It's time for another insallment of Curried Missionary (How to encourage your missionary). Having finished the section called 'Straight From the Horses Mouth' (see part's 9-12) I am now moving on to some deeper areas of spiritual encouragement including what to do with prayer letters, prayer meetings and spiritual warfare. In this section we're looking at prayer letters.

Photo: Kris and Shelley Riggs, Southern Baptist Missionaries in Niger, West Africa

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"Spiritual Encouragement

What Do You Do With Prayer Letters?

It is true that some missionaries are better at writing informative, interesting prayer/news letters than others but nevertheless it is important that we put them to good use. What is the point of a prayer/news letter? To let those at home know what the missionary is doing and has been doing and to ask for prayer, giving specific prayer or praise points.

It is very important that a prayer/news letter is used the way it is intended, that you take the prayer points seriously and actually pray for them. Knowing that you are being prayed for is one of the most encouraging things. If you are the contact within your church for your missionary, the responsibility falls on your shoulders to get up and share (or put the points in the church bulletin) these prayer points with the congregation. These are active things we can do with prayer letters but there is more.

A prayer letter will hold for you a vast amount of information that are like little hints of what it is like for your missionary in their environment. From a prayer letter you should be able to tell the environment they are living in, the climate, the amount of contact with national people etc… Get used to ‘reading between the lines’ of a prayer letter. Be sensitive to the underlying needs of your missionary and not only pray for them in these areas but act upon them practically as well (refer to the section on practical encouragement).

When a new prayer letter arrives it is up to you whether or not you file away the previous one or throw it away but if you show an active interest in your missionary, a prayer letter should become like a new chapter to a book, something to look forward to.

PS. Paul is really our best example when it comes to prayer letters."