Ruth is a retired school teacher who resides in a small
town in Pennsylvania. Although confined to a wheelchair,
she sits faithfully in front of her computer monitor
each day, interceding over e-mailed prayer requests, and
writing encouraging replies. Elsewhere, on the other
side of the globe, a Ukrainian lay-pastor named
Vladimir, retrieves his e-mailed prayer requests several
times a day, and takes them to prayer meetings in Kiev
where others join with him in intercession. Several
thousand miles to the east, in the Israeli desert,
Ayelet, a housewife and Messianic Jew, comes indoors
regularly to check her electronic mail and to pray for
urgent incoming prayer requests. Meanwhile, far away in
the southern Pacific nation of Malaysia, a seventeen
year old student, Eileen, checks her e-mail for prayer
requests, as she browses the ‘net for her research
studies.
These Christians,
from all walks of life around the world, are typical of
the scores of prayer volunteers, who serve with the
global ministry of the International Prayer Network.
Since its inception
in 1995, the International Prayer Network has provided a
ministry that would have been inconceivable just a few
years ago. Using the technology of the internet, the IPN
functions like a vast electronic prayer chain. Prayer
requests which are submitted to the IPN web site are
instantly e-mailed to multiple volunteers who pray for
and reply to the senders with notes of ministry and
encouragement.
How did the International Prayer Network get started?
Although I was a pastor of a local church, I also had a
vision to reach out to the world at large with Christ’s
message of love and encouragement. The idea of an
internet prayer ministry first occurred to me from
seeing news reports which exposed how the “information
highway” was being misused for unethical purposes. Not
only was I disturbed to discover how pornography and
immorality was being propagated through the internet,
but I was amazed by the communication potential of the
World Wide Web. Not only could I see it’s better use for
such things as commerce and education... but why
couldn’t this amazing technology be used for God’s
purposes?
I was especially
excited about the potential of the internet, because it
offered a truly revolutionary method of communication.
Not only was it capable of multimedia broadcasting, but
it was user interactive, and could reach millions of
viewers for a very low cost (compared to other mediums).
Thus, the
International Prayer Network was created as a
nondenominational Christian ministry with a simple
mission... to encourage and pray for those who are
hurting, and point their lives toward the hope of Jesus
Christ.
From the very
beginning, I knew that the IPN would be helpful to the
lives of many people, but I had no idea of the growth
that would come, and the thousands of lives that would
eventually be touched through this ministry — together
with the scores of volunteers and churches who would
participate with our international prayer chain. What
had started out as a simple system and ministry, has now
blossomed into one of the world's largest prayer
ministries (according to a report published in the
Philadelphia Inquirer).
Today, the IPN has
meager
resources... but I and our volunteers have a genuine
love for our fellow man, and possess an earnest desire
to touch the hearts of others with the love of our
Heavenly Father. Pray for us that we will always be able
to maintain our presence on the web, and to be here to
help and encourage the many cyber-travelers who pass our
way on the world’s information highway.
Dr. Dale A. Robbins,
IPN Founder / President
The International
Prayer Network is a subsidiary of Victorious Christian
Ministries
IPN STATEMENT OF FAITH
We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only
infallible, authoritative Word of God.
We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in
three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His
virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in
His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood,
in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the
right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in
power and glory.
We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful
people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely
essential.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by
whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a
godly life.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the
lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life
and they that are lost unto the resurrection of
damnation.
We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Ruth is a retired school teacher who resides in a small
town in Pennsylvania. Although confined to a wheelchair,
she sits faithfully in front of her computer monitor
each day, interceding over e-mailed prayer requests, and
writing encouraging replies. Elsewhere, on the other
side of the globe, a Ukrainian lay-pastor named
Vladimir, retrieves his e-mailed prayer requests several
times a day, and takes them to prayer meetings in Kiev
where others join with him in intercession. Several
thousand miles to the east, in the Israeli desert,
Ayelet, a housewife and Messianic Jew, comes indoors
regularly to check her electronic mail and to pray for
urgent incoming prayer requests. Meanwhile, far away in
the southern Pacific nation of Malaysia, a seventeen
year old student, Eileen, checks her e-mail for prayer
requests, as she browses the ‘net for her research
studies.