“Prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.” E.M Bounds

The day to day work at Atlanta Mission is largely material. We offer meals, laundry, classes and medical services. We interact with clients and make plans to help them emerge from homelessness and build new lives. However, underneath, over and all around these very physical services wraps a help that, we believe, makes all the difference. All of our work at Atlanta Mission is bathed in prayer.

Our purpose at Atlanta Mission is “that those we serve and those that serve come to know Christ, walk with Christ, and live for Christ.” We want to see our clients attain stable housing and employment and mend relationships, and we trust that God is working in our clients’ lives for their good. We believe that prayer is a powerful and effective resource for those who desire a better life.

In addition to the material services we offer, Atlanta Mission provides our clients with opportunities for worship, Bible study and prayer. Spiritual formation is just as important in our shelters as job skills training, and we invest in the whole person wherever they are at. 

We pray together with our clients, and we also encourage our clients to pray for others. We log prayers on our website so that staff, volunteers, donors and clients can pray for each other and with each other. Collectively our petitions and praises rise to God, and we trust that God hears each one. As we share requests and answers to prayer, we knit our hearts together, creating the community that sustains an individual as he or she comes out of relational poverty and homelessness into the wealth of healthy relationships.

Eventually, clients leave our services. They graduate and establish themselves, or they move on in other ways. Regardless, like E.M. Bounds writes, our prayers always outlive our clients’ stay. The prayers we pray for God’s favor over our work linger like a warm blanket of care around the shoulders of those who labor and serve in our shelters. The prayers we pray for God’s provision and protection go forth with our clients wherever they go. 

Perhaps, that is what makes prayer such a powerful gift to offer those we serve at Atlanta Mission. Its strength outlasts relationships and continues to nourish long after the last meal at the table has been served.