Relationship with God — Too often we assume that missionaries don’t struggle like others do in their relationship with God. But this is the missionary’s primary need! Pray that our missionaries will love and study God’s Word, have a strong prayer life, be filled with the Holy Spirit, be maturing spiritually and making progress over personal sin.
Physical & Emotional Needs — Satan often discourages us through our physical and emotional lives. Pray for good health. Pray for safety, stamina and a sense of priority. Preventive prayer helps. When a missionary is hospitalized, we pray up a storm! — the wise thing is to cover our missionaries’ health continually. Pray against discouragement, loneliness and depression.
Family Relationships — Pray for family relationships: husband-wife, parent-child. Pray for our children, their salvation and spiritual growth, their health and education. Pray too that the missionary’s family life will provide an excellent model for local Christians and the unsaved. And pray against the temptations that destroy families.
Ability to Communicate — Our missionaries are in ministry to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether communicating with our life or lips, we need to be understood. Adapting to a new culture can be difficult, but is essential to good communication. Pray that our missionaries will have the stamina and understanding to demonstrate Christ cross-culturally.
Effective Ministry — Sometimes you can forget why missionaries are there, and why you are praying for us. Remember to pray for what our missionaries are actually doing. Include requests for boldness, open doors, open hearts and excellence in the effort. Ask the Holy Spirit to empower us for productivity (John 15:16).
Team Relationships — Some missionary teams work more closely than others, but none of our missionaries are completely on their own. Unfortunately, this mix of personalities designed to strengthen the ministry can sometimes be used of Satan to weaken it. Pray that missionaries, their coworkers and directors appreciate and sharpen one another in good and healthy ways. Pray for good relationships with Native Christian leaders.
Area of Service — Expand your prayers beyond the missionary to include the area where missionaries are located. Pray about the political situations, about freedom to preach the Gospel — these are important factors. Pray that First Nations communities will open up in responsiveness to the Gospel.
Whether you use this guide regularly or use some other method, you can never run out of prayer material! We haven’t even mentioned our missionaries’ relationship with their home churches, their financial needs, or the parents and family left at home.
*”How to Pray…” is adapted from several sources.
Adapted from our Northern Lights magazine (Issue #510). Note: some of the locations and involvements of our missionaries may have changed since the original publishing of this article.