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Praying for Mission by
Dr. John Nicholls
Chief Executive
The London City Mission
Chair of the Missions Commission of the World Reformed Fellowship Prayer is a good idea. We’re all agreed about that. It makes a difference – at least, we believe it does – even when we can’t see the results we were hoping for. It’s something we’re commanded to do, something that Jesus did, something that we’d love to do better than we do.
Prayer is awesome. We believe it’s nothing less than talking to God – the Creator and Governor of the univers.. We believe that prayer actually works only because the Son of God willingly died for us at Calvary, and is alive today in glory. We believe that real praying involves nothing less than God the Holy Spirit working within our minds and psychology, to prompt us.
Prayer can be tough going. In prayer meetings and our own personal prayer times, thoughts wander. We feel the need to find something new to pray – something to stop it all sounding like reading a shopping list, something to renew our excitement. We’d love to feel the prayer meeting room shaking, like it did in Acts, but we’re often closer to the meeting where the lad went to sleep and fell out of the window.
Praying for Mission is all of that and more. It’s certainly a good idea, because it’s right in tune with God’s own heart. He doesn’t want anyone to perish, but longs for them to hear about Jesus, and accept him in gospel repentance. Mission is what the Bible is all about, from Genesis 12 to Revelation 22 (and Genesis 1 to 11 is relevant, too!) Mission is what Jesus came to do. Mission is what Jesus has left us here to do.
Praying for mission is awesome. God’s mission of salvation is what history is all about. “Crowns and thrones may perish, Kingdoms rise and wane”, but the mission of the church of Jesus remains – the one enduring “kingdom”! So, praying for mission is more fundamental than praying for war and peace, for the environment, for famines and tragedies, for our personal joys and sufferings.
But our prayers for mission can be dull and pretty lifeless. If we’re honest, we have to admit that we find it far easier to pray fervently for ourselves and those close to us.
Our prayers can deal in vague generalities (“corners of God’s vineyard”). They can become repetitive – like the man I knew, who prayed every week in exactly the same words: “We pray for missionaries, that you would speed them on their journey”. (We never did hear if they arrived!) They can even become sub-Christian, focusing on the recurring tragedies of teenage gang-violence in the cities, of monsoons, earthquakes and famines, and of political oppression and the persecution of Christians around the world. Sub-Christian? Yes, if we fail to pray also and ultimately for people’s eternal salvation, their conversion from darkness to light, from death to life, through the knowledge of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit!
So, how can we pray for mission better? Here are 4 things to think about
1. Do you really believe in the God to whom you are praying? Before you pray, stop for a moment and think about your Father in heaven. He’s our missionary God. He has assured us that he will gather into heaven a people from every nation and language group. And there will be more than can be counted! He’s got the power to do more than we can ask or imagine – and what more could he have done to guarantee this, than to give his own Son to die as an atoning substitute, in agony and abandonment?
When we pray to this God, how can we be like those who were praying for Peter’s release from prison – but didn’t believe it when Rhoda interrupted their meeting with news that Peter was at the door! (Acts 12:15).
2. Are you praying for the right things? – When the apostles were threatened with drastic action if they continued preaching, the church held a prayer meeting (Acts 4:24-31). Read it carefully! There’s not a word about their praying for protection, or for the immediate overthrow of their enemies! Instead, we find them praying for “all boldness” to go on proclaiming the word, whatever the cost. We are a comfortable generation, a long way removed from John Wesley’s “Covenanting Prayer”, which included this:
Put me to what you will,
Rank me with whom you will;
Put me to doing, put me to suffering;
Let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,
Exalted for you or brought low for you;
Let me be full, let me be empty;
Let me have all things, let me have nothing…”
It may seem strange to pray such a prayer for those missionaries whom we know and love so well. But if they have indeed been called, denied themselves and taken up their cross, because they want above all things to see people hear the gospel, we are actually denying or undermining their calling if we pray anything less! Pray not for the comfort of missionaries, but for the success of mission, at whatever cost. It’s worth it.
3. Are you determined to keep on and on praying? Be patient. Mission is a long-term work, that’s already gone on for thousands of years, and will go on until Jesus comes again. Sometimes our prayers receive spectacular and speedy answers – as on the day when we prayed for one of our team doing door-to-door visiting, and heard later of one door that was opened by a man who had, on impulse, recently bought his first-ever Bible. His response was, “I’m reading this part called ‘Romans’ – Can you tell me what it’s all about?” But more often we seem to pray with very little result. Remember the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) – and don’t just pray when you hear of something exciting. Then, whenever Jesus returns, he will find people who have hung on in there, praying for the triumph of the gospel.
4. Are you doing as well as praying? I love the story of the church in Antioch (Acts 13:1-3) and its prayer-meeting. We don’t know how the Spirit communicated with them. But we do know what he told them to do - to give up Paul and Barnabas to work as missionaries. How would you react to a message like that? Two of the greatest preachers, pastoral workers, Christians that the world has seen – and you’re going to “lose” them both from you church ministry-team! The Antioch Christians were willing to pay the price. When we pray for mission, how big a price are we prepared to pay? Where does mission come in our list of church- and individual-priorities?
Four ways to increase your praying for mission in London (you can easily apply the principles to the rest of the world!):
1. Get informed! Use our free magazine, “Changing London” – and our web-site www.lcm.org.uk - to get a clearer picture of the life and needs of our city. Maybe you never thought before of what goes on in the minds of those who paint criminal graffiti on the city’s walls and trains? Are you praying more thoughtfully for them after reading the previous magazine?
2. Pray regularly! Use TOGETHER. That’s our publication that gives you a daily news item or prayer topic from one of LCM’s ministries. It will make your praying more specific, focused on the real needs of London. And you’ll get to know the LCM team. (Order via the web-site).
3. Join our “Concert of Prayer” for London and the LCM. You don’t have to go anywhere, just aim to spend 10 to 30 minutes between 7a.m. and 10 a.m. on a Tuesday morning in praying for a greater gospel impact on this enormous and needy city, through the work of the LCM and the churches. If you do, it would be a great encouragement if you could drop us a letter or an e-mail to tell us.
4. Get others to pray, too. Praying for Mission is not meant to be a secret! Why not send for extra copies of TOGETHER and give one to each member of your house-group? Or use one of TOGETHER’s prayer topics when you lead the prayers in your Sunday service or mid-week meeting – and encourage others to start using it regularly.
To follow up on any of the above:
Write to: LCM Prayer, 175 Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 2AH
Or visit the web-site at www.lcm.org.uk
 
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