Introduction
This article will explore how prayer, in itself, is the mission of the church in partnership with God’s mission—Missio Dei. The contemporary crisis in missions provides us with an opportunity to investigate and re-examine Missio Dei, the mission of the church and the role of prayer in mission or as mission in itself. Prayer as mission in itself is reflected in prayer for the nations, prayer for the salvation of souls, prayer for justice, prayer for families and prayer as part of spiritual warfare. In Matthew 18:18–20, the Lord Jesus Christ says, “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” When prayer is the mission field, hearts are softened to receive the Gospel, chains and addictions are broken, blind eyes are opened, deaf ears hear, and there is expansion of Kingdom territory.
Contemporary Crisis in Mission
Bosch suggests that, until the 1950s, the definition of mission was seen as activities that involved sending missionaries to a particular place to focus on propagation of the faith, expansion of the reign of God and the founding of new churches. Historically, the Jesuits were the first to look at ‘mission’ in terms of the spread of the Christian faith among people (including Protestants) who were not members of the Catholic Church, and missions were usually part of colonial expansion of the Western world/Global North into the Third World/Global South—the sending of people from the West to the rest. Bosch proposes that this traditional interpretation of Christian mission has come under much criticism in the course of the twentieth century, and Schütz located the problem in Christian mission not being on the “outside,” on the mission field, but in the heart of the Western church itself. Schütz calls the church back from the mission field, claiming that it did not proclaim the gospel but individualism and the values of the West, to look at what happens inside the church rather than outside the church.
Introspective reflection into Christian mission is not merely required in the Western church but even more so in indigenous, contextualised churches across the Global South. After centuries of missionaries carrying the Gospel across the world, most Christians now live in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, sharing the love of God whilst struggling to oppose injustice, persecution and oppression. Dana L. Robert puts it this way: “What at first glance appears to be the largest world religion is in fact the ultimate local religion.”1Dana L. Robert, “Shifting Southward: Global Christianity since 1945,” International Bulletin of Missionary Review (April 2000), 50. While at the beginning of the twentieth century, Europeans and North Americans made up 82 percent of the world church, by the end of the century, their share was barely 40 percent. At the same time, the number of Christians was 3.6 times higher in 2000 (1.9 billion) than in 1900 (0.5 billion), partly as a result of faster population growth in the Global South, where 60 percent of the world’s Christians currently reside.2Dale T. Irvin, “What Is World Christianity?” in Tan and Tran, World Christianity, 15. J.D. Payne refers to contextualised or indigenous churches as those that reflect many of the cultural traits and expressions of the people in local areas themselves, rather than being a church that consists, primarily, of an external culture imported onto new believers. In the nineteenth century, Rufus Anderson and Henry Venn referred to the “Three Selfs” of indigenous churches: self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating. For indigenous self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating churches, understanding and defining the mission of the church for themselves and in their context is part of building up the Kingdom of God in the Global South. Farrah refers to other characteristics that have been developed over the years to understand indigenous or contextualised churches, such as self-identifying, self-expressing and self-theologizing. Wright defines missions as the activity that the church undertakes, under the Lordship of Christ, in building the church, caring for creation, and serving society (2017). Referring back to Schütz’s point on the importance of focusing more on what happens inside the church rather than outside the church, understanding the definition and aim of mission in the Global South is pivotal for indigenous or contextualised churches to undertake Christ-centred, holistic mission that is Biblically guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Bosch suggests that the contemporary crisis in missions should lead to an investigation and examination of the foundation, motives and aims of mission.3Bosch, David J. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991. Bosch suggests that we ought to distinguish between Missio Dei (God’s mission) (singular)—as God’s self-revelation of the One who loves the world and is involved with the world—and missions (plural), which refers to the participation of the church in Missio Dei. Christian mission reflects the dynamic relationship between God and the world, as reflected in the birth, life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation and redemption of all humankind—with proclamation of the Gospel, building the church and sowing into compassion, peace and justice, forming the basis for God’s mission and the partnership of the church with this through missions.
The crisis in Christian mission is the opportunity, then, to raise questions about what needs to happen inside the church and what better place to start with than to go back to understanding Missio Dei—God’s self-revelation of the One who loves the world and is involved with the world.
Understanding Missio Dei, the Mission of the Church, and the Role of Prayer in Missio Dei
According to Genesis 2:15–17, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”. This is the first instance in the Bible in which God spoke to the human beings He created and in the words that He spoke we are reminded of the words of 1 John 3:1 which says “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” Genesis 3 refers to “then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day” and later on the man and the woman respond to God as He calls out to them.
The crisis in Christian mission provides an opportunity to go back to understanding Missio Dei—God’s self-revelation of the One who loves the world and is involved with the world. As explained by Bosch, the Christian faith is intrinsically missionary, and to understand and go out on mission primarily requires hearing from and being in communication with the One who has authored and planned how He is involved with the world and how He wants His children to be involved with the world. God does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), and we are co-workers in God’s service for that purpose (1 Corinthians 3:9).
