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Calling all the Messengers

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VBS at Mud Creek Baptist Church just finished. The theme for this summer was “Calling all the Messengers.” A tremendously creative team (Allison Gosnell, Brittany Pace, Diana Hefner, Autumn Thompson, and Deanna Bradshaw) envisioned a missions theme for this summer and were helped by an army of volunteers, church staff, and leaders. Numbers of children put their faith in Jesus Christ, and all of them came face to face with our mission as messengers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

VBS highlighted 3 countries where we have worked recently—Honduras, Kenya, and China. Honduras is a predominantly Christian nation (largely Catholic). Our work there with the Christian Community of Honduras and Pastor Israel Gonzalez begins with compassion and service projects giving us the platform to share the gospel. Over the years, we’ve seen many come to faith in Jesus Christ and many churches started through this partnership.

Kenya is also largely Christian. The Kenyan population is generally very open to hearing and responding to the gospel. Our partnership is through North Carolina Baptists with the Baptist Convention of Kenya. Our platform is the “Houses of Hope” project providing a home to a needy widow that will also be a location for a village Bible study. Over the past few years, we’ve had the opportunity to witness hundreds place their faith in Jesus Christ and seen how God can take a chicken and turn it into a church which I’ve written about here.

China is a very different country. Our kids heard from a journeyman who spent two years in China learning the culture and language and sharing the gospel. China is predominantly non-religious, has nearly 1.4 billion people, and regularly persecutes believers. Many Christians in China worship in house churches that are not sanctioned by the Communist government. Nevertheless, the gospel is spreading in this closed country.

The children at our VBS this week were challenged to pray for missions and to one day go on mission. This challenge is not just for the children at our VBS. It’s for each of us. God is doing a redemptive work in the world. He promises to redeem for himself by the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ, believers from every tribe (race or clan), tongue (language), people (commonly bonded people of society—usually Jews in the Scripture), and nation (people group—usually Gentiles in the Scripture). This promise is found in Revelation 5:9-10.

The bottom line is that there are currently 6,552 groups of unreached peoples in the world. Unreached is defined as no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize their own people. This number is approximately 3,047,782,000 people (that’s 3.4 billion people!) or 42% of the world population. These statistics and more can be found at the Joshua Project.

God promised to redeem for himself people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. He will keep his promise. Have you partnered with God in his mission? Our VBS children partnered this week learning, praying, giving, and sending crafts to participate in God’s redemptive, eternal, universal mission.

What about you?

Will you join God?

Will you go on mission?

You say, “But where can I go? How can I get started?” Well, you can pray for our summer mission teams as a starting point. Here are some prayers you can pray. You can also sign up through the Joshua Project to pray for the unreached peoples across the world. And while you’re praying, ask the Lord where He might want to send you on mission this year. If children at VBS can join God’s mission as messengers, then we can too.

8 Prayers You Can Pray for Your Mission Teams

Originally published at Lifeway’s Pastor’s Today Blog

If your church is like ours, then you have mission trips planned for this summer. We have teams going to West Virginia, Vermont, Honduras, and Kenya. As a missions pastor, I’ve witnessed the power of God on numerous mission trips. There can be no doubt that prayer is the primary ingredient for spiritually successful mission trips. Here are some prayers I’ve learned to pray for our mission teams.

  1. Pray that the mission team will not let the platform take the place of the mission. In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus commissioned us to make disciples. That’s our mission. Oftentimes, compassion ministry, construction, or other need-based ministries are the “platforms” that give opportunity for mission trips. But success in meeting these needs is not our “mission.” Our mission is disciple-making (evangelism, teaching, baptizing) connected to a local church. It is easy to let the need (platform) become the focus. Pray that your mission teams will not forget the “mission” in lieu of meeting the need.
  2. Pray for the spiritual preparation and development of the mission team.There’s a reason Paul’s prayer for spiritual boldness in proclaiming the gospel (Ephesians 6:19) followed his treatment of Christian armor and spiritual warfare. Mission trips are not for the spiritually weak—they require recognition of the spiritual war we are facing. Pray that your teams will be spiritually prepared for the work and war they are sure to face.
  3. Pray for the flexibility of the mission team. Sometimes our mission plans require revision and flexibility. Acts 16:6-10 records Paul’s prevention by the Holy Spirit of going into Asia and the Macedonian call. Mission teams must learn to trust God’s plan, not their own and be spiritually discerning. Pray that your teams will be flexible in their planning and discern what God wants to accomplish on the mission trip.
  4. Pray for the financial support of the mission team. When Jesus sent out his witnesses, he told them to trust the provision offered in the villages for their wages and sustenance (Matthew 10:9-10; Luke 10:4-8). International mission trips cost money. And I believe in a God who owns everything. Pray that God would meet the financial obligations of each team member and mission trip.
  5. Pray for the health, safety, and travel of the mission team. Traveling to mission destinations and encountering new bacteria (internationally) can drastically affect the health and strength of mission team participants. Getting sick is just a normal part of international travel. However there is precedent for praying for the health and safety of mission teams in in travel. Acts 27 records the storm at sea and shipwreck of Paul and his captors. Yet Paul prayed, and God protected all on the ship (Acts 27:24). Pray that your teams will experience safe travel and health protection while on the mission trip.
  6. Pray for the spiritual wisdom and loving service of the mission team. One of Paul’s prayers for the Ephesian church was that they would grow in spiritual wisdom and depth of love (Ephesians 3:14-20). Mission team members need an abundance of wisdom and love, and God desires to provide it. Pray that your team members will be abundantly wise and discerning as well as filled with love for those whom they will serve and share with.
  7. Pray for the Spirit to open blinded eyes and that unbelievers would see Christ in all of his glory. Satan blinds the eyes of unbelievers to the truth of the gospel and the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4-6). It is the Holy Spirit’s role to convict and bring to light the truth and power of the gospel (John 16:8-11). Pray that the Holy Spirit would go ahead of your mission teams and prepare the hearts of the lost to respond to Christ and that the Spirit would draw unbelievers to Christ through the preaching of the gospel.
  8. Pray for the spiritual development, strength, and growth of the partner churches and missions that your teams will work with. Paul encouraged, commended, challenged, and prayed for the churches, elders and leaders of the Ephesian church before he finally parted ways with them. (Acts 20:17-38). Mission teams are only a part of God’s ongoing work in the world. Churches, organizations, pastors, and believers across the globe will continue God’s work far longer than a mission team serves on a mission trip. Pray for the partner churches, pastors, and organizations to have strength, growth, and success in fulfilling God’s disciple-making mission in their context.