“Unless we rise up to contend valiantly in prayer, the destiny of the next generation hangs in the balance.”

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

Throughout November, pastors, leaders, and parents across Ottawa gathered for dedicated times of fasting and prayer. Organized by the International Pastors and Leaders Forum (IPLF), they set their sights on one thing: pursuing God’s heart for the city’s youth and young adults, especially those raised in the Church.

“We are in the middle of a violent battle for the souls of our youths,” states IPLF President Isaac Gimba. “I felt the urgency for the rescue of the minds and future of our youths and young adults as a now moment.”

Over the past year, the IPLF has felt called to establish deeper roots of prayer in the city, setting apart consecrating times of prayer and fasting. As November approached, Gimba felt God underscoring the importance of reaching youth and the burden many parents were carrying.

“Many pastors, leaders, and parents are currently on edge in their walks with God, feeling distant. [Many are] questioning whether they were responsible for their child’s loss of faith or lack of desire for God.”

Many in the IPLF’s leadership team had the same sense of urgency. So they called a fast and consecrated November to pray that youth would “arise and return,” like the prodigal son. In addition to daily prayer phone calls, the group gathered in churches each Saturday for unified pray.

“It just blew me away. Since then, something in him changed.”

“Youth and young adults are in a critical place,” says Milton Jones, a member of the IPLF leadership team. “They are dealing with things they never had to deal with before, from the COVID situation, depression, anxiety, but also being bombarded by belief systems of universalism and humanism on social media.”

The team developed a prayer strategy, focusing on a different theme each week. From October 30 to November 2, they focused exclusively on offering God praise, worship, and thanksgiving—fixing their gaze on the God who is faithful. Then, the first full week of November, they just declared blessing over youth and children.

“As a former military man, everything has to have a strategy,” Jones states. “So we started by declaring blessing over the youth. That process changes your focus. You don’t see them a drug addicts or mixed up in different relationships. From week to week, it built.”

The second week’s focus was praying for youth to be separated from ungodly influences in their lives. Then the group prayed that God would demolish and uproot anything He had not planted in their lives. The last week, they prayed that God would call the youth out of darkness and into the light, sealing them in Himself. They finished the month with three more days of thanksgiving, praise, and sharing testimonies.

“We started by declaring blessing over the youth. That process changes your focus.”

Jones saw the impact of the past month in his own heart and in his family. “We have been praying for family members. It shifted how we communicated with them and their openness to receive what we are saying.”

Diane Nolan, another board member, also saw an impact in her family. “My own boys have been frustrated, fighting, but they came closer to the Lord.”

Another parent heard about the initiative through her church. She spoke to Spur Ottawa anonymously, to protect her family’s privacy.

“My son, for the past year, has had trouble with school. He has been so negative about the state of the world and cannot see a future for himself. It was breaking my heart,” she shares. “Two weeks into the prayer month, he sat down at the dinner table, looked at me, and said, ‘You know, things are bad right now, but it’s going to get better.’ It just blew me away. Since then, something in him changed. He is doing better at school. The negative conversation has stopped.”

“Every success is a prayer success first. Every failure is a prayer failure first.”

God was also working in her adult daughter.

“I was very concerned about her walk with God. She came over one night and said, ‘You know, I am really seeing God in my life and in my work.’ It was a weight off my shoulders, because I know it is the beginning of something wonderful God is going to do.”

While the dedicated month of prayer and fasting has ended, the IPLF urges the Church to keep pressing forward through prayer and they are having strategic discussions on how to support parents and youth, moving forward.

“Make no mistake, unless we rise up to contend valiantly in prayer, the destiny of the next generation hangs in the balance,” Gimba states.

Jones agrees, adding, “Every success is a prayer success first. Every failure is a prayer failure first.”