Missionaries don’t engage in missions because they decide to go.
Missionaries engage in missions because they are sent by the church.
Missionaries are chosen by the church, trained by the church, funded by the church, and sent by the church. The missions task is the responsibility of the church, which sends some of its best people to build the church in places where there is no church, and strengthen the church where a church already exists.
And missionaries are prayed for by the church. Perhaps the best thing the church does for missionaries is to pray for them. What can we pray for those whom we send? What follows is a prayer that our church prayed as we commissioned a family last Sunday for a missions task. The prayer serves as a good reminder for the church (and its members) of its responsibility to those who are sent. [For security reasons, the names of our missionary family and their country have not been identified in the prayer below.]
Our Father,
We come to You this morning with hearts full of joy, and likewise full of questions, uncertainties, and dependence on You. We are sending today this most precious and faithful family to the ends of the earth for the sake of Your name. They are going because they are compelled by the gospel and the urgency of taking the gospel to the lost. They are going because they love Christ. They are going because we are sending them. And we are sending them and they are going because we are compelled by You. This is Your task. As they go, they are dependent on You. And as we send, we are dependent on You to be faithful to our responsibilities.
As we send them, we are aware that Grace Bible Church also has responsibilities. Just as You will be faithful to keep them in a foreign land, will You keep us faithful to You and our responsibilities here? First of all, we desire to remain faithful to You and Your truth. Would You give us diligence in training and equipping another generation of leaders who will be bold defenders of the truth of the gospel and the love of Christ? You have made us to be pillars and supports of the truth of God. You have made us guardians of the gospel. Might we not waver from that role — might we always love the gospel and stand for the truth of Christ. Might our family return in three years when they have finished their first language and then again and again over the next two or more decades, and find us more firm and more resolute for the gospel of Christ. Might they be able to stand for the truth because we are standing for the truth — and encouraging, equipping, and helping them to stand.
We also ask that You might preserve our unity and continue to expand and deepen our ministry so that we can give generously to their needs. You have been so very gracious to provide for them to go; but going has never been the goal. Going and translating and planting a church and staying has been the goal. And they can only stay as we continue to support financially. So would you grace us with resources that are enough for us — and plenty for them. Might we be generous with the gifts You have entrusted to us and might we faithfully invest our financial wealth into eternal opportunities.
Another responsibility we have had has been to train and equip our family for this work. Would you give us wisdom to continue to equip them. Might we continue to sharpen them with good theological questions and discussions. Might we continue to examine their personal faith, exhort and counsel them in their questions, and give them tools that will enable them to serve the church of Christ in their new country. Might we also do that by being faithful to communicate with them. Help us to remember them — and as we remember them, to text them, email them, and call them to encourage them and help them. Might they always be aware that there is a church body in Granbury that loves them and is committed to them — and even more, that we love Christ and are committed to Him and to pointing our missionary family to Him and all the grace He gives.
And would we be faithful to pray. Of all that we do for them, perhaps the greatest gift we might give them is the gift of prayer. We pray because we know we ultimately are not strong enough, wise enough, or rich enough to provide for them. We pray because they aren’t strong, wise, or rich. We pray because we are incapable, and because You are capable. You have saved them from their sin and rebellion and You have equipped them with the Holy Spirit and You have trained them and You have provided for them — and now they are going, still dependent on You and Your grace. You who are “teaching us to pray” this year, would You keep us faithful in praying for them? Might our prayers be insightful, persistent, and dependent? And would You be so kind to give them all that they need as we pray for them? The missionary pioneer William Cary told his friend Andrew Fuller before he left for India that, “I will go down into the pit, if you will hold the ropes.” Our beloved friends are going to a new part of the world and a new country. Might we be faithful to hold the ropes for them by praying dependently on You for them.
And now as we close this service, we do the best thing we can do for them. We pray to You and echo the words of Paul to the Ephesian elders as he left them to go to Jerusalem and imprisonment — “now we commend the husband and wife and their children to You and to the word of Your grace, which is able to build them up and to give them the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
In the name of Christ we pray, Amen.
A Map of the World, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Words of Grace 
