6 Ways to Pray for Missional Businesses [March Prayer Focus]

TEAM – The Evangelical Alliance Mission • Mar 01, 2017

Not every country wants a missionary, but most want economic growth. Not everyone wants to hear the gospel, but many will welcome friendly conversation over a cup of coffee.

That’s why missionaries around the world are starting businesses. Whether it’s a coffee shop or a cultural center, businesses let missionaries boldly enter communities where they weren’t welcome before. And they provide a neutral environment where seekers can hear the gospel without the intimidation of entering a church building.

This March, will you pray for missional businesses around the world?

Click here to get a printable version of these requests, and sign up here to get the new prayer focus in your inbox each month.

Pray for God’s guidance in drawing up business plans.

Starting a profitable business in a foreign country would be challenging for anyone. But missionaries have the added difficulties of creating a business that will let them build relationships, build up a community and lead people to God.

Pray for God’s guidance as missionaries decide what they should sell and where they should sell it. Ask for wisdom as they determine how they’ll use that to share the gospel. And pray that God will make them flexible and open to whatever surprises He has in mind.

Pray for steady profits and financial provision.

SonRise Café in Tokyo creates a context for seekers and believers to gather for events and discussions that point to Christ. Photo by TEAM

Businesses take money to start and to keep them going. But where that money comes from can change depending on a missionary’s goals.

TEAM Japan missionaries know staying competitive in Tokyo would mean running themselves ragged and missing out on ministry opportunities. So they choose to run SonRise Café at a loss, with the help of supporters.

On the flipside, TEAM missionary Jon Tello wants to help sex trafficking victims earn a dignified living, which means turning a profit is vital. He knew jewelry or scarves wouldn’t earn enough for a modest life in Italy , so he teaches women how to craft wooden pens instead.

However missionaries run their businesses, ask God to provide steady incomes so they can minister in the most effective way possible.

Pray for life-giving relationships with suppliers.

Finding suppliers isn’t just about finding the highest quality materials at the cheapest price. Done right, it can be a key part of ministry. TEAM missionaries Adam and Jamie started a restaurant so they could minister not only to their customers but also to the farmers who provide their ingredients.

Pray for missionaries to be spiritually mindful as they pick suppliers and build relationships with them. Ask God to open doors to share the gospel with each of these partners.

Pray that businesses can provide jobs for people who need them.

Missionaries often talk about God as provider. What better way to show that than by giving jobs to those who need them? The St. Paul Cultural Center in Turkey started out small but now employs a chef, security guards and others to keep the place running. And as the staff grows, missionaries and local believers have even more opportunities to share the gospel.

Pray that more missionary businesses will be able to bless their local communities with employment opportunities. Ask God to give them wisdom in creating new roles and hiring people to fill them.

Pray for legal knowledge and good relationships with government officials.

After opening up a missional coffee shop in the Philippines, Trent and Christine learned the importance of knowing and navigating local laws. Photo courtesy of Narrative Coffee Company

“For some countries, there’s a difference between what the law says and what people actually do,” says Christine, a co-founder of Narrative Coffee Company in the Philippines.

Finding sound legal advice can be tricky in a foreign environment, and short cuts are tempting. But obeying the law offers a strong witness (especially in corrupt environments), it keeps missionaries out of trouble and it pleases the Lord.

Pray for missionaries to be steadfast in their faithfulness to the law. Ask God to help them understand local ordinances and build relationships with government officials who can help them navigate business requirements.

Pray for opportunities to share the gospel.

Namiko was looking for answers in new age philosophy and Satanism. But when a friend invited her to a Christian concert at SonRise Café in Tokyo, everything changed. Namiko started attending church with TEAM missionaries, and five months later, she prayed with one of them to receive Jesus as her Savior.

Whether it’s pens, tasty treats, coffee or anything else, this is what every missionary-run business is about. Pray that God will give missionaries many opportunities to share the gospel through their businesses. And pray that His Word will not return void.

Thank you for partnering with us in prayer. Click here to download a printable version of these requests to remember how to pray all month long.

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Bridging Dissonance: Finding Connection in Music and the Gospel

