Praying for Cross-Cultural Workers during the Holidays & Other Seasons
by Alan Howell
Director of Church Relations
The holiday season is a special time of the year (some even call it “the most wonderful time of the year”!). It offers a chance for many of us to slow down, practice gratitude, and get to connect with loved ones. But for cross-cultural workers this can be an especially hard time of the year. They may be far from family and friends, unable to follow family traditions, and be hit by powerful waves of loneliness and isolation. This high season for many may make missionaries feel surprisingly low – it may feel like the worst time of the year, instead.
How can Kingdom workers and churches that support them navigate this season well?
One resource that I have found helpful in complicated times is to lean on the prayers of others. When I struggle to unpack what I’m feeling and find myself searching for ways to turn those signals upward to God, borrowing prayers from others has been a lifeline. Releasing myself from the expectation that I need to come up with the right words to say on my own has given me the opportunity to pay more attention to how I’mhandling things and how those around me are experiencing them as well.
While Scripture is obviously a prime resource for finding ways to pray, sometimes the distance of time and culture can make us long for something that hits a little closer to our modern day lived experience. For example, what does a missionary do when they are feeling sad about not being able to buy pecans to make a special desert for the holidays? How does a worker who is new on the field make sense of not knowing enough of the local language to form deep friendship connections in their host culture and then finish a video call where they see many loved ones gathered together back home? What does one do when close friends or family or their church posts a picture on social media that they would normally be in but are missing because of a choice made to live across the globe instead of across the street?
One resource that I have been blessed by personally and have shared often with churches and kingdom workers comes from the Every Moment Holy series. These are beautiful books with all kinds of prayers for different situations (one of my personal favorites is A Liturgy for the Ritual of Morning Coffee!). And Every Moment Holy has created a collection of prayers for cross-cultural workers that is fantastic. This free bundle includes the following liturgies:
For Moving Into a New Home
For Missing Someone
For Leavings
For an Inconsolable Homesicknes
To Begin a Purposeful Gathering
For Waiting in Line
For Seasons of Uncertainty
For Releasing Ambitions and Embracing Christ
For Embracing both Joy and Sorrow
For a Time of Widespread Suffering
For Those Who Desire Community in Their Calling
For Learning a New Language
For Unseen Labors
For a Walk in My Neighborhood
Before Meeting People from Other Cultures
When Someone You Love Believes Differently than You
For Air Travelers
A Liturgy of Praise to Christ Who Labors Through His People
Here’s the link to that free bundle of prayers – thoughtfully curated for cross-cultural workers: https://www.everymomentholy.com/curated-liturgy-resources#crosscultural-workers
Praying for, with, and alongside kingdom workers is the gift and the responsibility of sending and supporting churches. This packet is one way for all of us involved in the mission of God to pray for those who serve.
If you are a kingdom worker who wants to deepen your resilience to make it through whatever season you are in, or if you are a church that wants to support your missionaries well through the holidays and beyond, we would love to assist you with that. Send me an email at alan.howell@mrnet.org.