By Jonathan Graf

I was recently in a church in a denomination that was voting on merging with a second denomination. The Sunday I was there was the last day members could enter their votes. I overheard the member in charge of the voting trying to collect a vote from another member. The member who hadn’t yet voted wanted to pass because she didn’t know what it was all about. But the vote collector tried to push her to vote.

I thought to myself, she obviously hasn’t prayed about the situation, and is wisely abstaining. We would all agree: Making significant decisions without much prayer is indeed foolish.

But how many decisions do we as individuals and churches make without getting a clear answer from the Holy Spirit. Probably quite a few. Oh, we all pray at the beginning of a board or elders meeting, or before a vote at a congregational meeting, but does that always give us clear direction from God? I for one do not think so.

Luke 6:12-16 shows us that He prayed all night before selecting the Twelve. Mark 1:35-39 reveals a time Jesus prayed and Peter interrupted Him because there were so many people looking to be ministered to. Yet, Jesus said, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also.” He changed direction despite obvious ministry needs before Him. Clearly, Jesus used those deep prayer times to get His marching orders.

How much more do we need those times of prayer—both individually and especially as churches. But these times of prayer are certainly rare these days. Thinking, “we can do it” Westerners that we are, it’s not easy being dependant on God for direction. We have everything we need to make logical decisions—and we do. That, plus being used to instant everything, does not make for the patience necessary for the “God, we need to get your heart on this,” decision-making process.

I wonder if that isn’t the reason so many of our churches are stagnant, status quo churches, that have not seen growth—numerically or spiritually—in years. We have left seeking God out of the mix in how we operate. When we fail to seek God’s agenda, we depend solely on the latest church growth or leadership books; we are at the mercy of the controlling board member who always gets a convenient “check in his spirit”; we can only go as far as our human resources will take us (certainly not into God’s immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine!--Ephesians 3:20).

What would happen if we all went back to the truth of Jeremiah 29:11-13 (which are corporate verses, by the way—written for a group). If we will seek God with all (meaning collective) our hearts, we are going to find the plans He has for us. And Jeremiah says they are plans to prosper us, plans to give us a hope and a future.

How about a new pattern. Pray for 45 minutes to an hour before board or elder meetings. Have half- or all-nights of prayer as important decisions loom (or even just to show your dependence on God!). Develop a weekly, biweekly, or monthly prayer meeting solely with seeking God for direction in mind (no needs-praying). And if the people won’t come to you, bring prayer to the people. Turn some Sunday morning services into prayer meetings if needs be. Have a time of corporate prayer (10-15 minutes); get people into small groups, give them a topic to pray over, and set them praying.

If we want to see the power of God at work in our congregations again, then we need to seek Him for direction and blessing. We need to stop giving lip service to prayer in churches, and truly pray.

Jonathan Graf is the president of the Church Prayer Leaders Network and the author of The Power of Personal Prayer.