CONFERENCE EVENTS

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PRAYER FOR YOUR CHURCH

Lord, I lift up the senior members of our congregation. Thank You for every gray hair attained by righteous living. We are blessed by their example and ability to train us. Help us to be humbly submissive as we benefit from their wisdom and understanding. Help them receive the strength and power You’ve promised to the weary and weak. May they put their hope in You and be renewed in the process. (Prov. 16:31; Titus 2:4; 1 Pet. 5:5; Job 12:12; Isa. 40:29, 31)
 
Home arrow January 2006 arrow It Seems to Me . . .
It Seems to Me . . . PDF Print E-mail

. . . 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
 
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