Prayer Leader OnLine
Vol. 4, No. 1
January 2007

Introduction

As I write this newsletter I am attending two meetings in Dallas, Texas: the Denominational Prayer Leaders Network and America's National Prayer Committee. About 70 national prayer leaders are in attendence. Each day we hear reports of what God is doing in churches and denominations across this country as a result of increased prayer. It is an encouraging time! While changes are sometimes slow, more and more pastors, churches and denominational leaders are "getting it." I know things may be a struggle in many of your situations, but take heart. God is moving. We believe this year will be a breakthrough year for many of our member churches. Keep up the fight!

Jonathan Graf
President

It Seems to Me . . .

. . . we ought to vote prayer as "Comeback Player of the Year!"

Did you notice that the number one book on the "Top Books that Have Shaped Evangelicals" was a book on prayer? The list appeared in the 50 Year Anniversary issue of Christianity Today (October , 2006) and featured "landmark titles that changed the way we think, talk, witness, worship and live." Names you'd expect were included; Francis Schaeffer, Corrie ten Boom, Philip Yancey, FF Bruce, Rosalind Rinker, James Dobson, Rick Warren.

Did you miss it? Or, should I say, her? The top book, Learning Conversational Prayer, was written by an unknown or long-forgotten Rosalind Rinker, who "taught us something revolutionary: Prayer is a conversation with God. The idea took hold. . . . Today evangelicals assume that casual, colloquial, intimate prayer is the most authentic way to pray."

Top Ten lists come and go (with apologies to David Letterman fans). And, another list might have the Andy of Mayberry Sunday school curriculum as their top choice. Nevertheless, for such a distinguished Christian periodical to recognize the impact of a simple book on practical prayer gives prayer leaders cause to rejoice.

For too long prayer, both personal and corporate, liturgical or passionate, has been demoted off the first string; benched in some denominational circles. But now, everywhere I go, whatever I read, prayer has returned to the vocabulary of both pastoral and theological leaders.

Recently, America's National Prayer Committee organized a task force entrusted with calling the leaders in Christian higher education to incorporate classes on prayer in their curriculum. Hard to believe, but most students graduate from Bible college or seminary without a single class (sometimes, a single lecture) on prayer.

And, who would have thought the most important question in "Who Wants to Grow a Church?" (Church Ministry Sourcebook, 2007) would be "Do you have a desire to pray?" Since when prayer has become recognized as vital to church growth?

It seems to me, we're witnessing a genuine revival of prayer .. Which just might produce the genuine revival some of us have been praying for all along!

For CPLN,

Pastor Phil Miglioratti
http://www.prayerleader.blogspot.com
http://www.prayingpastorblog.blogspot.com

How to Get People Praying

Prayer leaders and pastors often ask me, “What one prayer idea seems to be the most effective at getting the most people in a church praying?” There are a lot of effective prayer ideas these days—but each seems to bring a different result.

If the question was “which prayer idea was most effective at seeing God’s transforming, life-giving power active in a church,” I’d say developing a team to pray for the pastor or during services. If the question was, “what idea was most effective at seeing more answers to prayer across the spectrum of church life,” I would say developing a strong corporate prayer meeting.

But when the question is “which idea is most effective at getting the most people praying,” the answer is easy: doing an all-church prayer initiative. In a prayer initiative, everyone prays on the same theme over a set period of time—often a week, month or 40 days. Since it is only for a manageable time period, if promoted properly within a church, a prayer initiative often inspires even those who don’t regularly pray into the life of a church to do so.

Besides having a season of powerful corporate prayer, other benefits results. The  main one: a number of people will get so excited by what God did to them spiritually, that they will continue to pray for and with the church afterwards. Churches that provide and promote additional times of prayer following an initiative will see a raise in participation.

But prayer initiatives do powerful things in the heavenlies as well. I know of a church that saw God move in powerful ways while participating in the prayer initiative Seek God for the City. A small-town church of 30, saw their attendance double in a few months as people got right with God and were revived spiritually.

