02. Prayerful mission. Missional prayer
Anyone will tell you that prayer is essential to being a disciple of Jesus. It’s our primary means of communication with our Father and, along with Scripture, it is one of the main ways He communicates with us. Prayer isn’t simply a shopping list of the things we want Him to do for us; whenever we pray, it’s important we first take time to listen. Why? God knows more than we do what we need and what He wants us to ask for (Matthew 6:8). One key reason we don’t get the things we ask for is that we have not first asked and then prayed according to His will (James 4:2-3, 1 John 5:14-15).
Taking time to listen intently (and reading Scripture) positions us to live with an ‘always on’ connection with Him. Of course, it’s not just about listening (and reading), it’s being obedient to what we hear and read, and doing it (Matthew 7:24-27, Luke 6:47-49, James 1:22-25). Jesus said He only did what He saw the Father doing (John 5+8), and gave time to be with the Father in prayer (He often went off to pray). His relationship with the Father informed what He did, how He did it, and when.
Who does the Lord want you to reach with the gospel? How does He want you to do that? When is the right time for you to do it? The broad answer to these questions is: everyone (John 3:16), by whatever means (1 Corinthians 9:19-23), and always be ready (1 Peter 3:15). However, the Lord will also be more specific, showing us who, how and when, each day. The Lord knows who is open and what will speak to them, and He will show you when the appropriate time is. He will either show us in prayer or in the posture that prayer puts us in throughout the day. Prayer, then, unlocks our role in God’s mission activity in our world.
Doing everything, including mission, out of prayer, is prayerful mission; mission that is led by the Spirit of God who reveals the who, when and where. This is what leads us into mission, equipped for the work of the gospel.
Missional prayer comes as a result of mission. You’ve spent time in prayer listening, you’ve been reading Scripture, you had a prompting by the Spirit for the who, when and where, and you responded in obedience and ‘did it’. Now what? You return to prayer and Scripture. The response to prayer (in this context) is mission. The response to mission is to return to prayer. What did you learn through the missional interaction? What was the situation, who was the person (or people), how did they respond (good, bad, neutral, curious, sceptical, surprised), and so on? All of this we take back to the Lord for wisdom, insight, forgiveness, next steps, etc.
Some circumstances are a one-off opportunity. For these, we pray that others would continue bringing the gospel to that person (or people), and that the person (or people) would be increasingly open to receiving the gospel. For the circumstances we remain connected to, our prayer is for more opportunities and their openness to receiving this precious gift of the gospel that we bring, and that we do so appropriately. Prayerful mission and missional prayer then become one; they become the way we pray, constantly.
This is part of the way we pray personally, but it’s also a way of praying with a prayer partner, prayer group or house group. Praying this way with others means we can encourage one another, share the joys and challenges, and learn to give testimony. We also get to hold one another to account, helping each other to be bold and step out, or do it together if the opportunity is there.
Give it a go! This way of purposeful praying into and out of mission is very satisfying. Talk to others about doing this and learn to model it. The best way to teach it is through testimony, so begin with a few, build some stories (the good, the bad and the ugly!), and use those in encouraging others to pray this way. The aim is to grow a lifestyle of prayer that is missional, both for the individual and for the life of your church or fellowship.
The resources in the Mission Hub are there to help you explore this, and they give you different ways to engage with it.