Praying for mission: one specific country, every day of the week
The Church's mission is not limited to what happens close to home. All over the world, believers proclaim the Gospel, heal, educate, translate the Bible, often in difficult conditions. This quest offers you a prayer habit that is broad but precise: praying for mission in one particular country.
What it looks like in your day
Choose a country for the week. Just one: the one where you know a missionary, the one you have heard about, the one where the Church is persecuted, the one where the Gospel is little known. A country followed over several days becomes familiar.
Get informed in a few minutes. Read a prayer sheet published by a mission organization, an article, a testimony. Hold on to three or four facts: population, religions, the situation of the Church, challenges.
Pray following a pattern. Each day, one focus:
- Monday: the country's believers: protection, perseverance, unity.
- Tuesday: missionaries and those sent out: health, fruit, relationships.
- Wednesday: leaders: wisdom, justice, freedom.
- Thursday: young people and children: that they would hear about Jesus.
- Friday: the Bible: translation, distribution, understanding.
- Saturday: concrete needs: peace, food, health, education.
- Sunday: thanksgiving for what God is already doing.
Write a specific prayer. You can write a few lines in your notebook.
Stay in touch. If you know a missionary, write them a note: “This week, I'm praying for you and for your country.”
Change country each week, or stay longer if you wish.
If you are short on time, one minute a day with the name of the country. If you are shy, this prayer is discreet. If you already know a country, go deeper into it rather than multiplying them.
What the Bible says
Jesus himself invites us to pray for mission:
“Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”
“The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few”: the answer Jesus gives is not first to go, but to pray the Lord of the harvest to send out workers. Psalm 67 expresses the goal of mission:
“To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song. God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.”
“That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations”: the blessing received is meant to be known by the nations. And the church of Antioch prays and fasts before sending out Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:2-3): prayer comes before sending.
Pitfalls to avoid
Praying vaguely. “Bless the missionaries” is a start, but the more specific you are, the better you pray.
Seeing missionaries as superhumans. They have families, weariness, doubts. Pray for them as for brothers and sisters.
Stopping at the bad news. The news is often dramatic. Pray with gratitude, too, for what is alive.
Doing nothing more. Prayer can lead you to give, to write, to go yourself. Let it set you in motion.
Seeing mission as distant. It starts close to home, and it is the same mission.
This week, choose a country. Pray for the mission going on there, with one specific request each day.