Wright points to Abraham as being the mainspring of all the mission of God’s people throughout history. In God’s conversation with Abraham, He says “All peoples (nations) on earth will be blessed through you”—Genesis 12:3 and throughout Scripture, whether it was Solomon praying that people from the ends of the earth would come and have their prayers answered by God in the Temple or when psalmists, prophets, apostles and gospel writers all saw the extension of the good news of God’s saving love to the Gentiles, or when the gospel moved north to Asia Minor, west to Europe, south into Africa, and East to Arabia (within the New Testament era itself) this was God keeping His promise to Abraham.
Prayer Itself as Mission
Hearing from and being in communication with God to intercede so that His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven is or should be in itself the mission of the body of Christ—the church. Preparing hearts and minds to receive the Good News, asking for healing, provision, and protection from God and interceding for peace and justice are in itself how we act as co-workers with God (1 Corinthians 3:9). Wright refers to the prayer life of the nation of Israel in the Bible as intentionally meant to be missional to demonstrate the nearness of God; this was a model of the intentionality of prayer and could be interpreted as prayer being mission in itself. In Deuteronomy 4:6–8, it is provided that, “Observe them (God’s laws) carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ What other nation is so great as to have its gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?”
Prayer played a pivotal role in the life of Jesus. It was during his baptism, while he was praying, that there was a Trinitarian moment of affirmation of his identity (Luke 3:21), and his choice of twelve disciples for their mission was made after a night of prayer (Luke 6:12–14). Their early missionary training was also carried out with Jesus engaged in spiritual warfare on their behalf (Luke 10:17–21).
Intercessory prayer is a ministry in many churches today where prayer teams are formed to specifically intercede for the church, declaring God’s Will to be done in accordance with Scripture to prepare the way for salvation, the accomplishment of God’s Word in the life of every believer, healings, miracles and transformation in the life of every believer. Prayer teams specifically pray for freedom and liberation from addictions, for people to grow closer to God and have deeper faith, for labourers for the harvest to be raised up, for boldness amongst followers of Christ, for all those who are serving in the different ministries of the church, for families, for the city and the nation as led by the Holy Spirit.
Prayer as mission in itself is reflected in prayer for the nations, prayer for salvation of souls, prayer for justice, prayer for families and prayer as part of spiritual warfare.
Prayer for the Nations
Wright suggests that intercessory prayer for the nations is an essential part of mission to the nations. Abraham interceded for Sodom in Genesis 18:22–33, Moses in Exodus 32–34, and Daniel in Daniel 9 interceded for Israel. Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple is a prayer about prayer where he asks God “to do whatever the foreigners ask of you so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel,” (1 Kings 8:43). Wright submits that prayer is a political act that turns to the sovereignty of God over human political power. Paul prays for political authorities in 1 Timothy 2:1–4.
Prayer for Salvation of Souls
Jesus told the disciples to pray in Matthew 9:36–38: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Wright suggests that this is a dangerous prayer to pray as it tends to be self-answering, for, in Matthew 10, when Jesus sent out the disciples, they themselves became the answer to their own prayer.
Prayer for Justice
As “The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” (Psalm 33:5) so are we called in the imitation and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ to pursue the good of others (Philippians 2:4), carry each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2) and to “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood” (Jeremiah 22:3). In the great love that the Father has lavished upon us His children we are called to “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the rights of the afflicted and the destitute” (Psalm 82:3) and “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice” (Proverbs 31:8–9). Therefore, interceding before the Father for justice for the marginalised and the oppressed forms part of mission as well.
Prayer for Families
Marriages and families are the foundation of the Kingdom of God, and the prayers of husbands, wives, and parents are an essential part of protecting, preserving and making sure that families are sustained in the grace and purposes of God, in accordance with Joshua 24:15: “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Prayer as Spiritual Warfare
Participating in God’s ultimate victory over the powers of darkness is an essential mission of the church in response to warfare of the enemy against individuals, marriages, families, expansion of the church, salvation of souls and the prosperity of the nation. Ephesians 6:12 states that “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Biblical scholar Clinton E. Arnold argues that “the powers of this dark world” and the “rulers of darkness” refers to spiritual entities with influence over earthly systems, ideologies and structures that are manifested through destructive ideologies such as racism and hyper-materialism, corrupt institutions and internal bondages. Systems, ideologies and practices that are influenced by spiritual wickedness that oppose God’s purposes result in violence and division, leading to oppression and suffering, especially for the marginalised.
2 Corinthians 10:4–5: provides that, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” Ephesians 6 provides for the armour of God that is essential in order to engage in spiritual warfare: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
Conclusion
While the definition and interpretation of mission remains broad, looking at the role of prayer in mission and prayer as mission in itself, is important. Prayer for the nations, for salvation of souls, for families, for justice and all intercession in spiritual warfare involves victory in the spiritual realm and brings about transformation and change on earth as it is in heaven, and must be the mission of the church in alignment with God’s mission—Missio Dei.
Bibliography
Arnold, Clinton E. Powers of Darkness: Principalities and Powers in Paul’s Letters. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992.
Bosch, David J. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991.
Irvin, Dale T. “What Is World Christianity?” In World Christianity: Perspectives and Insights, edited by Jonathan Y. Tan and Anh Q. Tran, 15–30. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2016.
Robert, Dana L. “Shifting Southward: Global Christianity since 1945.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 24, no. 2 (2000): 50–58.
Wright, Christopher J. H. The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010.
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