A Prayer Guide for Newark

Our prayer walk may have been postponed, but our opportunity to pray for Newark hasn’t.
We invite you to set aside some time to pray for our city, its people, our local campuses, churches and leaders, those who do not yet know Jesus, and the ministry of Newark Grace.
You can use this guide by yourself, with your family, or with a small group. You might pray at home, as you drive through Newark, or while walking through your neighborhood. Don’t feel that you need to cover everything at once. Choose one or two sections and spend some unhurried time bringing these needs before God.

PRAY FOR THE CITY OF NEWARK

  • Ask God to help us remember that every person in Newark is made in his image—not a project, a statistic, or a problem to solve.
  • Pray for people who have never heard the good news of Jesus explained clearly and lovingly.
  • Pray for those who assume Christianity has nothing to offer them or who believe they are too guilty, broken, skeptical, or far from God to be welcomed by him.
  • Pray for people who have been hurt, judged, disappointed, or mistreated by Christians or churches. Ask God to bring healing and place humble, trustworthy believers in their lives.
  • Ask the Holy Spirit to awaken spiritual curiosity and draw people toward repentance, faith, forgiveness, and new life in Jesus.
  • Pray that God would give us opportunities to listen well, love genuinely, serve without hidden motives, and speak about Jesus with humility and clarity.Thank God for Newark—for its people, neighborhoods, history, schools, businesses, parks, and gathering places.
  • Ask God to give us a genuine love for this city. Pray that we would see Newark as a community of people whom God knows and loves.
  • Pray for peace and safety throughout the city. Ask God to protect families, children, first responders, vulnerable residents, and those traveling through our neighborhoods.
  • Pray for people affected by poverty, addiction, violence, loneliness, homelessness, food insecurity, and inadequate housing. Ask God to provide immediate help and lasting hope.
  • Pray for Newark’s schools, teachers, administrators, staff, students, and families. Ask God to give educators wisdom, patience, energy, and the resources they need.
  • Pray for local businesses and their employees. Ask God to strengthen those who are struggling, provide meaningful work, and help business owners lead with honesty, generosity, and concern for their neighbors.
  • Pray that Newark would increasingly become a community marked by compassion, cooperation, justice, hospitality, and hope.

Pray for Ohio State Newark and COTC

  • Pray for every student attending Ohio State Newark and Central Ohio Technical College, including traditional students, commuters, working adults, international students, and those returning to school after time away.
  • Pray for students experiencing homesickness, uncertainty, loneliness, academic pressure, financial difficulty, family responsibilities, or mental-health challenges.
  • Ask God to give students wisdom as they make decisions about relationships, careers, finances, values, and their futures.
  • Pray that students would form healthy friendships and find communities where they are known, supported, and encouraged.
  • Pray for students who follow Jesus. Ask God to strengthen their faith, give them courage, and help them become gracious and faithful witnesses among their friends and classmates.
  • Pray for students who are spiritually curious, skeptical, disappointed with the church, or carrying painful experiences connected to religion. Ask God to meet them with truth, kindness, patience, and grace.
  • Pray for professors, instructors, advisors, administrators, counselors, campus security officers, maintenance teams, food-service workers, and everyone who serves the campus. Ask God to give them wisdom, strength, and care for the people around them.
  • Pray for the campus facilities. Ask God to make its classrooms, libraries, offices, gathering spaces, outdoor areas, and student housing safe and welcoming.
  • Pray for Christian ministries and local churches serving students. Ask God to help them cooperate well and remain focused on loving students and pointing them toward Jesus.
  • Pray that God would open doors for Newark Grace to build sincere relationships with students, faculty, and staff.

Pray for Newark’s churches

  • Thank God for every congregation in Newark that faithfully proclaims Jesus and serves its neighbors.
  • Pray for pastors, elders, ministry leaders, staff, volunteers, and their families. Ask God to protect them from discouragement, exhaustion, isolation, temptation, and division.
  • Pray that Newark’s churches would remain faithful to Scripture, dependent upon the Holy Spirit, centered on Jesus, and known for both truth and grace.
  • Pray for unity among local churches. Ask God to help congregations celebrate, encourage, and pray for one another.
  • Pray against rivalry, jealousy, and mistrust. Ask God to give church leaders a kingdom-minded desire to see every faithful congregation flourish.
  • Pray that Newark’s churches would be places where people who feel overlooked, unwanted, skeptical, or ashamed are welcomed with compassion and pointed toward the grace of Jesus.

Pray for Newark’s civic leaders and public servants

  • Pray for Newark’s mayor, city council, administrators, department leaders, and other officials. Ask God to give them wisdom, integrity, humility, courage, and compassion.
  • Pray that decisions would be made for the good of the entire community, especially residents whose needs and concerns can easily be overlooked.
  • Pray for constructive relationships among local government, schools, businesses, nonprofit organizations, churches, and community groups.
  • Pray for police officers, firefighters, paramedics, dispatchers, healthcare workers, social workers, and others who regularly respond to emergencies and crises.
  • Ask God to protect these public servants physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Pray also for their spouses and families, who share the weight of their service.
  • Pray for judges, attorneys, corrections personnel, probation officers, and everyone involved in the justice system. Ask God to give them discernment, fairness, compassion, and a commitment to what is right.

Pray for Newark Grace

  • Thank God for every person he has brought into Newark Grace and for every way he is already working among us.
  • Ask God to keep Jesus at the center of our worship, teaching, relationships, decisions, service, and hopes for the future.
  • Pray that we would be a church shaped by grace—honest about sin, confident in the gospel, patient with one another, and generous toward people who are still finding their way.
  • Pray for spiritual growth within our church. Ask God to deepen our love for Scripture, strengthen our prayer lives, and help us obey what he teaches us.
  • Pray for our leaders and everyone serving in visible and behind-the-scenes roles. Ask God to give them wisdom, humility, endurance, unity, and joy.
  • Pray that we would welcome newcomers well, build meaningful relationships, and resist becoming inwardly focused.
  • Pray that God would provide an accessible, affordable, and welcoming building that supports the ministry and mission of Newark Grace.
  • Pray for wisdom and favor in our conversations with other churches, local school boards, realtors, and property owners.
  • Ask God to close the wrong doors, clearly open the right one, and keep us united and patient throughout the process.
  • Pray for consistent and generous giving that fully supports our present ministries while preparing us for the additional expenses of a building.
  • Pray for wisdom as we prepare our budget, balance current needs with future opportunities, and avoid commitments that could hinder our mission.
  • Ask God to provide through regular giving, special gifts, and unexpected generosity—and to help us steward every dollar with integrity and transparency.
  • Pray that God would provide the people, resources, partnerships, and opportunities needed for the work he has called us to do.
  • Pray for meaningful relationships with other churches and ministries throughout Newark. Ask God to make us eager collaborators in his kingdom.
  • Pray for people whom members of Newark Grace are inviting, serving, encouraging, or talking with about Jesus.
  • Ask God to bring people to faith and prepare Newark Grace to welcome, disciple, and walk alongside them.
  • Pray that God would make us courageous without being harsh, compassionate without compromising truth, and hopeful without pretending that life is easy.
  • Pray that our life together would offer Newark a clear and compelling picture of the grace of God.
Father, thank you for Newark and for every person who calls this city home. Give us eyes to see where you are working, hearts that genuinely love our neighbors, and courage to follow wherever you lead.
Bring hope to those who are hurting, wisdom to those who lead, strength and unity to your churches, and new life to those who do not yet know Jesus. Use Newark Grace for the good of this city and the glory of your name.
Amen.