ON JANUARY 1 of this year in Knoxville, Tennessee, the Methodist General Board of Evangelism inaugurated a special ten-year period of prayer entitled the Decade of Prayer. This is part of the Decade of Dynamic Discipleship the Methodist Church is promoting in 1960. The service began at nine o'clock on the morning of New Year's Day with talks on prayer, followed by conference groups discussing its forms and values. This prayer emphasis continued all day, closing with a midnight session attended by 1,100 persons from 23 States. Dr. E. Stanley Jones, noted missionary-evangelist and author was the principal speaker. He affirmed that "no greater contribution could be made during the next ten years than to undergird the world situation with prayer."
Besides prayer with a major emphasis on peace, the Discipleship program will stress "continuous chains" of Bible reading in homes, evangelistic witnessing, indoctrination of church members in Christian and Methodist beliefs, starting new churches, and recruitment of preachers and missionaries. Denominational officials expect individuals, families, churches, and other organizations and communities around the world to participate in this prayer decade. It would be well for all of us to strengthen our prayer life, our devotion, our Bible study, our evangelistic fervor, and more so as we see the many fast-fulfilling signs of our Master's return. Let us do more than the ordinary—the commonplace—in the winning of souls. We have a positive message designated for this very hour. We must watch and pray and labor with a full combination and consolidation of all our forces. We cannot, must not, dare not, ignore the tremendous responsibility resting upon us to draw a preoccupied, absorbed, and wicked world to the Master for forgiveness, redemption, and eternal life. A.C.F.
