“I continue to dream and pray about a revival of holiness in our day that moves forth in mission and creates authentic community in which each person can be unleashed through the empowerment of the Spirit to fulfill God's creational intentions.”
John Wesley, “How to Pray: The Best of John Wesley on Prayer”The Wesleyan Church (TWC) is a Spirit-led, praying movement called to evangelize and make disciples of all people. Like Wesley, we desire a revival of holiness and a Holy Spirit empowerment to fulfill God's purpose and mission. One important step in preparing ourselves to be agents of God's mission in the world is prayer. For TWC to be empowered for God's calling, we need to pray.
This spring (2026) TWC’s General Board and Communication and Administration team invite you to join them in prayer for the 2026 General Conference. “EMPOWERED: A 15th General Conference Prayer Initiative” will be made available as a digital resource to help guide TWC in unified prayer leading up to the 15th General Conference (15thGC). Scriptures, devotionals, prayer prompts and written prayers by TWC’s General Board and leadership will focus our thinking, guide our preparations and invite the Holy Spirit’s empowerment for God’s mission to be accomplished in and movement through the church.
Below is a taste of the upcoming 30-day prayer initiative. We encourage not only your participation but ask that you invite others to join as well.
Download your prayer guide and explore all things related to15thGC.
As we approach the 15th General Conference (15thGC) at Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, Indiana, on May 17-20, 2026, let’s prepare our hearts as one body with one voice calling out to our ONE LORD in focused prayer for the work of the General Conference and our mission. Let’s begin praying together now:
Lord, we are yours.
Our CHURCH, who we are and hope to become do not belong to us.
We give ourselves, our callings and plans with open hands solely to you.
We confess that we are people in need of you.
On our own, we cannot be the holy people you are calling us to be.
In your faithfulness, show us what needs to change in us and give us repentant hearts.
We surrender to your desires and ourselves to you so we might walk in the light of your hope and holiness.
Our CALLING is not our own.
We give it freely back to you.
We see only in part, but you see the whole.
Help our minds to be shaped and refocused by you.
Open our eyes so we may see your mission and vision more clearly.
Make us your holy people.
Our JOURNEY is not our own.
It belongs to you.
We surrender what we have in mind,
and will trust you to show us the next right thing.
Give us discernment and guide our steps.
Empower us to follow in your ways.
Lord, we are yours — your church, called by you and journeying with you.
Reignite us with your holy fire.
Make us, The Wesleyan Church, a holiness movement for your honor and glory.
Amen.
-- Angela Alvarado
Lord, 14 times Wesleyans have gathered at General Conference to seek your good and acceptable and perfect will for The Wesleyan Church. Fourteen times, you have been faithful.
We humbly ask you to guide us again as we prepare for and gather at the 15th General Conference of The Wesleyan Church. Prompt us to pray for the outpouring of your Holy Spirit upon every aspect of the memorial process. This gathering will be futile without your presence and leading.
Thank you for Wesleyans from across the North American General Conference who have added input to the shaping of draft memorials for the 15th General Conference. May every word in every memorial be formed under the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Thank you for the input from district superintendents informing General Board members responsible for recommending memorials to the 15th General Conference. May every memorial-related conversation reflect your willand no other’s agenda.
Thank you for the delegates seeking to discern your will when voting for memorials that better equip The Wesleyan Church to fulfill its mission. We pray you grant us wisdom, grace, courage, peace, joy and fortitudeas the policies guiding our local, district and General Church ministries are decided.
Our lives are dedicated to fulfilling your will for The Wesleyan Church. May that dedication be reflected in the memorials approved at General Conference. Amen.
-- Janelle Vernon
Wesleyans are fond of the word “sanctification,” even if we rarely use it. But if you ask what it means, the answers fall in every direction. Most will say something about being “set apart,” implying a distance of sorts between us and the world.
But in the middle of his prayer, Jesus uses the term three times and his meaning is something quite different. Jesus speaks of being sanctified for the world, not from it: “I am not asking you to take them out of the world … I have sent them into the world, sanctify them (there) in the truth” (vv. 15-17a). The sanctification Jesus prays for is both social and spiritual, set apart without being removed. It’s to live as Christ for the world.
Historically we’ve swayed from one to the other; first being too removed, then being too familiar with the world. Wherever you think we’re at now, please begin to pray for more. As we move toward the General Conference, ask God to give us a new imagination for the world. Pray that we’ll dream of something bigger than ourselves, want more ourselves than better performers and bigger congregations. Pray for our churches to love this world even though they belong to another. Pray that our people will once again be called, “the Holy People, the Redeemed of the LORD … the Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted” (Isaiah 62:12). Ask that we rise and “rebuild the ancient ruins” of our cities, repairing broken walls and restoring the streets with dwellings.
What has Jesus prayed for or God has promised that seems hard to believe anymore? Pray for it anyway.
Prayer Prompt: God, sanctify us, The Wesleyan Church, for the world. And begin your work in me.
-- Steve DeNeff