How to Intercede for Your Missionary on the Front Line
Missionary organizations likely abound, but I hold a special place in my heart for Biblical Ministries Worldwide (BMW). With an emphasis on both training and helping local churches send out church-planting and leadership-developing missionaries, BMW epitomizes the professional para-church organization. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with many folks attached to BMW, and I can attest that they’re the real deal, a Great-Commission organization that’s worth having as a partner.
OK, enough back-scratching.
BMW published this book after “a major vision-casting initiative” in which the leadership sought to better handle prayer as a weapon in the constant spiritual battle known as “Missions.” Making God famous in the world is not an easy task, and the missionaries who sacrifice “the normal life” for intercultural mission work aren’t super-hero Christians whose cultural borders simply cannot handle their own spiritual awesomeness. No, missionaries are regular Christians like the rest of us, and they struggle with fear, frustration, inadequacy, and everything else. And they need our prayers.
While searching the Scriptures for how the Early Church used prayer in missions, the BMW leadership recognized a number of standout principles. The Apostle Paul wrote much about the need for constant prayer, yet he also asked his churches often to pray for him too. From these requests, BMW drew out seven key requests that every prayer warrior should remember when bringing their missionaries before the throne of grace. These Seven C’s are the meat of the book, so I’ll just quote the “Daily Prayer Guide” here from pages 80-82:
Sunday is for CARE – The missionary’s protection and safety and health in his country of service; for stability, freedom, governmental leaders, passports, visas, and work permits
Monday is for CONTACTS – The missionary’s non-believing acquaintances and friends, opportunities to make new contacts, the ability to transition conversations to spiritual things and to scriptural ideas and eventually the Gospel, open doors through which they may pass to share Christ
Tuesday is for COURAGE – The missionary’s boldness through the Spirit, good results in ministry for encouragement, encouragers for [them], teammates doing things well
Wednesday is for CLARITY – The missionary as a communicator of God’s truth, ability with the foreign language, cultural adaptation, and communicating the truth clearly by the example they set and through the spoken word
Thursday is for CONVERSIONS – The missionary’s fruitfulness and satisfaction in their work, seeing key people come to faith in Christ
Friday is for CHRISTLIKENESS – The missionary’s own spiritual walk and Christlikeness, growth in grace through the use of the means of grace (the Word, prayer, fellowship, worship, etc.), death to fleshly desires, humility and cooperation in relationships with fellow workers, nationals, and family
Saturday is for CO-WORKERS – The missionary can keep his sanity and avoid burnout by being assisted by new harvesters arriving on the field, working harmoniously with the team, and helping lighten the workload
You’d do well to print off this convenient list of detailed requests, one per day of the week, so as to strengthen your prayers for the missionary in your life. “God, bless the missionary” is good, but it’s not good enough. Whether your missionary gives you specific requests or not, whether they provide you with names or not should be of no consequence. These requests name the specifics of what your missionary truly needs, and you can serve as the “air support” (prayer support) for that foot-soldier marching on the front lines.
I’ve enjoyed other works published by BMW, like Paul Seger’s Chief and the Fostering the Harvest video series by David Brown, but they’ll have a hard time publishing anything more succinct, practical, and desperately needed than this little book right here. I highly recommend it.
©2020 E.T.