Developing a Prayer Room in Your ChurchThis issue looks at ways the benefits of establishing a room to pray in your church. It offers both encouragement and practical suggetions.
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Featured Resource: Making Room to Prayer |
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Making Room to Prayer
By Terry Teykl
Prayer Ppont Press
Reviewed by Sandra Higley
Published in 1993, Making Room to Pray by Terry Teykl remains the most comprehensive book available devoted solely to the topic of prayer rooms. Its practical focus helps it remain relevant and applicable.
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Creative Prayer Room Alternatives |
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Many churches understand the importance of having a designated place of prayer but simply do not have a room in their church that can be dedicated for that use only. Here are some ideas other churches have used to overcome that obstacle:
- Set up a mobile cabinet on wheels that can be moved from place to place for prayer times. Your cabinet should contain supplies such as prayer request forms, prayer guides, pens, breath mints, CDs and a portable CD player. It could also contain 3-ring binders by topic with information on various ministries in your church, community and global concerns. A journal logging requests and answered prayers and a church directory would be other nice touches.
- Use a Sunday school room that is empty most of the week for your alternative prayer space. Make sure you install cabinets for your prayer paraphernalia that can be closed away when needed. You might want to consider using an adult or older youth classroom so that tiny hands don’t find their way into your resources. If permitted, find inviting ways to decorate the walls that will encourage people to pray—who knows, you may pick up some new intercessors from the group that shares this space with you!
- Some churches use their sanctuaries as prayer rooms. Not only does it meet the need when another dedicated space is not available, it also keeps prayer on the mind of your congregation. Consider setting up “prayer stations” around the perimeter of the sanctuary with visual prayer reminders at each one. Some churches include maps and globes, pictures of the president and government buildings, missionary photos, bulletin boards for posting requests and answers, etc. Make sure your prayer stations are visually appealing and kept tidy and up-to-date. One church had a TV for training videos and equipment for playing tapes and CDs on a mobile cart that could be moved out of the sanctuary during services.
Watch for an opportunity! When any new building plans are being discussed, use this as a chance to approach your leadership team with a proposal for a new prayer room.
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Prayer Rooms, The Temple Rebuilt |
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By Terry Teykl
Ever since I visited Korea many years ago, and witnessed the daily devotion to prayer of the Christians there, I’ve been convinced that many of our American churches, with their fine buildings and well-trained leaders, are missing out on something alarmingly essential—places of prayer. In our numbers-driven, success-oriented American culture, too many choose planning over prayer, work over worship, the entrepreneurial over the ethereal. After seeing a culture steeped in prayer, I realized that we, as bearers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, don’t much resemble our New Testament ancestors.
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By Pastor Mel Holmes
Seven years ago, I received the call to pastor the 800-member Christ for the Nations church in Athens, GA. As I sought God for His priorities for this particular church, He impressed on me that I was to “make room to pray.” A prayer room seemed an obvious step to accomplish His directive. I learned a long time ago that prayer precedes fruit in ministry. My motive for building a Place of Prayer (our name for this room based on Acts 16:16) did not spring from hopes or expectations of any kind; rather, it was born out of an understanding of the necessity of strategic intercession.
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January 2006