CPLN Prayer Leader OnLine

Vol. 3, No. 1
January 2006

Welcome to our revised Prayer Leader OnLine. We hope you like the changes. We are trying to categorize matterial better and make it more practical. Each issue will have ideas, stories or resources that fit into various areas of church life that need prayer to saturate it--missions, youth, children, leadership, worship and so on. Our idea is that you might copy an article or idea and give to the person over that ministry. We made this change for two reasons: 1. We want to see prayer permeate every area of church; and 2. we want to help you to become a valuable resource person for your church. Enjoy!

Give Us Your Ideas
For our new format to work, we need to find things that are working in churches--in your church. Do you have a prayer strategy or ministry that is working fairly well? A prayer prgram that has made a difference in your church? Then we want to know about it--no matter how small or unimportant you think it may be. Don't worry if you can't write; give us the facts and we can put it together.

We are looking for ideas in the following areas:

• Small Groups
• Teens
• Children
• Elders/Leadership
• Corporate Prayer Meetings
• Missions
• Women's Ministries
• Men's Ministries
• Worship
• Outreach
• Finances
• Discipleship
• Prayer Guides
• Prayer Request Management

We also are looking for resource endorsements. What book, tape, video, etc. helped you in your ministry and why? More than a review, we are looking for personal testimonials about resources.

Please emails these to me, Jon Graf at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Prayer Quake/Empowered
The Sixth Annual Convention of the Church Prayer Leaders Network

Registrations are open for the sixth annual CPLN Convention. This year we are rolling "Empowered" into "PrayerQuake," partnering with Bridgebuilders and the Phoenix Church Prayer Leaders Network.

Dates: June 14-16
Location: Word of Grace Church, Mesa, AZ
Speakers: Henry Blackaby, Dutch Sheets, Jackson Senyonga
Cost: CPLN members who register before Feb 15, $69

We also are holding regional conferences in the following locations:

New England Regional
March 17-18
College Church
Northamption, MA

Western Regional
Sept. 15-16
Christ Community Church
San Jose, CA

Midwest Regional
October 26-28
Maryland Community Church
Terre Haute, IN

SouthWest Regional
Dallas Area
Dates TBA

NorthCentral Regional
Nov. 9-11
Grace Church
Cleveland, OH

It Seems to Me . . .

. . . that in our efforts to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in developing a prayer saturated congregation, we may be our own worst enemy. How? By overly promoting a single weeknight prayer meeting.

Notice I said "overly promoting" because I am in favor of calling the entire congregation to the place of prayer (Col. 4:2). But we may unintentionally exclude significant segments of our membership by offering, primarily or exclusively, a one-size-fits-all prayer experience. Weeknight prayer meetings, by definition, are for everyone to pray about everything. This centralized (everyone in the same place at the same time) and generalized (everyone is expected to have equal interest or passion for every need or issue) approach excludes those who must live on a different schedule and those who are motivated to pray by a specific topic or issue or circumstance.

Keep (or begin!) the midweek prayer gathering. Promote it. Redesign and refresh it (John Franklin's new release And The Place Was Shaken, Broadman & Holman, is a great resource). But begin and nurture other prayer groups that meet at other times and even function in other ways:

• Invite early risers to meet before the workday begins.
• Offer a play group (or better yet, a prayer group) for children as their mom or dad meets with others to pray.
• Establish "cell" groups; dyads or triads that meet regularly over the phone.
• Shut-in seniors can host (with help) an hour of prayer at their home.
• Turn the missions committee into a truly prayer focused gathering.
• Invite church members (and residents) to join you at a nearby nursing home.
• Ask your pastor if the prayer shield team can pray for him/her on a study day.
• How about a parents prayer group during youth meeting or kids club?
• Turn a weekly neighborhood bike ride into a prayer trek. Stop at the park for a prayer circle to share what God has revealed.
• Offer to meet commuters at the train station for 15 minutes of prayer.
• Ask existing small groups to be "open for prayer" for all church members.

You have already thought of more appropriate ways for your
congregation. It seems to me you ought to do something with those good ideas you've received from the Holy Spirit.

Phil Miglioratti

P.S. I invite you to visit my blogs at
http://www/prayerleader.blogspot.com
http://www.prayingpastorblog.blogspot.com

Does Prayer Just Happen?
By Jonathan Graf

Over the years, I've heard a few pithy sayings about prayer. "Prayer is caught, not taught," and "You learn to pray by praying." Both are true, but the effect of these sayings has added to the prayerlessness of many churches. Why? Because they keep churches from being deliberate about discipling in prayer.

These two truths make us assume that prayer will happen naturally. But as I've visited churches across the country, I've observed that it usually doesn't. Without consistent discipling in prayer, the following often happens:

• Intimidation. Newer believers usually hear mature pray-ers only in church. Often they think, I can't pray like that. As a result, they believe their feeble attempts at prayer are worthless, and they don't pray much. 
• Hitting the wall. New believers and children seem to get more specific prayers answered quickly. Why? I believe God wants to prove Himself to them. Also, they haven't let skepticism enter their prayers. But after a while, most of us reach a place where our petitions don't always bring the same results. Many give up on prayer at this point. But good discipleship would prepare us for this. 
• Shyness. Many believers--especially men--are shy about praying in public. Shy pray-ers will not pray with others, and this can mean death to powerful corporate prayer in churches, in small groups, and in families. Good discipleship in prayer will not let them stay stuck there.
• Stunted Kingdom Mindset. Believers who don't pray don't grow. The more we pray, the more we are infused with God's heart. And God's heart is for the lost, for the nations. You want your people to be Kingdom-minded; teach them to pray!

