I have been blessed with many cultural opportunities these past few weeks – from being kicked out of a home, dealing with a difficult discipleship issue with a lady in the church, visiting a village and observing a woman crawling on her hands and knees out of respect as she past a group of men (no joke!), and observing a heated conversation between a group of Muslim women and our believing male friend about faith. These and other experiences have taught me how to better pray for God’s work here, and I think they are worth passing along to you who want to know how to pray for our ministry:

  • Prayers of repentance for assuming pridefully that people will come to faith because of us (our skills, abilities, past experience, language ability, etc.).
  • Acknowledge that God alone has the power to redeem these people – He created them in His power and it is He who made a way for their salvation.
  • Ask God what it will look like for His Kingdom to come to eastern Chad- physically, emotionally, culturally, spiritually – what things will change and be reformed when people begin to follow Jesus and the Holy Spirit is doing His work of conviction and encouragement.
  • Pray for God to convict people (especially of men) of their pride (in their good works or in their cultural heritage). When people encounter the True God of Scripture, may they be brought to their knees in recognition of how filthy their good deeds are and how unworthy they are apart from a Savior.
  • Ask God for wisdom for us (the workers) and words to speak directly into the reality of the lives of those we are living amongst. What Scriptures will pierce their hearts?
  • Pray for acceptance and favor as we walk into homes and lives of our neighbors and eventually villages. Coming in the name of Jesus sparks much skepticism here. Pray that those who welcome us into their families and communities will recognize the peace, joy, love, and other fruits of the Spirit in our lives (and not confuse those things with our material blessings that we inevitably enjoy from being white).
  • Pray for unity amongst the teams who are here -specifically our team and the other 4-adult team (from another organization) as well as on translator working with our chosen people group.
  • Pray for us as we begin to brainstorm how to best enter villages/homes with the gospel (practical ministry ideas and how to bless the people’s physical needs).