Great Commission Prayer

EMQ » January–March 2023 » Volume 59 Issue 1

By Heather Pubols

From 2012 to 2017, I took journalism teams to several countries to document the engagement of believers in prayer for the Great Commission. Everyone we met and talked with shared the uniting principle that prayer is the power and foundation of any and all participation in God’s mission. In and of itself, prayer was as significant a part of the Great Commission as any strategies devised, or work performed.

Each group also offered unique perspectives on prayer. Believers in Japan who committed to regularly pray together for missions described themselves as “missionaries of prayer.”[i] The director of an Indonesian ministry, said their intentional prayer time each month was “the air we breathe.”[ii] In Kenya, a ministry leader explained prayer as “our first ministering tool”[iii] ahead of money or any other resources. A member from a Romanian prayer group in London called prayer, “the engine of a Christian.”[iv]

These groups offer a glimpse of the ever-growing global involvement in Great Commission prayer. In his article, Jason Hubbard describes the phenomenal growth of global prayer movements. He shares that millions of people from Indonesia to Brazil are joining together in earnest, coordinated and united prayer for God to bring the lost into his kingdom. Jenny Oliphant highlights, in her article, how many of these movements of intercessors link together local and global prayer efforts. And the results of all this prayer? Workers are being sent into the abundant harvest, and the Church is growing.

Prayer also plays a more intimate function in our work and faith. It joins us together in communion with one another and our Creator, and it aligns us with God’s purposes. As missionaries and as mission agencies, we have the privilege of inviting others to join with us in praying for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. And as we do this, we participate in a deeper reality – a spiritual reality that transcends what we can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Check out the articles by Katherine Lorance, Madison Strauder, and Marcia Strauss which explore these aspects of prayer in more detail.

Finally, don’t forget to read through our extras section at the end with articles on a variety of other topics. This time, you’ll find ones on the Korean church, tentmaking, collaboration, and a challenge to carefully consider the concept of calling.

Read this issue of EMQ →

Heather Pubols
Editorial Director

[i] “Missionaries of Prayer,” Wycliffe News Network, June 17, 2013, https://wycliffenewsnetwork.exposure.co/missionaries-of-prayer.

[ii] “Uniting the Body, Engaging the Community,” Wycliffe News Network, January 20, 2018, https://wycliffenewsnetwork.exposure.co/uniting-the-body-engaging-the-community.

[iii] “In Complete Dependence,” Wycliffe News Network, January 15, 2016, https://wycliffenewsnetwork.exposure.co/in-complete-dependence.

[iv] “A Worldwide Prayer Chain,” Wycliffe News Network, October 30, 2018, https://wycliffenewsnetwork.exposure.co/a-worldwide-prayer-chain.

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