Partnering through Prayer

“The history of missions is the history of answered prayer.” Samuel M. Zwemer

We need people who will stand in the gap, people who long to see the impact of prayer spread throughout the world as God moves in response to the cries of His people.

Want to pray for missions but not sure how? Here’s some tips to get you started …

What to Pray for Missionaries

If you’ve signed up to receive newsletters from a missionary, you’ll find plenty of fuel for prayer in their emails. If not, here are some general prayer points you can use anytime:

Relationship with God

  • Awareness of God’s power
  • Consistent and profitable times in prayer and the Word
  • Protection from temptation and sin

Physical and emotional health

  • General health and healing
  • Finances and the cost of living
  • Freedom from loneliness and depression
  • Balancing safety with fruitfulness

Family relationships

  • Healthy marriages/friendships
  • Children
  • Extended family at home
  • Purity and integrity

Effective ministry

  • Fluency in language and communication skills
  • Cultural adaptation and understanding
  • Open doors for evangelism
  • Good use of time

Ministry team dynamics

  • Honesty and openness
  • Submit to one another
  • Appreciate others’ strengths and weaknesses
  • A sense of humour

Host country

  • Political situation and economic conditions
  • Strong national church
  • Precious local peoples
  • Visas
  • Spiritual oppression

How to Make Prayer Happen

How can you fit praying for missionaries into your busy life? Here are a few tips:

1 Create a prayer diary with specific people/things to pray for on each day of the week. Add current prayer requests as they come up (either on a sticky note or with a printed version of a newsletter). Keep it close to your dining table and pull it out after dinner each night.

2 Make a list and pop it with your Bible/devotional book etc so that you are praying each time you spend time in God’s Word.

3 Be an advocate for your church’s missionaries in your small group—read their emails to know what’s going on, and then use that information to make sure they are being prayed for each week during prayer time.

4 Same as above but for church—if your missionaries aren’t being prayed for from the front, find out who you can talk to about making that happen (and don’t be afraid to volunteer to be that person who makes it happen!).

5 Set an alarm in your phone to remind you to pray, whether it’s daily, every other day or weekly, etc.