Missionary Prayer letters

[Pergamum]

Hello,

I am trying to review everything that I do.

In your opinion, what are good examples of missionary prayer letters and also what are bad examples?

When you hear from a missionary by way of prayer letter, what things usually impress you and what thing make you skip the letter, lay it down, get irritated by it, or think, "Who cares?"

These things include content, but also layout, graphics, etc.

What advice would you give missionaries writing prayer letters?





Should there be info on how to give on the prayer letter? Should we include a response card? Should a response envelope be included?


I am trying to send out a prayer letter and I need to update my mailing list. Should I send out a response form that says to MARK X HERE if a person wants to be retained on my mailing list? Should I also add any info about "DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE HOW TO PRAY FOR US," "DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HOW TO SUPPORT US?"


How do I communicate well as a missionary? How do I maximize my role and bless those that receive my letters?

 

[ewenlin]

The things I look out for when receiving updates from the field are,

1. The progress of the work being done. If for example, state of the translation of the bible or theological writings.

2. The state of the missionary and his family. All healthy? Well? Any specific needs? Pictures of the kids growing up is great!

3. A "how we can help" section will be great. Apart from praying, does the missionary perhaps need a newer set of commentaries that someone can ship over easily, for example.

4. Also, updates on specific prayer requests from previous letters. It leaves people wondering whether God has answered that prayer already. This might be easy to miss out especially if the letters are sent on a longer term cycle.

Erm. "How to give" will be useful I guess, but most of those I'm connected to I support through an automated system. Like HeartCry's recurring donation system. That is brilliantly convenient. If there's just a return address, in my opinion it's good enough. One can easily pen a letter and zip it off.

When it comes down to it, all I want to know is HOW ARE YOU? How's YOUR walk with God? That's pretty much what I'm longing to find out when I receive missionary letters.

By the way, most of the letters I receive are plain black and white. Yours is the only one that comes with colored pictures etc. :UP: Of course I'm referring to the electronic ones.

 

[py3ak]

Clear and succinct are what I want to see. I don't need to know every tiny little detail, but I want to be able to get an overall sense of what's going on. Pictures of specific individuals for whom prayer is requested are very helpful.

If every letter mentions generically that the need is great, I don't think that's as compelling as spelling out what crisis or project has left a hole in the budget.

 

[Jim Peet]

Skip the prayer letter

Every missionary should have a blog.

Sensitive stuff can be on a password protected page.

Blogging should replace missionary prayer letters.

Ever paper and mailed missionary pray letter is a waste of resources.

Email distribution lists can also be used for communication

 

[Wayne]

One other point seemingly mundane point to add to the good advice above:

Prayer letters should always be dated. Skip the whole vol./no. thing. Just the month and year, or fall/winter/spring/summer and year.

Your prayer letters form an historical record of how the Lord has used you in that field. Anyone who might gather a group of those letters needs to be able to put them in order.

 

[ewenlin]

One other point seemingly mundane point to add to the good advice above:

Prayer letters should always be dated. Skip the whole vol./no. thing. Just the month and year, or fall/winter/spring/summer and year.

Your prayer letters form an historical record of how the Lord has used you in that field. Anyone who might gather a group of those letters needs to be able to put them in order.

And publish a biography!

 

[jambo]

Although a blog is a good option and saves you mailing out to a whole lot of people who may or may not be interested in your work, it should be remembered that not everyone who currently receives your prayer letter may have access to the internet. Secondly it is easier to pray for someone when the prayer letter is contained in some sort of a prayer folder.

One thing I find annoying is when a missionary mentions a situation in one letter but never gives any updates regarding that situation in following letters.

Personally I do not like ones that oveload you with information. A single A4 sheet is sufficient and just mention 2-3 items. I like a paragraph oputlining some spiritual lesson you have learned. 2-3 paragraphs of update. A paragraph about forthcoming events and a closing paragraph about how the children are doing at school or some family news.

DO NOT have a response slip or tear off slip regarding how to give financially. If a person really wants to support you then they will know how to do so. Prayer letters that continually ask for money I just ignore. The only exception would be when this is for a third party ie "we are trying to provide 1000 bibles to distribute round this area..."

Streamline your mailing list. Keep a note of those who must receive your prayer letter ie family, home church, close friends but for everyone else, once every 2 years have a slip which people must return in order to remain on your prayer list. And be ruthless! No response then remove their name.

Funilly enough after the service thismorning I was talking to someone who was saying how difficult it is to come off mission agencies mailing lists. It seems that if you give any sort of a gift you are kept on their list forever. If you write to remove your name you may be removed from teh local office but not from the national office which posts out the prayer letter/magazine. I have tried this and still receive material I don't want and just now bin it when it arrives. So if you keep track of it and remove names yourself it is much more efficent and much less annoying for those who no longer support you.

 

[Guido's Brother]

A book that I found helpful when I was a missionary was Alvera Mickelsen's How to Write Missionary Letters. I found a lot of helpful tips in there. I always enjoyed writing newsletters for our supporting churches.