Literature Prayed Over

Praying over the mail is a long-standing tradition at the headquarters office. The second paper printed in Portland carried an account of this practice: “After they [the Gospel papers] were folded, wrapped, and stamped ready for mailing, the workers would gather around the piles or sacks of papers and lay their hands on them and pray. We prayed that Jesus would accompany every paper and enter every home in every land, and that the Holy Ghost would come upon the readers as they received and read the papers. How truly the prayers were answered is witnessed by the letters we have received. Many times we were melted as we prayed, and the papers were watered with tears.”

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Before sending out any literature, the sacks, boxes, and pallets of mail are stacked in the distribution department. Every week, prayer time is announced over the speaker system at the headquarters office. Work is laid aside, conversations are stilled, and chairs are pushed back. One by one, from every part of the office, come those who realize that the most important part of sending out the Gospel message is prayer. Ministers and staff workers gather around the boxes and mailbags that are ready to be loaded into the waiting truck. Others lay hands on the stacks of personal letters ready to go to correspondents. Together those present pray over all the literature and letters before they are mailed or shipped. They ask for God’s divine blessing and power to accompany the mail, for souls to be saved and sick bodies healed, and that God’s will might be done in the lives of the recipients of each piece of literature and every letter.

“I thank God that He has counted me worthy to have a part in sending the Gospel into all the world.”

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Many of those who assist in the work at the headquarters office have a deep, personal appreciation for the literature ministry, and relate how members of their families received a paper or tract in days gone by. A mailing supervisor of early days commented, “When I see the mail piled high, ready to be prayed over, I have a thanksgiving in my heart that one of these Apostolic Faith papers ever reached me 2,000 miles from here. God spoke to me through that church paper that came to our mailbox. It seemed to me that it fairly glowed with the Word of God and what He was doing. It brought conviction to my heart when I read its pages. I repented before God, and living streams of salvation came into my soul. I thank Him that He has counted me worthy to have a part in sending the Gospel into all the world.”