Coming before our heavenly Father in prayer is an important part of the Christian faith, and at OCA we seek to reflect that in our organisation. We know that all we do is only possible through our God, who has blessed us greatly with the opportunity and ability to come alongside Bible colleges throughout the world to support them in their mission.

That’s why we encourage our friends to join us in prayer for our organisation, the individuals that are connected to it, and the work that we and our partners do.

Especially during the current global crisis, we look forward to joining with you across the nation to uphold the OCA Ministry.

OPTION 1 JOIN THE TELECONFERENCE

TO PRAYAt the three meal times on Tuesday 19th May there will

be a teleconference that you can dial into.This will be facilitated by Stuart Brooking. Whether there are a few people or a lot, you can dial in and

take part. Just listen or say your own prayer when the opportunity is given.

Dial from anywhere in Australia (02) 8015 6011 then enter the following information to be connected:

Meeting number: 922 787 7748# Participant ID: # Password: 622#

Teleconference times (AEST) – 7am, 12.30pm, 7pm (each will last about 30 minutes).

Fasting for one or more meals will open up more time to pray.

OPTION 2 ENCOURAGE YOUR

CHURCH OR FRIENDSYou may like to meet online with a few

friends during breakfast, lunch or dinner time. Instead of eating, you could pray

for the ministry.

To encourage your church you can ask OCA for more resources such as videos or

PowerPoint slides to share.

OPTION 3 PRIVATE OR

FAMILY PRAYERPlease put in your diary now a time

when you can especially focus on OCA’s partner Bible colleges and our

Australian operations.

It doesn’t have to be Tuesday 19th May, but on that day there will be

people around Australia, and indeed in our partner colleges, praying for

the work.

P (02) 9635 4409 E office@overseascouncil.com.au overseascouncilaustralia www.overseascouncil.com.au

OVERSEAS COUNCIL AUSTRALIA

LONG TERM STRATEGIC PRAYER NEEDS

PACIFIC1. The Pasifika Strategy is a 25-year strategy to transform the capacity of theological education in the region. It is now in its ninth year. The flagship program, the Master of Theology at Christian Leaders Training College in PNG has been working well to equip senior leaders for that country.

Over the past year we have reviewed the broader aims of the Strategy and, for a variety of reasons, we determined we have not made the contribution into the Pacific that we intended. We are working to identify a new champion for the Strategy, probably a PNG leader who can drive greater resource to the islands of the Pacific.

Pray we can expand the reach of this Strategy to invigorate more of the Bible colleges of the Pacific region.

AFRICA2. The Africa Mile Deep Strategy is focussed on the Anglican theological colleges of the African continent servicing 50 million Anglican believers. OCA identified, and has been supporting, the six key ‘hub’ colleges on the continent over the past 2.5 years. The other one hundred colleges and training programs all rely to some degree on these six.

The third Mile Deep Conference was held in February this year in Cairo and it continued the deep sense of partnership in the Strategy. Each college was able to report on major new initiatives to lift their own capacity and, importantly, the capacities of their partner colleges. The uptake of new ideas has been wonderful to see as the smaller colleges learn and implement in their own context what will be of benefit. OCA has funded and provided trainers and consultants for various topics. These include Pedagogy (training the teachers to teach well) Urbanisation and Mission, and Resource Mobilisation which helps the colleges use their facilities to generate local funds. The outcomes of the course have exceeded expectations in each case where colleges have invented new programs and strategies. Future programs will look at the response to Islam, and embracing higher internal standards in organisations. We are building quality and empowering mission in the training of over 10,000 leaders.

Pray for a deepening in the capacity of these many colleges and that their thousands of students can be prepared well for their unique ministries.

3. Egypt –we prayed last year for a new MTh program to get started at Alexandria School of Theology as part of the Mile Deep Strategy. The course began in February with ten students, all of whom are, or will be, full-time or part-time lecturers in the five AST campuses.

Pray that the course continues well and there are no hold ups in delivery, so AST can soon significantly increase its capacity through this endeavour.

ASIA4. China Focus – OCA is seeking to develop new missional training courses and resources for the Chinese colleges to use. The research has been delayed for this year due to the Covid-19 crisis.

5. Indonesia Strategy – OCA is working with a group of 55 Bible colleges in Indonesia called PASTI. We are focussing on the leading eight colleges which have PhD programs and are the training centres for the faculty of all the other colleges.

OCA’s horizon of activity is generational. Each project we support, or service we provide, feeds into the decades-long development of the key evangelical Bible colleges in the developing world. We expect the current crisis to be very difficult. We also expect it will be catalytic for most of our partner colleges to step up to a new level of competence. Enforced, immediate, distance learning and training for crisis ministry is very difficult, but it is possible that even greater capacity will be created for training Christian leaders for their contexts beyond 2020.

The strength of the long-term strategies OCA has been pursuing means that we have processes and structures, and more importantly, relationships already in place to allow quick delivery of targeted and strategic support to hundreds of our college partners. Give thanks for OCA’s opportunities to assist.

New government regulations mean that these colleges must upgrade their faculty and programs.

OCA has provided for 11 faculty members to travel to Australia for 2-month writing fellowships. This has allowed them to complete articles and books which assists in their accreditation. The goal is to lift twenty faculty members up to ‘Professor’ standard and thus be able to lead the doctoral programs at their colleges. Pray that the goals can be met to satisfy the government and the evangelical training of lecturers can grow strongly.

GLOBAL6. Shoulder to Shoulder Strategy – The COVID-19 pandemic has led to nearly all our partner colleges stopping tuition on campus. A few still have students on campus, but they are in lock down. This has forced many of them to quickly transition to online learning. A process that would normally take two years has been forced to begin within two weeks! Needless to say, this delivery is clunky for lecturers and inadequate for students.

OCA is providing a range of supports to help colleges get the hardware, software, and bandwidth they need. We also have consultants who are providing coaching and access to training programs for online education. As funding comes in we have been able to provide more resources to our partner colleges. We are drawing on the strengths of our existing strategies to impact large numbers of colleges in groups.

The magnitude of the distress in the developing world is only just coming to light. Already some of our partner colleges are training leaders to minister in these contexts. OCA is providing funds and resources to assist with this ministry which differs in each place.

Commit the variety of needs in each country to the Lord. Pray for wisdom for college leaders and capacity to innovate, sympathise, and develop their institutions.

AUSTRALIA7. Focus of 2020 – The pandemic has created massive new needs within our partner Bible colleges. To respond to their need we have developed a suite of new ministries and commensurate projects. We are not only funding new activities but providing consultants and access to training - some of which is being invented as we go.

Pray for the team’s stamina and capacity to respond to the needs of our partners so that the colleges survive the various crises they face. Pray that the colleges extend their ministries in 2020 and beyond.

8. Fundraising is a core activity of OCA as we seek to support our partner bible colleges in the Pacific, Asia, Middle East and Africa. With many new projects having been launched, pray that we can grow our support and build up our partners.

Please send an email to the office to let us know if this prayer day information was helpful or how we can do it better next year: office@overseascouncil.com.au