Building a
Congregational Prayer Ministry
(A Discipling
Tool For Your Congregation)
"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone." "...and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well." (1 Timothy 2:1 & 2 Timothy 2:2.)
Why Pray: (if God already knows what we need anyway?)
Jesus says, "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)
1. It is a God-given calling.
( Jesus says in Mt. 6:5"And whenever you pray." He did not say ‘if you pray.')
2. God needs us to pray.
(Watchman Nee wrote: "...prayer is simply speaking out the will of God through the mouth of a believer. Before God, the believer asks in prayer for the Lord's will to be done. Prayer...merely what he has already foreordained. Prayerlessness, though, does effect a change, because God will let many of His resolutions go suspended due to the lack from His people of prayerful cooperation with Him,"). [Check out the use of "authority/dominion"in Gen.1:26-30; Lk. 4:6; Jn. 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; & Mt. 28:18. Hence we pray "in the name of Jesus..." Also note the use of intercessors - Ezek. 22:30]
3. Prayer is a relational communication with the Head of the Church - Jesus Christ.
(See Eph. 1:22-3; 4:15-16; Col. 1:18; 2:10,19). Communication is two-way! Listen & talk.
4. It is through prayer that God gives us the wisdom and revelation that we need for ministry.
(See Eph. 1:17-19. Having the ‘eyes of our heart enlightened')
5. God desires to give us direction and vision for ministry.
(Jer. 29:11, seeking the plan that God has for you and your church)
Provide for Different Styles of Prayer
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice...Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God," Philippians 4:4,6.
- Affirm prayers that are written. Encourage verbal participation in prayer.
- Lift up the value of praying silently.
- Provide opportunity for people to experience agreement in prayer (Mt. 18:19-20). Praying in unison through a liturgical style of prayer like the Lord's Prayer, or reading a Psalm responsively, etc.
- Design an instructional model for prayer (ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanks, Supplication).
- Utilize a meditational prayer, for example - the Jesus Prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Amen).
- Employ "popcorn" prayers by inviting anyone to jump in with a prayer word or brief phrase of thanks or intercession.
- Praying the Scriptures (lectio devina). For example, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)
What is a Prayer Ministry?
"Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." (Luke 11:1c.)
Prayer Ministry is an intentional reponse to the powerful gift of prayer that God has given to the Church. Where there is no vision or plan regarding prayer, a church often responds to prayer requests through a prayer chain (that may or may not be effective at the present time) and views the pastor as the one hired to pray. By establishing Prayer Ministry as one of the ministry areas of your congregation (likened to your stewardship, evangelism, and worship ministries etc.), it gives a team of prayerful people the opportunity to intentionally seek God's will and advance the power of prayer in your congregation. The shape that any Prayer Ministry takes is going to be specific to that prayer team, the local community needs, and the openness of that congregation.
8 Keys to Developing Prayer Ministry:
1. Pray, wait on God and listen.
2. Elicit the vision and commitment of the Pastor for expanding the role of prayer within the life of the congregation.
3. Secure the understanding and full support of the staff and council. (Expect the vision for prayer ministry to get reshaped and clarified as more key leaders gain ownership of it.)
4. Focus on motivating and involving the whole congregation. (The goal must always be to involve all people, though it is seldom realized. Prayer ministry is a discipleship tool.)
5. Gather a group of potential prayer leaders for Bible study and prayer. (Begin by modeling and instructing them in prayer with the understanding that they will in time instruct others.)
6. Begin everything that the congregation does in prayer. (Convene all council meetings, committee meetings, staff meetings, annual meetings, Sunday School, youth group, and all other gatherings in prayer.)
7. Anticipate resistence to a congregational prayer ministry (Satan will engage in efforts to derail or destroy this ministry by causing divisions, distractions, spiritual attack, misunderstandings, and other actions of power.)
8. Evaluate (regularly) how prayer is advancing. (Ask these kind of questions: How are we doing? Are we involving all groups in the congregation in some way? If not, when and how do we plan to invite them?)
Creating Schools of Prayer:
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-21.
- Establish prayer partnerships within your congregation. (dyads, triads)
- Reform your prayer chain with clarity of responsibility, expectations and accountability.
- Develop pastoral and
leadership intercessors, both individual and family. All people in
leadership need protection, encouragement, and support because
they...
a) always come under attack - Luke 4:1-13; 1 Peter 5:8; John 15:18-21
b) cannot "win" battles alone - Exodus 17:8-13; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
c) will motivate others to pray
d) have weaknesses too Train a prayer ministry team. - Develop a designated space for prayer (a prayer room or prayer chapel). Establish periodic prayer retreats for different groups in your congregation. Develop a healing service.
- Create prayer inserts for the weekly bulletin with daily prayer suggestions.
