‘Pray for us’… but how?
How well do we pray for our missionaries? Perhaps we find it easier to pray for their ‘mission’ than to pray for the missionaries themselves. Paul Brunning highlights some very important but often overlooked prayer needs.
One evening during the GBM Mission Council conference in March, we discussed the results of a survey by Global Trellis, a US-based missionary support network. The survey asked cross-cultural missionaries about issues that they might not feel comfortable to share with their senders and supporters. Several hundred responses came in—all anonymously—with many reporting concerns over debt and finances, children, and physical health. But the top three issues were: mental and emotional health; faith and theology; and marriage and singleness.
Some years ago, an article by Tom Wells appeared in Reformation Today entitled ‘How to Pray for Missionaries.’ He identified three ways to think about missionaries which would help us to pray more intelligently for them: as human beings; as Christians; and as Christian workers. When we pray for missionaries, we may rush straight into praying for them as Christian workers—for their ministry and the people they are serving. Of course we should pray for these things. But do we overlook the fact that, before our missionaries are missionaries, they are ordinary human beings, and ordinary Christians?
The findings of the Global Trellis survey raise similar questions, reminding us that we should pray much more, and more sensitively, for our missionaries as people.
Ordinary human needs
In his article, Wells wrote, ‘[Missionaries are] ordinary human beings with ordinary human needs… They struggle with the very concerns you struggle with. They must have food, clothing, and shelter. It would be well to mention these things to the Lord on their behalf.’ These necessities are often harder and more time-consuming to come by in a different country, culture, or climate. Missionaries may have to grapple with impenetrable bureaucracy, corruption, or questionable building standards.
Financial matters can also be problematic. One respondent to the survey wrote: ‘Being on support is stressful. Having advocates to talk about finances to supporters is helpful. It is hard to save for future retirement when so many around me are in desperate need and living day to day.’ Another person added: ‘This can be especially detrimental to marriage and for the children since it causes additional stress and alienation. Sometimes it feels like missionaries have to justify all of their expenses, so the guilt racks up when one might choose to take a vacation or enrol their child in a better school.’
Let us ask the Lord to give missionaries wisdom to navigate these complex issues, peace in their hearts, and trust in him. Let us also give generously to support missionaries now and into their retirement, and encourage and enable them to take holidays or do other things that will bless them as people—as human beings just like us.
Family and personal life
Family needs and circumstances are also significant. Singleness, marriage, and parenting all present challenges for missionaries. ‘Being single, I long for consistent friends’, reported one missionary. Another said, ‘As a single woman, I could go days or weeks without someone intentionally touching me (other than being jostled in a crowded street). As someone who appreciates physical touch, this was very hard, and no one ever talks about it.’ With such things in mind, pray for single missionaries to develop good friendships, and sensitively encourage those who are struggling with loneliness.
‘Marriage is a common area of attack by the enemy’, another respondent commented, ‘but it can be very hard to ask for help and prayer for marital issues from our support network, because it feels like having a healthy marriage is part of our job, and the people who might help us with that are often the people who pay our salary, so to speak. It can be very scary to say, “Things aren’t going well in our marriage right now. We need some help.”‘ Pray earnestly for our missionaries’ marriages to grow and remain strong amidst the pressures and disruptions of missionary life.
Wells adds: ‘Think of the needs of your own children for education and physical development. You pray about these things. Remember the missionaries’ children as well.’ And if children on the mission field are struggling, the impact on their parents can be substantial, as one respondent shared: ‘If a CCW [cross-cultural worker]’s child is struggling with severe anxiety, it’s not just their child struggling with anxiety. The CCW may wonder, “If it gets bad enough, are we going to have to leave the field? Could we lose our home and community? How will this affect our children’s education and friends? How will this impact our children’s relationship with God? How will it impact our livelihood?”‘
Understandably, many missionaries will not share personal and family struggles in general prayer letters, or even during deputation visits. Unless the missionary is a close friend or under your pastoral care, then asking them for personal details may be intrusive. But we can all pray for their personal and family life, knowing that the Lord knows the details completely, and that he will answer perfectly.
Spiritual life
Missionaries are Christians, like us. They may have different gifts or a particular sense of the Lord’s calling. They will have made significant and ongoing sacrifices to obediently serve the Lord. But missionaries are not superhero-Christians. Wells notes, ‘I can pray for them to our common Father to comfort them in their distress over their failures. I will not ask him to make them self-satisfied, but to grant them progress in their lives and an increasing recognition of his grace.’
Many missionaries who responded to the Global Trellis survey spoke frankly about weaknesses in their spiritual lives: ‘I’m not doing well in the area of prayer, or daily times with the Lord. My heart hurts and I’m not running to the Lord like I used to.’ Or, ‘I’m in [Scripture] regularly as part of my church and in the Bible study I lead, but for my own 1:1 with God, I can go quite a long time without reading Scripture.’ We must pray regularly for our missionaries to prioritize their own fellowship with the Lord, so that they will walk closely with him, drink deeply from his word, flourish as Christians, and then be able to serve him faithfully.
Christ-honouring service
Missionaries are on the mission field to do mission work. Quite rightly we pray for their ministries to impact many people for good, for their churches to grow, and for Christ’s kingdom to advance. Yet neither we, nor even the missionaries themselves, are the best or final judges of the ‘success’ of a missionary endeavour. The pressure to be seen to be successful, to keep reporting converts or other markers of progress, can be a burden on missionaries. As these missionaries movingly expressed it: ‘We took over a failing ministry, and we haven’t been able to “right the ship”, so to speak… Maybe the church is just dead and there won’t be a way to recover it. Maybe it should die. And our supporters are excited for us to try and revive it, but if it failed, I’m not sure what they’d think of our ministry here—would they lose confidence in it, and in us?’ How would you pray for such missionaries? By all means pray for the church to revive and grow; but pray also that missionaries in hard and unpromising ministries would serve patiently, wisely, faithfully, and for Christ’s glory alone.
Even the great Apostle Paul said, ‘Pray for us.’ All missionaries need prayer. When we pray, let’s remember that missionaries are people like us, and Christians like us—wanting to serve the Lord faithfully in some extraordinary ways.
‘How to Pray for Missionaries’ by Tom Wells, Reformation Today no. 222, March – April 2008. https://reformation-today.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/RT_222.pdf
Young, Amy, Covell, Stacey, and Rollings, Christine. “Let’s Talk about It: Eleven Areas of Concern for Cross-Cultural Workers on the Field.” Global Trellis. Lakewood: Global Trellis, 2024. https://globaltrellis.com/lets-talk-about-it-white-paper/