Beginning the day by praying for missionaries – what a way to start the day! Select the morning for this prayer breakfast very carefully – Monday is probably not the best day and Fridays are often full of “end-of-the-week” errands.

After the date is chosen, notify the women in your church that you will be meeting to pray for missionaries and their work. It may be that the church will be the best location since it is central, everyone knows how to get there, and the food can be easily prepared and served. All this will shorten the time allotment needed for the event.

If your women’s group/organization has someone with the responsibility of prayer events, a prayer chain or prayer group, ask her to be the facilitator of this prayer time. Keep the breakfast menu simple as many women do not eat full breakfasts. Provide diet-friendly fare (fresh fruit, granola bars, hot oatmeal, etc.). And yes, lots of coffee, hot tea and hot chocolate! Serving buffet style will help move things along.

Once everyone has their food, begin presenting the information that will direct the prayer segment of the breakfast gathering. Put prayer requests on each table, which will divide the women into small groups automatically. Use the Call to Prayer found in Missions Mosaic, a monthly missions magazine for adult women. You may choose to divide the names of the missionaries who will be celebrating their birthday on the day you meet. One table could have the international missionaries; another North American missionaries; a third group could pray for retired missionaries; still another group could pray for chaplains and volunteers. Missions Mosaic contains a weekly spotlight on one missionary which could be used to “put a face on missions” with more insight into the work of one missionary.

After requests are distributed, spend the rest of the time in prayer for the countries and people where the missionaries serve. Suggest that the women remember to pray for missionaries’ families, their children away at boarding school, safety concerns in their specific area of service, challenges they may be facing. Use the abbreviation key found at the back of the Call to Prayer section in Missions Mosaic to help decipher where the missionaries serve in the world. Many names cannot be printed due to the sensitive area of the world in which they serve. In that case, initials are given.

Close with a group prayer. Give each woman present some type of prayer reminder (bookmark, photo of a country, etc.) to encourage her to continue to support missionaries with prayer.