- Establish a prayer emphasis month.
Transforming Your Life and Congregation Through Prayer:
It is 10:15 p.m. as Jack checks his watch for the umpteenth time. "This council meeting has been dragging for the past hour," Jack mutters to himself. "Why did I allow myself to get talked into wasting my time in this way," Jack thinks to himself in anger. Finally, Jack abruptly stands up, interrupts the council discussion and says in a frustrated tone, "You're going to have to excuse me, I have other IMPORTANT things to do yet tonight," and then he hurriedly leaves the room!
Perhaps you have never been as frustrated with your congregation as Jack was at his meeting, but maybe you have wished that your church was making more of a difference for Christ in your community or even in your life or the lives of other members? Your thoughts are not all that uncommon! A couple of years ago, WWJD (What Would Jesus' Do) bracelets were popular. Although that question is often difficult to answer in specific situations, it is the kind of faith question that gives some guidance to our decisions, encouraging us to prayerfully consider our options. Prayer works!
It was only six short months ago that I left a congregation in Upstate New York, that I had served as pastor from its mission beginnings in 1986. In this no growth community of 13,000 people we grew a congregation from 25 to 300+ in average worship attendance primarily from de-churched and no churched people. Looking at this congregation and its future at the tail-end of 1996, I saw a church growing a mile wide that was only one inch deep in the discipleship soil. Scary, huh! It had taken a year to gradually open my eyes to this reality and to sense the increasing calling of God from "pray when I need to" to an immersion in prayer - "I need to pray!" attitude.
This personal transformation was gradual and is still ongoing! Prayer moved from the periphery and off the emergency shelf into move and more of the center of my life. For me, that meant that I needed to study and learn about prayer. Study has always been "safe" and kept me from practicing what I was learning until I felt comfortable. Thankfully, the congregation's desires for teachings on prayer drove me to increase the frequency of my prayer life so that I could honestly teach what I had recently been learning myself. (I have always run from deadline to deadline!). God blessed these efforts! Their hunger turned into my hunger. Changes began to take place:
• the staff meetings moved from brief devo's and mostly business to longer periods of time set aside to share faith, what we felt God was calling us to do in our ministry area.
• the council meeting agreed to flip flop the treasurer's and secretary's reports to the end of the meeting and spend more of our 1&1/2 hour meeting in prayer, study and faith sharing.
• the band who led our contemporary worship service moved from a "gig" mentality into leading the congregation in the worship of our Lord. As they began to be more open to worship God themselves, the congregation followed suit. Prayer at rehearsal and before worship became more important. They moved from being a "band" to being a worship team. This reflects more than just a title change!
• a group of about 12 spent six months in a study on prayer that I led. This was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life! Out of this came a real prayer team who committed themselves to pray for me, the ministry of that church and its community.
• I underwent a change from seeing Sunday morning as a time before worship to make appointments and socialize with people in the congregation, to gathering an hour ahead with the prayer team, for 45 wonderful minutes of prayer. This began to open my heart and prepare it to worship our Lord.
• a night each week was set aside for intercessory prayer. The congregation was invited to attend.
• anyone who desired prayer was invited to stay after worship and come to the front of the church where I or one of the prayer team would pray with them. This was done about 40-50% of the time in the last two years. Some grumbled that they did not get to shake my hand after worship, but in time that became less of a complaint.
• a lay person felt called to a ministry of healing which I affirmed and worked with him in his studies and preparation for launching a healing service now offered about six times a year.
• the one and only closet in our new building was transformed into a prayer chapel, where people could come any time and pray. Prayer requests were kept there and prayed over by the prayer team at home or in the chapel. (We built a storage shed where all the stuff from the closet was placed).
• occasionally, a month was set aside as "prayer month" and many opportunities for prayer, leaving requests and thanksgivings, and learning were made available.
There are hundreds of other ideas that congregations have used to lift up the importance of prayer in individual as well as congregational life. Be encouraged to be creative! Wrestle with the question of what you are doing to becoming a disciple and how is your congregation advancing the call of Christ to make followers for Jesus? The ELCA Churchwide "Call to Discipleship" offers many new ideas and tools to assist you in discipleship, and the piece of it called prayer. Watch for these new tools as they roll out to your congregation in April 2000.
Prayer works! Prayer is the relational key that our Lord gave to us so that we can have two-way communication with our God. If you are like me and feel more comfortable by studying first, do so. If you are ready to jump in and want to deepen your prayer life, commit to a consistent time each day and jump into prayer. The Lord is inviting you to draw closer to him - begin today!
For more information, contact Brent Dahlseng, Prayer
Ministry:ELCA/DCM
bdahlseng@elca.org (800) 638-3522 x2682
