Much of Europe (and the world) is claiming to have no religious affiliation, and the bad numbers are growing each year. Those who do claim to be Christians often do not meet together regularly, nor do they understand that following Jesus is more than having someone bless a birth, marriage and death. The Good News (gospel) is much more than a “get out of hell” ticket. Pray for hearts to be open to not only accept Jesus, follow Him to experience joy and peace in Him for this life and the one to come.

Prayer:  Dear Lord, you gave your Son to reconcile the whole world to yourself. (John 3:16)  But, most of the world continues to live in darkness.  Father, please keep our missionaries encouraged and focused on sharing your “Good News” to a world that needs your hope.  (Mark 15:16)  Open the hearts of all they come in contact with to “have ears to hear” and “eyes to see” your goodness. (Ezekiel 12:2)  Give missionaries your words to draw the communities in which they serve to you.  Open hearts, Lord, to not just accept you as savior, but serve you as Lord.

Once upon a time, there was a young princess studying at a Christian college who wanted to be a missionary. She majored in Intercultural Studies. She prayed, she dreamed, and she worked toward going overseas. One day, a dashing messenger from Kontaktmission USA came to visit her school. He talked about the opportunity to go to kingdoms in Europe far away and serve God on a short-term missionary journey. The princess jumped at the chance to go and get a taste of what it would be like in that land. It was a wonderful experience, and she wanted to go again for her internship. She knew God was calling her to missions in the kingdom called Deutschland (that’s Germany in English). She even stopped dating the nice young prince she was seeing back home, because he didn’t think God was calling him to missions. After her internship and graduation, she raised support, married a German Prince and is living happily ever after as a missionary…and Lydia Schäfer is now serving in Deutschland with Kontaktmission. Fairy tales can come true!

Our goal in sending people on mission trips is to fan into flame a passion God has given them for missions. The hope is that those who go will: 1) end up in a host country as missionaries or 2) become life-long supporters of missions. When we send out “tripsters,” our prayer is that it will be but an early step on the path that will take them into long-term service overseas. Please pray with us that those we send will be ones God is speaking to about going permanently. Pray that their experiences will continue to move them toward their calling. Pray we will be effective in sending workers into the harvest fields!

Prayer: Father, we lift up our tripsters, those who will be on short-term trips this year. Please guide their hearts and be in their support raising. Speak to them through Your Word, Your Spirit, and Your People. Help KM to work hard to provide powerful opportunities, and we ask You to provide good works for the tripsters to walk in, which You prepare beforehand. We pray that You will use us to send more workers into Your harvest fields.

If you were to watch the world news for any length of time, you might be tempted to think the world is spinning out of control. Jesus called it “wars and rumors of wars.” Because of man’s fallen nature, we as Christians should not be surprised that the whole earth is filled with backbiting and infighting. Furthermore, as people deceive and hurt one another, many governments become increasingly closed to foreigners such as missionaries living within their borders. This creates many difficulties in obtaining visas, staying for long periods, and speaking words of truth to the local population. How should believers and missionaries respond? 

The first step should be to recognize that there is not one natural disaster, not one threat that is uttered, not one war started that is outside of God’s sovereignty. Secondly, the difficulties and turmoil wrought upon the earth are all opportunities for the light of believers to shine even brighter in the darkness that is our collective sinful culture. Lastly, each difficulty is an opportunity to wholly rely on God. When our hearts are broken, the best response is to cry out to the Lord of angel armies in prayer. 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we pray for the governments of the countries where our missionaries serve. We pray that You would make a way for missionaries to enter and share the gospel with the people of those lands. We pray that You would use man’s sinfulness and arrogance to show Your glory and Your love for those who are hurting. Give wisdom to missionaries who bring the Good News of Jesus Christ and His salvation to a world that is lost. Amen.

If you have ever tried to accomplish a challenging task that seemed beyond your ability, you know it can be a lonely, scary time, full of uncertainty and sometimes discouragement. There may be times when you feel confident and think you’ve “got this!” and then other times when you can’t see the way forward and want to give up.

That’s actually how missionaries feel. But God never intended us to fulfill His command alone. He designed us - including missionaries - to do life and follow Him together (remember the church as a body idea?).

