Book review: 'Praying for Your Missionary'
By Josie Oldenburg, SEND Communications— Attention missionaries preparing for home service who are racking their brains to think of a gift for their partners: Have I got a book for you! Wrap up “Praying for Your Missionary” by Eddie Byun, and see how God uses it to bless you, your ministry, and your supporters.
Byun’s global experience includes starting a church in South Korea, and his life as a pastor led him to write “Praying for Your Pastor.” To write “Praying for Your Missionary,” he had honest conversations with missionaries around the world about their challenges in life and ministry. His research shows, as Byun managed to write an incredibly comprehensive, yet still approachable, guide to prayer.
“Praying for Your Missionary” touches on every stage of a missionary’s career, from culture shock when you first reach the field to culture shock when you come back for home service after years on the field.
It also covers how to pray for all of a missionary’s relationships—with nationals, with family, with teammates, with leadership, with churches, with supporters, and with a missions agency.
Other chapters are devoted to praying for a missionary’s spiritual life, intimacy with the Lord, courage to obey, and unceasing hope.
I’m sure we’d all love to know that someone is praying for all these aspects of our lives. But maybe it feels self-important to give people a book just so that they can pray for you?
This is where “Praying for Your Missionary” sets itself apart.
While this book IS a guide to praying for missionaries, it’s also a devotional that would minister to any believer.
Each chapter ends with a few questions for the reader to answer about their own spiritual lives, along with prayer points and action ideas. At the end of “Pray for Successful Ministry in the Eyes of God,” for instance, readers will contemplate how their own idea of success has changed over the years; after “Pray for Oneness in the Teams,” readers will consider their own experiences with team unity. Though these questions, Byun strikes the perfect balance between encouraging people to pray for missionaries and encouraging them to go deeper in their own relationships with Christ.
Byun’s tone is conversational and honest. He pulls in interesting illustrations from all over the world, and he manages to be pastoral without being preachy. As a missionary, I felt seen by this book—and I also felt greater compassion for my coworkers and increased desire to pray for them. This book would simultaneously give your supporters a glimpse into the realities of missionary life and equip them to live Christ-reflecting lives no matter where on Earth God has placed them.
For a chance to win a copy of “Praying With Your Missionary,” leave a comment on the post about this book on SEND’s Facebook page. We will choose a winner at random from among the commenters.
Listen to an interview with Eddie Byun on The Global Missions Podcast.
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(Disclosure: We were gifted a copy of this book in case we wished to review it.)
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