Southern Baptist Convention’s IMB launches project to pray for Muslims during Ramadan
The Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board has launched a project to pray for the spiritual well-being of Muslims during Ramadan.
Known as “Pray for Ramadan,” the campaign encourages Christians to pray for Muslims at various times during their religious observance, which begins on Feb. 28 and concludes on March 29.
April Bunn, director of the IMB's Prayer Office, told The Christian Post via email that “we seek to guide intercessors to spend time in prayer with both lament for lostness and joy in the hope of the Gospel.”
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“During the month of Ramadan, Muslims around the world pray and fast, hoping to earn favor with Allah, but we know that it is only by faith in Jesus that anyone can be made right with God,” explained Bunn. “We also know that God’s Word teaches that He works in and through the prayers of His people.”
Bunn described the campaign as a “guided experience,” in which volunteers sign up for times during Ramadan to pray for the salvation of Muslims, receiving “reminders to pray.”
“On the days they sign up to pray, they will learn about Ramadan/the Muslim world, learn about a people group, receive a Scripture to pray over Muslims, and receive prayer prompts,” she said.
“This experience is unique in that it allows intercessors to see the numbers of people who are joining them in praying for the same things every day. This experience allows intercessors to be a part of a unified global effort to bring these requests before God.”
Bunn told CP that she hopes “God will draw Muslims to Himself as Christians around the world intercede and ask God to do just that.”
“We believe God is able to do this work, and we are excited to partner with Him through intercessory prayer,” Bunn added. “Our hope is to one day meet brothers and sisters, including those from a Muslim background, before the throne worshiping the One True God.”
Considered one of the holiest months on the Islamic calendar, Ramadan is most known for being a time when Muslims fast from sunup to sundown every day as a means of spiritual discipline.
The dates for Ramadan vary each year due to the Islamic calendar being lunar-based. Children are normally exempted from fasting, as are pregnant women and those battling severe illness.
“The ultimate goal of fasting is gaining greater God-consciousness, known in Arabic as taqwa, signifying a state of constant awareness of God,” according to the Islamic Networks Group. “From this awareness, a person should gain discipline, self-restraint, and a greater incentive to do good and avoid wrong.”
