Thank you for journeying with us this year as we wrestled with both the "how" and the "why" of praying for missions. To wrap up 2021, Andy Johnson speaks to us of the tension missionaries wrestle with between personal and Kingdom wins and provides guidance on how to pray for them.
Throughout 2021, we’ve highlighted both the "how" and the "what" to pray for missionaries. This month, David Allen brings us our final installment of the "how" emails by speaking to us of how giving thanks is an important role we all can pray in the Kingdom.
We are only able to pour into others as we have been filled ourselves; empty pitchers pour no lemonade! Every worker on the field knows this, but they daily wrestle with the tension between self-care and self-sacrifice. Speaking from a well of experience and lessons learned the hard way, Jay Jarboe guides us to pray into this tension on behalf of missionaries around the world.
Five minutes online is enough to threaten to overwhelm our hearts - the developing crisis in Afghanistan targeting our sisters and brothers in Christ…an earthquake in Haiti followed up by a tropical storm…the rampant Delta variant. Hear this truth, friends - we are not overcome nor are we powerless because the God we serve is still King! In this timely email, Dan Bouchelle speaks to us about how to pray into a crisis as well as how to pray for our family in Christ serving through one. Keep reading to the end for special requests from a friend of MRN who serves on the ground near to the crisis in Afghanistan.
In this month’s call to prayer, MRN’s own Mark Hooper speaks to us about Confessional Prayers. His is a life lived out of a deep relationship with the Father, often engaging in the practice of confession. You will be blessed by letting Mark lead you to take a closer look at praying confessional prayers.
This month we call you to Declarative Prayer, something many of us might be either unfamiliar or uncomfortable with. This mode of prayer simply means that once we know God’s heart on an issue, we boldly pray that it will be so, and then walk in faith that it is already so – even if the answer is not yet visible.[1] It involves knowing the heart of God, the character of God, and the word of God so intimately that we are able to speak with authority about how things ought to be even when they do not look likely.
When I listened to the news of another attack by the militant group al Shaba’ab in Kenya, I felt myself stiffening. I knew of missionaries who lived in the region. They decided to stay alongside the local church community and support them through the crisis. I wondered how close the fighting was to their families. And, I admit, I wished they would just flee the area for their safety.
“I wish there was more that I could do for your ministry, but I am on a limited budget.” I remember hearing this a lot as a missionary when I would share the story of what God was doing in his kingdom. Often it was from a sweet widow or a retired couple who wanted to give more financial assistance to our ministry. I would usually respond by saying, “You actually can do something more important for the mission than providing funds.” Then I would share with them Paul’s words to the Roman church, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.” (Romans 15:30).
I’m still a little humored, bewildered, and astonished by this conversation I had with a friend of mine who had been part of our church community. And, while I still find myself shaking my head at this interaction, there is a legitimate, ongoing tension between being Holy Spirit led and engaging in human planning, a tension that many church and mission leaders face daily.
In the past, we’ve used these blogs to inform you of what to pray for these three works that we believe God has called us to be a part of initiating. This year, though, we’re changing things up! We’ll spend six of the next twelve months talking about the how of praying for these Initiatives and the others talking about the why.
I’m tired of Zoom. I’m tired of online church. I’m tired of experiencing part of people (visual and auditory). I need to feel people. I need to smell them. I need the energy that radiates in a room filled with people in my Christian family. I need life-sized, in-person presence. Don’t you?
In the world of unreached people, MRN is concerned with those who have no access to the Gospel and worship idols: gods made with human hands and ideas. However, within most of these non-Christian theologies, there are often glimpses of truth sprinkled through their stories and festivals. This is especially true among our Hindu friends.
November 1 is the International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians. In eleven days, believers will devote themselves to praying for their brothers and sisters who live in places where there are life-threatening consequences to choosing Jesus.
We are calling you to do the same – not just on that day, but even today!
Regardless of where they serve in the world, missionary families usually say the same thing – their children are a special blessing and a big part of their work. As Christian families seek to live out their faith in whatever context God places them, living as a whole family on mission says something in a unique way to those around them. Children matter to the expansion of the Kingdom.
“I wish there is more that I could do for your ministry, but I am limited in my resources.” I often hear a similar statement from our partners here at Mission Resource Network. I sometimes respond by saying “you can wrestle in prayer for us!” When I face an inquisitive look, I tell about one of my favorite heroes in the Bible. His name is Epaphras.
Although many of us may have missed it, last Sunday, May 31st, was Pentecost Sunday. It marked the anniversary of the day on which God poured out His promised Holy Spirit on all believers. Nothing was ever the same.
I remember the first time that I saw a mother teaching her small child to bow down before an idol. It was a hot tropical day in northern Thailand. I had come to a Buddhist temple to learn what goes on there.
In this day of uncertainty, it is sometimes difficult to even know what to pray. A virus threatens our world. Millions are losing their jobs. Countless other millions are forced to stay home even though their life depends on them working each day to earn what little they can to support their families. The world is vulnerable, exposed. It is difficult to feel powerless.
God has declared that now is the time for the harvest season and for the people of the Muslim world to be brought back to Him. More Muslims have come to faith in Jesus in the last 15 years than in the previous 1400 years combined! And we are alive and have the privilege to see it and to participate in what He is doing! However, this territory is not uncontested.
When it comes to training workers to participate in a disciple making movement, the first principle we lean into is Prayer Saturation. We firmly believe that the Spirit moves when God’s people pray. We’ve seen it both throughout Scripture and on up to our times.
A friend of mine is fond of saying that the only things in this life really worth attempting are the ones that are bound to fail if God doesn’t show up. Friends, if that’s the case, these three are really worth doing because there is zero chance of success without the Spirit of the Living God accomplishing these through His people!
As we all spend time swimming around in the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus and in His New Testament birth stories, you can’t help but notice how unrooted our Savior was in His early days. He was technically “of Nazareth,” but He was born in Bethlehem and fled as a refugee to Egypt until there was a regime change in His country.
Thank you for journeying with us this year as we wrestled with both the "how" and the "why" of praying for missions. To wrap up 2021, Andy Johnson speaks to us of the tension missionaries wrestle with between personal and Kingdom wins and provides guidance on how to pray for them.