A Legacy
of Putting
Prayer First
Jessica Hollopeter Train & Multiply Team
Every Community for Christ
Prayer has always been at the heart of the work of One Mission Society.
Even before leaving for Japan, Charles Cowman incorporated the principles of
2 Chronicles 7:14:
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves,
and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then
I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Communication was key to Cowman’s efforts. From the first publication of Electric Messages, the precursor to OMS Outreach
magazine, Cowman and Ernest Kilbourne used prayer requests and praise reports to include their constituents
in the ministry through prayer. These became the chief
resources for prayer circles that began to form organically as word spread about the Great Village Campaign
in Japan.
Articles likened prayer to an artillery barrage of faith.
“There are positions of the adversary that cannot be stormed
or starved,” wrote Dr. Northcote Deck in the November 1918
issue. “There are obstructions, which effectually bar the progress
of the most devoted members of God’s great missionary army. Before such can
succeed, the sustained and continuous fire of the artillery of prayer is necessary.”
Prayer circles became a more formal ministry and then a full-fledged department in the 1930s and ’40s. Ads for groups emphasized the important work.
“Missionary work of a high order may be accomplished upon our knees,” reads
one, “and where two or three are gathered together for this ministry, something will
come to pass.” Circles formed in homes and churches, penitentiaries and schools.
They even spread outside of the United States, from Canada to New Zealand.
6
It is no surprise that this increased momentum
coincided with Lettie Cowman’s presidency. Lettie
wrote a monthly newsletter entitled The Golden Censer, from Revelation 8:3–4,
to her “beloved prayer warriors,” whom she considered to have “the greatest
ministry of their entire lifetime.” Prayer partners were considered “intercessory
foreign missionaries,” for although they did not personally go to the field, they
had set themselves apart to pray for specific fields.
OMS also created prayer calendars for its constituents, with photos from
the field and prayer and praise notes that graced every date. This eventually
became a regular prayer bulletin called the Intercessogram, which helped the
prayer circle ministry grow. It found strong leaders in Hazel Kilbourne, B.H.
Pearson, Ruth Lee, Wesley Duewel, and Alice Huff. Sometimes, 30 new prayer
circles would form in a month. Membership in each group ranged from three
people to 116 in one notable example. By 1963, faithful constituents belonged
to more than 1,500 prayer circles around the world, all dedicated to praying for
OMS missionaries.
In 1965, all prayer efforts were placed under the umbrella of World Intercessors,
a “worldwide call for personal prayer commitment.” From the healing of a cow
to the granting of building permits, from the miraculous rescue of trapped missionaries to the revival of a nation, Y