Thoughts on Missionary Prayer 6

"We usually limit ourselves to asking God in private that people will come to Jesus. This is important. We must go beyond this first step. We must discern what it is that they consider important and pray for that need to be met by God. When this happens, it acts as an eye-opener as far as the gospel is concerned."
Ed Silvoso in: Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne eds., Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1999), p. 155.

Thoughts on Missionary Prayer 5

"Prayer is the most powerful form of social action because God responds directly to prayer. Prayer is the most powerful part of mission to unreached peoples, because God does what only He can do. Even in the most hopeless of situations, He breaks through the false dominion of the enemy, bringing spiritual light and breathing life for lasting social transformation.
God uses the act of praying both to change us and to change the future. As Walter Wink puts it,
History belongs to the intercessors who believe the future into being. . .Even a small number of people totally committed to the new inevitability in which they affix their imaginations can decisively affect the shape the future takes. These shapers of the future are the intercessors who call out the future, the longed-for new present; they believe the future into being."
John D. Robb in: Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne eds., Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1999), p. 151.

Thoughts on Missionary Prayer 4

"I'm convinced that we are living in what appears to be the most cruel period of history. More people suffer for Christ's name than in any other generation. As Christians who are not under such persecution, we must find any way that we can to help our persecuted brothers and sisters. They need us more than ever--our presence, our encouragement, our support, our teaching, our fellowship, and perhaps more than anything else, our prayers."
Brother Andrew in: Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne eds., Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1999), p. 179.

Thoughts on Missionary Prayer 3

"Christians have been divided for years over the most effective means of transforming our world. Is it through verbal proclamation of the gospel or with social action? In truth, the two cannot be separated. Without both, there simply is no good news. One thing ties them together--prayer. When prayer to our God of temporal justice and eternal salvation is emphasized, evangelism and social action are linked in the most essential way. The God who inspires prayer for the world stirs the hearts of His people both to share His good news and to dispense love and mercy. When we see people coming to Christ, health improving, economic opportunity increasing, and kingdom values growing, we find that believers have been praying. Because of the nature of evil in the world, prayer is essential."
John D. Robb in: Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne eds., Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1999), pp. 145-146.

Thoughts on Missionary Prayer 2

"So, why, then, don't we pray as persistently as we talk? The answer, quite simply, is that we don't believe it will make any difference. We accept, however despairingly, that the situation is unchangeable, that what is will always be. This is not a problem about the practice of prayer, but rather about its nature. Or, more precisely, it is about the nature of God and his relationship to this world.
"Unlike the widow in the parable, we find it is easy to come to terms with the unjust and fallen world around us--even when it intrudes into Christian institutions. It is not always that we are unaware of what is happening, but simply that we feel completely impotent to change anything. That impotence leads us, however unwillingly, to strike a truce with what is wrong."
David Wells in: Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne eds., Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1999), p. 144.

Thoughts on Missionary Prayer 1

"What, then, is the nature of petitionary prayer? It is, in essence, rebellion--rebellion against the world in its fallenness, the absolute and undying refusal to accept as normal what is pervasively abnormal. It is, in this its negative aspect, the refusal of every agenda, every scheme, every interpretation that is at odds with the norm as originally established by God. As such, it is itself an expression of the unbridgeable chasm that separates Good from Evil, the declaration that Evil is not a variation on Good but its antithesis.
"Or, to put it the other way around, to come to an acceptance of life 'as it is,' to accept it on its own terms--which means acknowledging the inevitability of the way it works--is to surrender a Christian view of God. This resignation to what is abnormal has within it the hidden and unrecognized assumption that the power of God to change the world, to overcome Evil by Good, will not be actualized."
David Wells in: Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne eds., Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1999), p. 143.

Why do I suck so much?

Sometimes it feels like everything I do just plain bites. I was just chatting with a friend who was in Serbia learning about some church-work going on there. It was great to hear that their ministry to addicts is more than just feeding and clothing them. The missionary there has created an addiction treatment centre in which the patients live, work and learn about Christ. So much of their work could be applied here - but this is not the crux of my present problem.
My heart is regularly moved with the idea of evangelism and missions - with sharing the incredible news of the possibility of reconciliation with God with those who are cut off from Him. However, I have not moved to fulfill what I sense as my primary calling. Sure, I am at a church which does much "mission" work, but there is still something not at ease within my soul. I'm still searching. Still waiting. Still seeking. I think it is time to act.
How can it be the case that the All-Powerful God of creation has taken up residence within me and yet I still find myself lazy, cold-hearted, easily-distracted and living for small things? Why does His power not launch me into a completely different sphere of existence? Why does my old-man still seem to cling to life when he should be dead?
Perhaps if the Church as a whole could answer this question there would not be so many people dying without a knowledge of God's love.