Becoming People of Prayer

DUKE DILLARD, Editor

Dig into any movement, and you will find heaps of prayer. Thus, one of the secrets to seeing movements, they say, is to pray, pray, pray.

It Takes Community to Build the Church

BRUCE KOCH

I wanted to become an architect since I was 15 years old. During my second year at university, God made it clear that he did not want me to be an architect but wanted me to help build his Church. I knew it was the Spirit, but I didn’t understand what it meant, only that it had something to do with missions.

Dancing Before the Throne

BROTHER DAOUD

The year 2015 marked the first time I met someone who worked full-time in prayer. After spending two decades in the business and technology marketplace, I was unfamiliar with this vocational category.

Prayer: A Golden Thread Woven into the Fabric of a Movement

ESSIE JOY (Pseudonym)

The storm raged with the wind blowing the rain sideways, and lightning bolts thundered overhead.

The Unexpected Birth of a Prayer Movement

SCOTT WILLIAMS

I did not see the Living Water Prayer Movement coming.

That’s TOO BIG, God!

AC CARTWRIGHT (Pseudonym)

The taxi stopped in the city square of a small town in a Muslim country. Six of us foreigners piled out, backpacks trailing. The first thing we were conscious of was the many eyes staring at us from tea houses surrounding the square.

My Backward Journey into a Ministry of Prayer

JAY DUNN (Pseudonym)

Prayer walking the streets of any city I inhabit has become a fixture of my ministry over the past 10 years. It has become the foundation of everything else I do and the crown jewel of my relationship with Jesus. I share my ministry city with him every day through the highest moments of triumph and the lowest moments of discouragement. However, it was not always that way.

The Balkan Call: Prayer & Reconciliation Are Changing the Balkans

Author Name withheld by request

I want to tell you a story about prayer.

Stories of the Global Harvest

DR. JASON HUBBARD

There are moments in history when something shifts—not just in one place, but across the earth.

Book Review: A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller

DUKE DILLARD

Paul E. Miller’s A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World was born in the crucible of suffering. Don’t read this one for peppy pick-me-ups or hollow platitudes. Miller has lived a life of prayer and writes from the place of someone who has walked the walk.

Moving Beyond “Pray, Give, or Go”: A Disciple-Making Path for Every Believer

STEVEN P. STEINHAUS (Pseudonym)

In mission sermons and conferences, speakers commonly urge listeners to choose one of three standard responses: pray, give, or go. Others argue for pray-give-go-mobilize. But this doesn’t address the need for discipleship, and it reflects a pick-and-choose mentality.

My main concerns with these responses are captured in these two questions:

Global Events & Kingdom Advance

GREG H. PARSONS

On September 11, 2001, four groups of radical Islamic terrorists attacked the United States and radically changed ministry to Muslims. When I think of those events, two things come to mind: First, many committed believers were awakened to the need to pray and spread the love of God with Muslims (and others). And second, seasoned field-workers found Muslims to be far more open to the gospel. Perhaps more have turned to Jesus in the last 30 years than ever. Now we know that the largest culture of Muslims coming to Christ has been Iranians!

An Unfiltered Look at Raising Kids on the Field

IRENE SPRINGFIELD (Pseudonym)

Something I noticed early on in our time on the field was that everyone had an opinion on how to do almost everything: how to budget, how to learn language, how to evangelize, even how to properly wash vegetables! And of course, people have a lot of opinions and advice about how to raise kids. But as Duke Dillard, Mission Frontiers' editor and father of seven, wisely told me, you won’t really know what was good advice and what wasn’t until your kids are all grown up.

From Doomscrolling to Discernment

JASMINE YANG (Pseudonym)

My generation is known by many different labels. To some, we are fragile and anxious. To others, we are “woke.” What is true is that Gen Z are digital natives, but our tech-savviness also brings what researchers are increasingly recognizing as an addiction to being chronically online and constantly distracted. We are “slaves to the algorithm,” as we “bed rot” and “doomscroll,” with different influencers, voices, and ideologies clamoring for our attention—even more so with the rise of AI. The call to “like, share, and subscribe” and our engagement is leveraged for monetary gain. In this context, which voices are we listening to and being formed by? What does it mean to be still and know that he is God (Ps 46:10)? How do we listen and discern the voice of God above the noise?

Color the World: Prayer Movements

KODY FRIESEN

I (Kody) drew this remembering prayer gatherings where the veil between heaven and earth grows thin. Angels carry harps and bowls among worshippers deep in prayerful and musical intercession.

Flying Turkish out of the Arab World

JASMYN G (Pseudonym)

Could you have told me what it would look like today? The world I mean, the one we live in, the one I love, the Arab one and the other ones, my homes, the ones that will be and the others that just might.