That’s why missionaries need churches, family, and friends to pray for them, encourage them and support them with finances and other resources. Pray that the network of support people surrounding each missionary would be strong and ever growing, and that they would be the encouragement that missionaries need so they can do what God has called them to do.

Father, thank you that we don’t do the Christian life alone.  Please provide the churches, family and friends that our missionaries need to support them in all aspects of their life – spiritual, material, emotional..”  Thank you that there are roles for everyone to play in your plan to reach the world.

Being a missionary that is sent to a foreign land is truly a high calling. But what about the family and dear friends that stay behind? How can they faithfully send their missionary loved ones off, knowing they’ll be so far away? First of all, it cannot be overstated that for loved ones who have stayed behind, their son, daughter, grandchildren moving halfway around the globe can/will in many cases bring forth a period of grieving. Grief comes in all different kinds of forms, shapes, and sizes. 

You may be one who has actually experienced the pain and joy of staying behind. One of the hardest, yet most beautiful things to realize is the fact that the decision to GO is not about you or me. It’s not about how WE back home feel about the events that are unfolding. This whole decision and everything that goes with it has to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ being taken to the ends of the Earth. It’s about God’s sovereign plan and purposes for the lives of our loved ones being called into missions ministry.

So, how can we pray for the dear family and/or friends who have sent their loved ones to the field? We can pray they understand that they too have a high calling as the SENDERS. What a joy it can be to know that your son, daughter, grandchild, or dear friend is learning a new language and a new culture, and is finding their place on a local national team to do ministry work to powerfully change the hearts and minds of the people through the Gospel. This needs to excite us who stay behind beyond all comprehension. Instead of feeling like we’ll never get to see our loved ones again, we can pray for the Gospel to ooze out of every fiber of their being, so that more people will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I pray for (Your Missionary’s family and friends). I pray that they would pray with joy in their hearts to know that their loved ones are speaking Your name to those who desperately need to hear it. Give them comfort in the times that they miss (Your Missionary). Thank You for the technology to be connected the way we can be now. I pray that (Your Missionary) would understand the magnitude of how much their loved ones love and cherish them. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

All of our KMUSA missionaries work hard to be fully integrated into their local communities. They often must rely on community members they meet when they first move to their country to show them where the grocery store is and even teach them the right time to eat dinner. They have to count on community leaders to help clear the way for them to plant churches that will be effective in that community. Any new believers arising from their project will, of course, come from among the population of the community where the missionaries serve. So these people are important! Without establishing relationships in their community, there will be no new church. 

These vital relationships are sometimes formed over coffee, at public events, or even while paying for gas. But there has to be a true connection made, because otherwise the missionary remains an island. Because each missionary’s community around them plays such a large role in their life and work, it’s vitally important for us to keep them in the center of our prayers. 

Prayer: Lord, lift up [Your missionary’s] community. Help them to establish strong relationships with not only community leaders to build churches, but with all kinds of acquaintances and neighbors and friendly business connections, so they can spread Your good news to them. I want to pray for safety over these communities and for Your Holy Spirit to work through and in them. 

f you’ve ever sat and talked about ministry with a missionary or missionary family that lives outside of our western culture, one thing that inevitably always comes up, and all of them will say, is that spiritual warfare is REAL. More times than I can count I’ve heard missionaries tell stories of their interactions with people they’re trying to reach in their respective country, who have said they want NOTHING to do with God. They have all they want or need and haven’t thought about God in the past 40 years. Others may tolerate a conversation about the God our missionaries serve, yet still others will send witch doctors to try to kick the Christians out of a particular community. 

It’s one thing to do humanitarian work and then present the Gospel to someone. It’s a whole different experience when all needs, wants, and desires are essentially met to the point that some people in the community could care less about who God is and what Christ has done for them. This is the situation in much of Europe.

Both of these examples are certainly tactics of the Enemy to keep people from the Truth of God’s Word. Q: So, how can missionaries break down such difficult barriers? A: Through relationship building, and by much prayer! After all, our battle 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 (Eph. 6:12).” We need to pray that our missionaries will be able to pass through the walls of hostility Jesus breaks down, in order to communicate the love that is found in Christ Jesus alone.

