'Lord, bless the missionaries'

It's a familiar prayer. Too familiar, some say, to mean much.

"Lord, bless the missionaries."

For church folks of a certain age, these words are as comfortable and automatic as "Bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies" or "Bless the gift and the giver."

Mission leaders who've heard this prayer uttered countless times sometimes criticize it as perfunctory, meaningless or ritualistic. Which missionaries? Where? Bless them how? And what about the people the missionaries are trying to reach with the Gospel? Don't they need prayer, too? A quick "Lord, bless the missionaries" gives people an excuse to check praying for missions off their to-do list, like dropping a buck or two in the offering plate takes care of supporting missions.

Effective praying for missionaries and their ministries needs to be a bit more specific. Read more