Each year on May 9, 150 national Bible Societies spread across 240 countries and territories around the world unite in a global day of prayer. On this day, we spend time thanking God for powerfully working through our ministries, which include Bible translation, production, distribution, advocacy, engagement, and trauma healing. We also seek God’s guidance, wisdom, and strength for ongoing efforts to make the Bible available to everyone.

Your prayers have been instrumental in helping Bible Societies persevere in Bible ministry. We can’t thank you enough for praying for us. We know that we’ve been able to serve our communities because of your prayers. That’s why we earnestly ask you to continue to pray that God will work through us to bring his life-changing Word to the world.

A prayer for Bible Societies Around the World

To commemorate this special day of prayer, you are invited to pray using the words of a prayer infused with Scripture, written by Rev. Dr. Rupen Das, President of the Canadian Bible Society and Chair of the Church Relations Committee. Let us pray:

“You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before You.” Nehemiah 9:6 (NASB)

Eternal God, the only One worthy of all praise, we acknowledge you as creator of all that is visible and invisible. Bible Societies’ existence is dependent on you because you sustain all that you have made by your powerful word. We know you as the one God who is Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Psalm 46:1-3 (NIV)

In these uncertain times, when the world seems to be in turmoil again, we pray Bible Societies will look to you who is Sovereign over the nations. In times of deep distress, you are their shepherd, and they lack nothing. You renew and refresh them when they are stressed and worn out. You guide them along the right paths because your reputation is at stake. When they go through dark times, they will fear no evil, because you are with them, and you protect and comfort them.

“If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea.” Isaiah 48:18 (NIV)

In a world that is so far from all that you intended for your creation, you call the Bible Societies to be witnesses to the goodness of the eternal God and the Lord Jesus Christ revealed in the Bible. How you grieve over this world, knowing all that could have been if we had only listened for your voice and followed you. May Bible Societies be faithful to enable people in whatever circumstances to encounter you, the Living Word, through the Written Word, the Holy Scriptures.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20a (NIV)

In a rapidly changing world, give Bible Societies hearts that are sensitive to hear your leading and guiding. You are involved in redeeming, reconciling, and restoring all that you have created. You have given the Bible Societies the privilege to be involved with you in your mission – the missio Dei. May they understand what is it that you are calling them to do. Renew their vision and their sense of mission so that they would be faithful and relevant in these days and in a world that so desperately needs you.