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Four Things Every Missionary Needs, pt 5
“Pray for the missionaries.” It can sound so clichéd, almost like a joke, but praying for missionaries is no laughing matter: It is serious business.
Missionaries are dependent on the church for fellowship, mutual ministry, material support, and prayer. Each of these areas serves specific purposes:
• Fellowship restores and renews the missionary,
• Mutual ministry connects the missionary to the life-flow of the local church,
• Material support provides for the missionary by resourcing their calling.
• Prayer enables the missionary to advance the Gospel on all fronts.
In Romans 15:30 Paul pleads with the Roman churches
“Dear friends, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given you by the Holy Spirit.” (NLT)
He made a similar appeal to the churches in Corinth and Thessaloniki,
“He will rescue us because you are helping by praying for us. As a result, many will give thanks to God because so many peoples’ prayers for our safety have been answered.” (2 Cor. 1:11, NLT)
“Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us.” (1 Thessalonians 5:25, NLT)
How prayer works and why it works is a mystery to me. I just know that it works.
I know when people are praying for me. I sense the presence and the protection of God though the prayers of the Church. I can see fruitfulness in hard places because of the prayers of the Church.
And I know when I’m not covered in prayer: it feels like I am a rusty, worn out machine plodding through dirt, rocks, and mud in my own strength and wisdom.
Prayer will open the portals of heaven and nullify the plans of hell.
Prayer strengthens those who serve and it softens the hearts of those who hear.
Prayer is a mighty weapon in the arsenal of the church in advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Here are 5 Prayer Needs of Every Missionary:
1. Pray for divine guidance and opportunity, 2 Thess 3:1; Phil 22
2. Pray for open doors, Colossians 4:3
3. Pray for protection, Romans 15:31; Phil 1:19
4. Pray for workers, Matthew 9:37-38
5. Pray for greater fruitfulness, 2 Corinthians 1:11
When the body of Christ fully embraces its apostolic and pastoral mission we will move forward as one body in full harmony, living in the beautiful tension of being “called into” and “called out of” this world; We will joyfully embrace our calling to “go out” and to ”build up;” Together we will reach the nations for whom Christ died and build up the Church which Christ purchased with his own blood; So that on the day when a glorious multitude whom no one can number from every nation, tribe, and language, gathers around the throne of God we will sing the Song of the Lamb.
I look forward to that day. Until then let us work because the harvest is ripe.
Links to all articles in “The Four Things Every Missionary Needs”:
Debbie and I serve as the FMI Global Associate Director for MENACA and Europe. We focus on cultivating disciples, leaders, and church planting movements.
