Praying for Missions Teams at Risk

By Zoe M. Hicks

Prayer leaders routinely call on congregations to pray for missions teams, whether the teams are working at home or halfway around the world. The bread-and-butter prayers for any missions team include praying for team members’ safety, for the team to be following God’s agenda, and for opportunities to touch lives for the glory of God.

Most teams work in relatively safe venues. But when a team, on occasion, is headed to a place of known danger, a special prayer covering from friends back home can give the team the confidence to proceed under God’s protection from any threat.

Ebola Threat

In April 2014, our church sent a medical missions team to Liberia, on the west coast of Africa. I was on that team, and we learned, two weeks before we were scheduled to leave, that Ebola had broken out. Most people now know from the vast news coverage that Ebola is a deadly disease transmitted by bodily fluids. And to date there is no known cure. Because the team planned to set up a medical clinic, the risk was greater than for a nonmedical team.

At the time of our scheduled departure, only a few Ebola cases had been reported. But the team debated whether or not to go. A concerted prayer effort, using Psalm 91 as a prayer shield, was the deciding factor that moved the team forward.

The congregation committed to pray this psalm (often used as a prayer of protection for soldiers) over the missions team every day. The prayer leader also assigned each team member to an intercessor in the church to ensure that each team member had at least one intercessor praying specifically for him or her while away. Even though our team’s potential enemy was an unseen virus—not tanks, guns, or bombs—the threat of death or bodily harm was no less real.

The Power of Psalm 91

Meanwhile, on the west coast of Africa, each morning before going to the medical clinic, the team gathered for devotions and prayer. Some of us had memorized Psalm 91 before we left, but all of us had a copy from the same Bible translation so we could pray it together. In addition to praying it together in the morning, we used it throughout each day:

• When carrying bodily fluids from the medical clinic to the lab, we whispered, “Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence” (v. 3). When the Liberians, covered in sweat, hugged us, we silently prayed, “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (v. 11).
• This psalm has such beautiful imagery that visualizing those images gave us a greater assurance of God’s protection: “He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge” (v. 4). Mother hens hide their little ones under their feathers. We pictured ourselves as chicks protected under the mighty wings of God spread over us while unseen dangers lurked but could not penetrate.
• We even developed hand signals to help us remember the verses of the psalm. For pestilence, we put our thumbs and index fingers together in the shape of a triangle, which is the shape of the biohazard warning sign. This reminded us again, “Surely he will save you from . . . the deadly pestilence” (v. 3). We made a motion as if about to shoot a bow and arrow and prayed, “You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day” (v. 5).
• Whatever the day held for us in Liberia, whether we encountered sick people (not knowing from what illness they suffered when we first met them) or battled dark thoughts from the enemy that we would never return home in good health, we found that phrases from Psalm 91 helped get us through. When we ended our trip, we found assurance in verse 16: “With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Our team has been back for several months. And with Ebola in the news daily, we continue to pray for our friends in Liberia. But as we grow increasingly aware of the risks we faced, we know God protected us in answer to our prayers. We found that “his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart” (v. 4).

Praying for missions teams is as important as going. Without prayer, the team faces greater risks, not only physically but also spiritually. As prayer leaders, one of our greatest contributions is to equip the missions team before they go and then mobilize the intercessors left behind to provide prayer covering against any threat.

ZOE M. HICKS is an attorney, author, and inspirational speaker. She was co-chair of the prayer ministry at her church for ten years, mobilizing groups to pray for events and missions teams.