The way we pray can have a huge impact upon how we are missional. I’m not just referring to a group having a list of “pre-Christians” that they pray for during their meetings. Missional prayer actually lets those in our neighborhoods see inside how we relate to God. Instead of seeing prayer as something we do within the Christian enclave, it demonstrates a relationship with God to others who need to see who God really is.
But this requires two things:
1. We must cultivate a genuine relationship with God so that we can reveal it. Missional prayer results from an overflow of communion with God. Such prayer creates space for the kingdom in our lives and in our world.
2. We must cultivate friendships with people in our neighborhoods so that they can see into our lives and view our communion with God. We don’t do this with the intent of “winning” them to something. We do this because we are a people of love and we want to share life with them.
This is the reason Missional Small Group life is shaped by Missional Communion with God. If we fail to see our prayer as missional, we will be tempted to make prayer into an enclave activity and then try to do missional things. We must show people our relationship with God.
