Many of the great gospel advancements in the history of missions began with ordinary believers gathering to pray for the nations. You can also gather with others in your church to pray expectantly for God to do a great work among the nations! Here are some ideas for hosting a prayer gathering for the nations in your home.
- Pray Specifically. Rather than praying generally for “the world,” focus on 2–3 countries or unreached people groups. Here are ideas:
- Pray for countries and people groups where missionaries from your church serve.
- Pray using a short profile about the country or people group from Joshua Project.
- Pray for the needs of a country shown in a Prayercast.com video.
- Ask a missionary to share an update to pray for individuals they are building relationships with (written or by video).
- Pray Scripture. Rather than praying generic prayers like “God, bless the nations and the missionaries,” give a list of more specific Scripture-based prayers for those nations and/or people groups. Pray that:
- God would send workers to the harvest (Matt. 9:38)
- God will be glorified among this nation or people group (Ps. 67:1-2, Rev. 7:9)
- The gospel would spread to unreached peoples (Col. 4:3, 2 Thes. 3:1)
- For boldness for believers (Acts 4:29, Eph. 6:19-20)
- For the growth of the church (Acts 2:47, Matt. 16:18)
- For the fulfillment of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20, Matt. 24:14)
- Encourage Participation. Find ways to keep everyone engaged. Invite people to take turns praying out loud. Here are other ideas:
- Break into smaller groups of 2–3 people to pray.
- Between times of prayer, take turns reading selected Scriptures and prayer points from countries and people groups.
- Print out songs of praise and hymns to sing between times of prayer.
- Create prayer stations around the room. Here are examples.
- Map station – Place a world map and pray over different regions.
- Missionary station – Pray for specific missionaries your church supports.
- Scripture station – Pray through specific passages.
- Include Cultural Elements. This helps people connect with the nations.
Here are ideas:
- Play worship music from other cultures.
- Serve a simple snack or dessert from the country.
- Show a few photos of daily life there.
