January 2026 Message From Pastor Mike “Prayers for the Year Ahead”

What are your hopes for the New Year? What do you expect will happen? What do you
fear might happen? What would you be happy to leave behind in 2025? What would you like to
carry forward into 2026?

Let’s be honest: we can’t control the future. We have little power over what may happen
around us or to us in the months ahead. While we can make decisions and try to move forward in
a way that aligns with our hopes and expectations, we can’t predict or manage it all.

But we can pray. We can choose to join with God in seeking a better, more hopeful future
by asking our gracious Father to do good things in and around us in the coming year. We can
pray for God’s will to be done instead of accepting the world’s ways. We can ask for the Lord’s
help in our spiritual lives, in our relationships, in our work and in our family.

Prayer puts power into hope. Prayer invites God to do what we can’t do by ourselves.
Prayer unleashes God’s power to change the world and the future.

Jesus promised, “Whatever you ask in My name the Father will give you” (John 15:16).
That’s a huge promise, and it means we can ask God to provide the good things He knows we
need. We can pray for God’s will to be done and believe that His will is always “good, pleasing
and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

The first Sunday of 2026, we will gather for a special prayer-focused worship service to
lift up the needs of Broadway, the ministries we help support, our sister Covenant churches and
the world around us. We will dedicate the year ahead to God’s purposes and seek His blessing.
Let me invite you to join me in lifting up these needs:

Pray for the ministries, relationships and administrative work of our church. Broadway has
been a fruitful congregation for nearly 75 years, and we trust God will continue using us to share
the love and message of Jesus within our church and out into the community. Ask the Lord to
build us up in unity and to strengthen our commitment to the mission Jesus gave us.

Pray for the ministries and missionaries we help support. We give ten percent of donations to
Broadway to local Christ-centered ministries (like Rock House Kids, Pregnancy Care Center and
Youth for Christ) and Covenant missions. Pray that these ministries will be fruitful and effective
in sharing the Gospel and helping people in Jesus’ name.

Pray for the Evangelical Covenant Church and our sister congregations. We are blessed to
belong to a larger church movement across North America and reaching around the globe. Ask
God to give wisdom to our denominational leaders and to help Covenant churches remain
faithful to our shared mission of transforming lives in Christ.

Pray for our community and world. There is no end to the needs and hurts experienced by
people in our city and around the world. Pray for peace and justice to reign in place of violence,
hate and hardship.

Pray also for your own spiritual growth. Ask God to fill you afresh with the Holy Spirit to
guide and comfort you each day. Renew your commitment to reading scripture, praying,
worshiping and enjoying the fellowship of sisters and brothers in faith. May God help each of us
grow in spiritual maturity and follow Jesus’ example of love.