Global Anglican Prayer Gathering
Dear friends and colleagues in ministry,
The next Global Anglican Prayer gathering (GAP-RVA) is coming up soon, and your church is invited to participate in prayer and to learn more about this gathering to model something in your own church areas.
Some background information that may be helpful.
1. The event will be held on Sunday, March 10, at the Redeemer Parish House (not the church worship site), from 7 to 8:30 pm. The parish house is several blocks away from where Redeemer meets for worship, and seating is limited to about 50 people. So RSVP's are important. We've included a QR code to make registration easier.
2. The special missionary speakers will be a part of two ecumenical, Richmond-based teams that went on two different short-term mission trips, one to Ecuador and the other to Bangladesh. The first and larger team did some construction work along with personal witnessing (the Ecuador group). The second team went on a medical mission trip (the Bangladesh group). Both teams included Dr. Jacob Baehman (recent MD) and his wife Hallel (a Nurse Practitioner). The newlyweds are a part of Redeemer Anglican. That's a highly unusual (and admirable) way to start married life together, but that's the kind of zealous Christians that Jacob and Hallel are!
3. As always, the first half of the evening program will feature an informative and inspiring major presentation by the featured speaker(s), telling what our great God has been doing lately through them. The second half is devoted to fervent intercession in small circle groups of 3-5 people, especially about the needs highlighted by the missionary speaker(s) that night. This is what we do each time.
4. About our name. GAP-RVA stands for Global Anglican Prayer-RichmondVA. Our main purpose is to perpetually increase the number of Richmond Anglicans who pray regularly, ideally daily, for global missions (not just at our quarterly gatherings). But our real aims go far beyond that.
4a. GAP exists to "stand in the gap" (see Ezekiel 22:30) by PRAYING for the lost around the world, and above all, to stand in the gap for Cross-Cultural Workers (or CCW's for short), particularly, although not exclusively, for CCW's attempting to reach the more than 5,000 Unreached People Groups (or UPG's) around the world today (totaling about 2 billion people!). So, first and foremost, we're an intercessory ministry in support of the fulfillment of the Great Commission. That's our first and primary aim.
4b. GAP also exists, however, to inspire more and more Richmond Anglicans to GIVE sacrificially to the cause of world missions, and to motivate an ever-increasing number of Richmond Anglicans in our various churches to GO in response to Christ's call to make disciples of all ethnic groups. However, our policy in GAP-RVA is to forbid any explicit appeal for financial support by the missionary speakers. We want people to feel free to come, knowing they won't have to endure any appeal that night to dig deep and contribute to the CCW and their work.
5. Ultimately, we in GAP-RVA want to help more and more Anglicans in the greater Richmond area to stand in the gap for the lost and for CCW's. We seek to inspire an ever-increasing number of folks in our various churches to PRAY, GIVE, and eventually to GO in obedience to Christ's call to take the gospel to all nations and cultures.
We've set the dates for the other GAP gatherings for 2024, and the future quarterly dates are as follows:
June 9
September 22
November 10
All take place on Sunday nights, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., although the location varies, rotating from church to church. Please save the four dates above (3/10; 6/9; 9/22; 11/10) and plan to come when you can. You'll be blessed if you do, and you'll be a blessing to others.
Thanks so much!
David Handy+, Founder of GAP-RVA
On behalf of the whole GAP leadership team
Questions? Call (804) 351-6487 or email