As a prayer team, we pose this question to our congregation each January: What one thing would you like to see God do in your family in the coming year? We invite families to discuss their one request, and then write it on an index card.

When the cards are returned, we simply take a church directory and cut it apart. We place family photos and names on each card, with the request on the back. The cards are then placed in a box in our prayer room, where at various times people will grab a stack of cards, pray through them, and then return them to the back of the file (to ensure rotation of the cards).

Each time a card is prayed over, that person initials and dates the card. We pass out the cards in our mid-week prayer gathering. Our staff prays over them during their weekly staff prayer times. The elders regularly pray over cards as a part of their meetings.

By the end of the year, most cards had been prayed over at least once a month—often more than that. We then mail all the cards back to people, with a note that their prayer requests were lifted to the Lord often in the past year.

A Welcome Surprise

Our church averages almost 300 in attendance—and last year 60 cards were filled out by families and individuals (a pretty high percentage considering the average family size). Some families had forgotten about their prayer requests over the course of a year. They were surprised to receive the cards, and then rejoiced to look back and see how God had answered. People were greatly encouraged that so many different prayer warriors had taken their requests seriously by faithfully praying for them.

After a year, we start with blank cards and a new invitation to offer a new family prayer request: What one thing may we pray on behalf of your family?

MIKE RICHARD leads the prayer team at Hillside Church, Bloomington, MN