Prayer: Lord, I pray for (Your Missionary) to stand boldly for the sake of the Gospel. I pray that they would stay alert, focused, and stalwart in the pursuit of helping those who don’t know You to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I know that spiritual warfare is, indeed, very real and can be a discouraging thing for (Your Missionary) to deal with. But I also know that You have overcome the world and the darkness that tries to thwart (Your Missionary)’s efforts. Keep them strong, firm, and steadfast to never allow Satan to get a foothold on them or those they share the Gospel with. In the strong and mighty name of Jesus, Amen!

Wouldn’t it be great if we could do everything we need to and want to without having to think about how to pay for it? One of the great things about heaven will be that God will supply every need – but wait – He already does that!

The scriptures are full of God’s promises for provision on this side of heaven. He owns everything, we just think that we do. The resources we think belong to us, whether they are material or not, really come from the Father and are to be used for His glory.

The times we live in do require material resources. God’s missionaries are no different.  They need material resources – financial, & sometimes actual objects, to use in their ministries. God provides those through His people, from what He has provided for them. Pray that the financial and material needs of missionaries would be met and that givers would be generous, understanding that all they have really belongs to the Lord in the first place.

Heavenly Father, thank you for promising to take care of our daily needs. Thank you for the wonderful ways you provide for those who are following you. Please provide for the financial needs of (Your KM missionary and missionaries) and of Kontaktmission USA, so Your work can go forward, grow, and thrive. Amen.

KMUSA missionaries are in the business of making disciples, however, this looks different for every missionary. Some of our missionaries are starting new church plants, while others are starting new small groups. Some of our missionaries are connecting with people through art or food while others are connecting with people through building homes or safe places. 

All KMUSA missionaries are sharing the gospel through projects that are appropriate for the community they serve. These projects aren’t completed overnight, and they usually face many challenges. And that is why they need our prayer support. Some of our projects need prayer concerning the financial support required for their success. Some of our projects need prayer about finding a location to host a church or small group. Some of our projects need prayer for people to simply come, to show up for meetings and involvement, and to be open to hearing what our missionaries have to share.

Today we ask that you pray over your missionary and their project. If you do not know a specific project they are working on ask the Lord to lead you to pray over what aspects of a project they need help in. Here’s an example:

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for sending [INSERT MISSIONARY YOU ARE PRAYING FOR] to [COUNTRY]. I want to lift up their current project, and ask that you bring your hand into [FINANCES, GOVERNMENT, COMMUNITY, CHURCH LEADERSHIP] surrounding this project. We know that you work all things together for good, and we ask that you show your power over this project. 

Welcome to Kontaktmission USA’s 40 Day Prayer Journey! You may be wondering… what is this whole thing and what does it entail? So, we’ll try to sum it up quickly... We are taking the next 40 days to pray 40 different topics over our missionaries. That’s where YOU come in. Many of you are already supporting an individual missionary or missionary family through your prayers and/or giving. We would like to ask you to spend some serious time the next 40 days praying about some very specific requests and praises for those missionaries. 

Each day we will have a prayer topic and a short 1-2 paragraph devotional that goes along with it. There will also be occasional videos and testimonials from our staff and fellow missionaries. We want this to be as specific as possible, both for you and for the missionary you have in mind. (For a few of the days, we will also suggest other prayer topics that are more general, and not specific for your missionary.)

Why 40 days? When was the last time you prayed for missions ministry and missionaries for 40 full days? Better yet, when was the last time you came up with 40 different topics to pray over the missionary you support? The Lord is very clear when He says, “Pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17).” We are to pray with bold expectation and with confidence, knowing that the Lord hears the prayers of His people and lives to intercede for them and answer them according to His will (Rom. 8:26-27; Heb. 4:16). 

We now have an amazing opportunity in the next month and 10 days to lift up holy hands to the Lord for missionaries who are taking the gospel to an unbelieving world. If you don’t have a missionary in mind yet, you’re always welcome to contact me at [email protected], and I’ll give you some suggestions. Or, pick one yourself from our list… Many of our missionaries and national workers are listed on our website at Our missionaries - Kontaktmission USA. (Don’t be alarmed if your friend’s/missionary’s page isn’t there. This list is growing daily.)

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I pray for (YOUR MISSIONARY HERE). I pray that for the next 40 days You would show Yourself to be mighty and faithful. Help me to be faithful and fervent in my prayers for (YOUR MISSIONARY). May they know and feel the presence of Your Holy Spirit in vibrant ways. And I ask that You would answer the prayers of Your praying people. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray, Amen!