There are currently some great one available: Seek God for the City (held each year 40 days prior to Palm Sunday—Feb. 21 to April 1, 2007. You can get materials at www.waymakers.org. In my opinion, this one has the best scripture-based prayers to pray.

40 Days of Prayer/Love to Pray! This one produced by our parent organization, Harvest Prayer Ministries, by far has the most complete package to make an initiative successful. It offers a resource kit with suggestions for running an all-church initiative. There is also a teaching dvd and study guides for small groups/Sunday school classes.

Ready for Revival and The Jabez Prayer Guide are two stand-alone initiatives developed by Pray! Books and Pray! magazine. Both, written by prayer leader Jacquie Tyre, are solid, scripture-based guides that move people toward deeper relationships with Christ.

I firmly believe that an initiative can revolutionize your church!

--Jonathan Graf is the president of the Church Prayer Leaders Network

Praying Beyond Personal Needs

One of the most difficult things for churches to do is to get people to pray beyond personal needs. This is especially hard in corporate prayer settings. Finding a way to get people to pray for the ministry and life of a church can be difficult. Here is a simple idea for a corporate prayer meeting that may change that. Like any prayer idea, it can get dull if it is overused.

Depending on how long you want the prayer meeting to be, choose one or more of these options. If you do not have a corporate prayer meeting where more than just a few come, any one of these things can be done in 5-10 minutes in a morning worship service.

1. Have a time where ministry leaders come forward (this can be a little difficult if no ministry leaders come to the prayer meetings). You can define ministry leader however you want, but I would make it pretty open. Have them spread out across the front of the room. If you are not sure that everyone in the room knows what ministry each represents, have each leader simply say their ministry. Next invite the people in the room to come and gather around each person (two or three around each is good) and pray for that person's ministry. Don't allow time to take requests. Just have them pray God's blessing and power into the minsitry.

2. Invite the people in the room to spend time praying through your sanctuary. Invite some to pray:

• through the seats--that God would open the hearts of those who sit there, etc.
• around the pulpit--that the power of the Holy Spirit would fall on those who preach from the pulpit.
• where the worship team stands--pray for passion in worship, that they would lead people into God's presence.
• next to the altar--that people would respond to God's word, be responsive to the wooing of the Spirit.
• where the offering is taken--that God would make people cheerful givers.

3. Have elders pray for the spiritual hunger for people. Have those who attend come to the altar. Then have elders pray out loud for the spiritual health of the congregation.

Neat Way to Encourage Parents to Pray

Christian Chapel Temple of Faith, pastored by Dr. Jerome McNeil (pictured, and a keynote speaker at Empowered 2007), is a praying church. It weaves moments and seasons of prayer throughout its Sunday morning worship service. This past Sunday (January 21st) its youth pastor did a powerful prayer thing that can be done in any church.

First, he asked the children and teens to come down to the altar area at the front of the church. Then he had David Butts (chairman of America's National Prayer Committee and president of Harvest Prayer Ministries, the CPLN's parent ministry) and his wife Kim, pray blessings over the group of kids. But it didn't stop there. They happened to be \visiting the church. You can simply have your senior pastor pray for them.

Next he handed every child a 31-day prayer guide for parents to pray for their children. He told the kids (with of course the parents listening) to go back to their parents, give them the guides and ask their parents to use the guides to pray for ther children. A little shameless guilt tactic that I am sure will work.

You may want to try something like that. You can get the prayer guide, "31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Kids" (Pray!) at our member store.  They are sold in packs of 50 or individually. Or make a guide of your own. 

Prayer Guides Now Available at a Discount

One of the most effective resources to help people grow in prayer is a scripture-based prayer guide. Many people struggle to know what to pray in various circumstances. Providing them with "starter prayers" based on scriptures is a powerful thing. It helps people learn to pray beyond a simple blessing, and moves them into praying God's will.

Now the CPLN offers a number of these guides at our member store. We will be adding guides over the next few weeks. You will be able to receive a 20% discount off normal retail prices on guides developed by Pray!, Terry Teykl and Harvest Prayer Ministries. Check it out by clicking here.