Praying churches are deliberate about discipling in prayer. They make sure that Sunday school classes-at all age levels-regularly provide instruction on prayer. They hold prayer conferences, retreats, and seminars. They train their men in how to pray! And they provide plenty of opportunities to pray, so prayer can be caught and practiced.

Here are some recommendations:

1. Have organized prayer instruction at least every six months (every three is better). Teach an elective in Sunday school, on Sunday night (if you have a meeting then), or in small groups. Look for studies that go beyond simply "prayer as relationship." There are some excellent resources available that take people into Kingdom praying. My personal favorite is Lord, Teach Us to Pray (NavPress 2003) by Pastor Fred Hartley. It is a 13-week study based mainly on the prayer teachings of Jesus from Luke and John. The last three chapters present a thorough look at the relationship of the Holy Spirit to prayer. Other favorites are Approaching God (NavPress 2003) by Lee Brase and Blueprint for the House of Prayer (Prayer Point Press 1997) by Terry Teykl.
2. Train your leadership. Many churches are hampered because their elders, deacons, and/or pastoral staff have little sense of expectancy from prayer. A simple but effective resource to disciple leaders is My House Shall Be a House of Prayer (Pray! Books 2002). Another effective tool is Pray! Magazine. Discounted prices are available on bulk subscriptions. Go to www.praymag.com for information.
3. Focus on teens, young adults, and men. At the risk of being sexist or aged-prejudiced, I believe our most effective results will come here. First of all, I have observed that women are more naturally drawn to prayer and older believers are more likely to be stronger people of prayer due to life's experiences. Young adults and teens are more driven by experience; they need it and seek it. Since prayer is experiential, our discipleship efforts will more readily take root here. And why men? Linear and pragmatic thinkers, they are more likely to have been thrown by some of the afore mentioned problems. And when coupled with authority and headship issues, a father/husband who prays is a powerful force in the Kingdom!

If we want to see our churches grow in prayer, we must be deliberate about discipling and providing opportunity for people to pray!

Small Groups and Prayer

A Powerful Corporate Prayer Idea

Most churches struggle to have a large corporate prayer gathering. One of the reasons for this struggle can be the "not another night" syndrome. Because people are already involved in so much, they revolt agasint the idea of coming to church for another thing. Centerville Community Church (Centerville, Ohio) got around this problem in a marvelous way.

Centerville Community already had a fairly strong small group ministry, with a good percentage of its people involved in small groups (its groups meet weekly). Its small groups were used to praying together, always lifting up the needs of members in the group. WHen the desire and need to start praying more corporately--into the life and health of the church--came up a few years ago, rather than start a corporate prayer meeting on another night, Centerville used its small groups. They asked small groups to pray for the spiritual life and corporate issues of the church (moving of God's Spirit, that His transformational power would be evident, that the preaching of the Word would come with power, etc.).

Church leaderership recognized that if the groups were just asked to add those things to existing prayer times, those things would be peripheral and could easily be forgotten each week. So Centerville did something unique. It asked groups only to focus on praying for the life of the church on a rotating basis. And, when it was their group's turn, prayer was the only thing that would happen that week--no lesson or discussion. Now, each week, two of the 10-12 small groups focus their meetings solely on praying for the church and community. The groups rotate through about every 5-6 weeks. Those groups are given prayer suggestions and any urgent church needs, and they go to prayer.

Why is this a good plan, and why might it be good to try in your church?
Two reasons: 1. Every week 20-30 people pray powerfully for church. 2. It is an excellent kingdom discipleship thing. People who used to pray only for everyday things for each other, learn the importance of praying kingdom things for the church.

To Make It Work

There are several keys to making this work in a church.

1. Whomever is in charge of small groups must believe in its importance, and support it.
2. Small group leaders will need to buy in. They may need to be trained in what sort of things the prayer will focus on and why those are important. They will need to know how the whole thing will be run.
3. Someone needs to stay on top of getting requests to the groups whose turn it is each week. That person also needs to keep groups aware of whose turn it is, several weeks in advance.
4. It would be a good thing if a pastor explained this change from the pulpit. People will need to understand why the church views this shift as important.
5. Do not fill the request sheet with personal needs of people in the church (small groups are already praying for each other). Instead give only things that are important to the outreach and spiritual life of the church.
6. Follow up is important. Make sure groups that prayed hear if there are answers to their prayers. Also, at the start it is a good thing to follow up wth group leaders a few days after their turn. You want to see if they were able to stay on track and help if they had difficulty. The number one difficulty that will come is that often people in the group will go righ back to praying only for needs. Leaders need to understand that they have to keep refocuing the prayer times.
    

Missions and Prayer

College Students Focus on Great Commission Praying

With the sudden rise of terrorism, threats of chemical and biological warfare, economic stresses, natural disasters, new strains of diseases, and other international conflicts, we certainly are living in a strategic hour for the church to impact our world with the love of Christ. Combined with the continued reality of 27% of the peoples of the world still being the least evangelized or unreached peoples, Ryan Shaw and other abandoned leaders from the Student Volunteer Movement 2 (SVM2) recently reminded us of the 1806 “Haystack” prayer meeting and subsequent movement that God used to launch the North American missionary movement. They called students to 21 days of Prayer and Fasting (January 10-31) as we entered 2006.

While it is likely too late to join in this prayer initiative, We invite you to read about it. You may want to encourage your teens and college-aged church members to explore the SMV2 website, http://www.svm2.citymaker.com. There you will find an excellent 21-day prayer guide (downloadable) that can be used anytime.

One thing that is not too late to promote: 2006 is the 200th anniversary of “The Year of the Haystack.” What’s that? Click here and find out. 

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