immigrant and refugee population, and from dying neighborhoods to young, urban hipsters, the untapped opportunities abound. Our call is to identify and walk alongside leaders and churches as they move into these neighborhoods and networks of people with fresh expressions of God’s timeless Church.