By Emily Sheddan • 18 Jul, 2024

TEAM worker Luke Standridge and his fellow musicians use music to build connections to faith in Japan. In music terms, dissonance creates movement or even suspense in a song. It invites tension. That tension is what helps grab our ear’s attention and the interchanging of these notes with pleasant melodious parts is what makes music such a delight. In a similar way, God is using music to grab people’s attention and catalyze Gospel impact in the largely unreached nation of Japan. TEAM Global Worker, Luke Standridge moved to Japan in 2019 with no clear direction on how he was going to use his passion for composing music while doing ministry. However, after Luke got involved with a local church and began developing deep friendships, the Lord opened unimaginable doors for Luke that in time, coordinating his creative skills with sharing the Word. “People Need to Come to Japan!” Growing up as one of ten kids in a family that was heavily involved in ministry and missions, Luke never considered that it would one day be a part of his own journey. In 2016, via a Japanese language learning class in Indiana, Luke and his brother had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Hearing, learning, and using the language in the context of Japanese culture was the goal. While it was Luke’s first international trip – even his first trip on a plane - it was also his first time hearing about the spiritual condition of the Japanese people. “And just through that, God did a huge 180 change on my heart,” says Luke. “More people should come here as global workers. People need to come to Japan!” The call God was laying on Luke’s heart is echoed when looking at the spiritual landscape of Japan. The nation is home to the second largest unreached people group in the world. It is one of the most difficult places for the Gospel to take hold and grow. Japan is also home to a deep and rich culture that prizes creative arts from pottery to ink to music to anime – a fact that would help Luke find his niche in life and ministry. God’s Guiding Hand In the short three-month timespan of that first trip, Luke found that opportunities came naturally to share about life, and people’s curiosity for Christianity grew. “I left Japan knowing I just had to come back,” Luke shares. “Even if I didn’t get back to the same area, I knew Japan was where God wanted me to be.” The Lord is good all the time and all the time the Lord is good. His plans do not fail. Luke returned to Japan in 2019, and less than a week after arriving, he was put in touch with a renowned composer in Japan. The composer saw some of Luke’s music and invited him to help write the music for a beloved in-country animated show. But God wasn’t finished yet! Fast forward a year, and more connections and opportunities allowed Luke to help with music for Pokémon - a franchise that has brand recognition around the world and was being developed into a TV series in Japan. Luke recalls how the Lord began using these connections in the production world to open doors for Gospel conversations. One night while having dinner in downtown Tokyo with famous artists and composers from all around the country, Luke was asked about his ministry-focused visa. This was a rare opportunity in a setting with people otherwise uninterested in Christianity. Luke shares, “The whole time I could see God’s hand in guiding the entire thing.”

Connecting in a New Kind of “Neighborhood”

By Lorena de la Rosa and Suzanne Pearson • 13 Jun, 2024

Through creative arts and other forms of innovative outreach, “The Neighborhood” is creating connections to the Gospel and the love of Jesus. CONNECTION. It’s a common word with powerful implications. Dictionary.com defines connection as a joining or linking together; a relationship between people or objects that unites or binds them together. God has created each of us with a deep need for connection with Him as well as connection with others. Hebrews 10:24-25 speaks to this, as the writer exhorts, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” This God-given need for connection lies at the heart of a creative and innovative ministry in Japan known as “The Neighborhood.” TEAM Japan global worker, Kelly and her family created The Neighborhood as a place where connections are formed through creative arts, educational opportunities, and simply just providing a space for people to be together. A Family Calling The journey to the creation of The Neighborhood began over 5,000 miles away from Tokyo, in California where Kelly, her husband Jeff, and their five children were living. The kids were the first to sense God’s calling to missions, and asked why their family wasn’t serving in this way. How Kelly and her family came to TEAM is a God-story in and of itself. “God placed a TEAM Japan worker at our lunch table the same week that the kids posed that question to us,” Kelly recalls. “We had never heard of TEAM and so we thought, ‘let’s check this out.’ After that, God just kept confirming that we were supposed to be here.” After a period of fundraising and with much excitement, the family of seven moved to Japan in 2014. For the first five years, Kelly and Jeff served as a part of other TEAM ministry initiatives, but they began to sense a stirring for something new. Creating The Neighborhood Kelly and her family truly have a deep gift for hospitality, and regularly opened up their home to others they met in Tokyo. They saw a great need for people to have a place to gather and connect, and they wondered what doors the Lord might be opening for them to meet that need. “About a year before we were to return the States on home assignment, we were just really thinking about our future in Japan,” Kelly says. “We saw a need for people to have a ‘third place’ – a place that’s not home and it’s not work. They didn’t have a church community or any other place where they could meet people and just connect.” Kelly goes on to explain that in Japan, the culture is such that people don’t generally invite each other into their homes, but as her family did so, people embraced that opportunity. “This idea formed in all of our hearts of a student ministry center – a place where we can create community and learning,” says Kelly. “It was born out of what we were already doing in our home, but seeing how we could expand it and have better space.” God’s Provision What happened next is a true testament to God’s provision. Kelly, Jeff, and the kids returned to the States and began sharing their vision for The Neighborhood with their supporters and churches who responded generously. Upon returning to Japan, the search was on for the right space. “We had a Christian realtor that we told our dream to, and he just went looking for it,” Kelly recalls. When the realtor found a 5-story apartment building, he said, “It’s kind of out of your budget but it has what you need and want.” The Lord provided the funds and the family moved into the space in November 2019. They now occupy all but the ground floor, with living space for their family as well as classrooms, areas to study or hang out, and guest rooms for exchange students or others who need a place to stay overnight. The first floor is occupied by a pizza shop – a welcome amenity for the many groups and students who visit The Neighborhood. “It’s very convenient!” Kelly says with a laugh. The Neighborhood began to see lots of activity right away until the pandemic hit in early 2020. During the height of the quarantine, Kelly and Jeff used the time to redecorate the space and plant gardens outside the building. Then as the restrictions eased, they invited individual students or families over for meals and fellowship. It wasn’t until March 2023 that The Neighborhood was able to fully open again as intended. Kelly shares that despite the setbacks of COVID, the Lord continued to provide the funds to pay the rent.