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How to Get Pray 10 Going in Your Church |
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By Susan Jones
The Pray 10 plan to bathe your congregation in prayer can be implemented in churches of any size (Victory Christian Fellowship has 300 members). While you need to first seek God to make sure He would have you develop this prayer strategy in your church, here are some simple steps to walk you through its implementation.
- Vision-cast with your pastor. Make sure he is onboard with the
plan. Show him the “Empowered” article that describes what this prayer
ministry concept accomplished at Victory. Enlist his help from the
pulpit to support your efforts. A few words of encouragement from him
on a regular basis will go a long way!
- Divide your church membership directory into groups of 10 households.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to help you select one person from each group
of 10 to approach as an intercessor for that group. Look for people who
are committed believers, faithful in church attendance, willing to
submit to authority and take instruction. These people must have a good
reputation inside and outside the church and be people who are not
prone to gossip. These people should not be strong-willed with agendas
of their own, but ones who support your pastor’s vision/mission for the
church.
- Contact the people you have selected as intercessors and ask them
to pray about their participation. Be sure to let them know that they
will have the flexibility to pray any time or place where it is most
convenient for them. No additional prayer meeting is required.
- Give each selected intercessor a list of their 10 households and some easy-to-follow instructions:
- Pray through the list of 10 once per week. An easy way to do
this is to pray for two families/individuals on the list each day so
that by Friday every one on the list has been covered.
- Reserve at least five minutes each day to pray in this way.
- Post the list where it will be easily seen: on a bathroom mirror, in the car, in your Bible.
- Confidentiality is an absolute MUST! Prayer requests from members of the group are not to be shared with anyone!
- Use Scripture-based prayers. (This will keep everyone stay
focused and relevant. Pray! magazine offers several excellent,
affordable prayer guides and resources for just this purpose. You might
want to consider providing these for each of your intercessors.)
- Be willing to offer a prayer training seminar for anyone who feels they need a refresher course before they begin.
- Assign an intercessor to cover visitors who attend your church.
When newcomers return, introduce them to their intercessor. Make sure
these lists of newcomers do not exceed 10 families/individuals—assign
new intercessors as needed.
- Encourage your intercessors. Send regular encouragement notes;
have an appreciation lunch or picnic periodically; offer
seminars/conferences to keep them refueled and moving forward, etc.
- Update your Pray 10 lists every four months.
--Susan Jones
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September 2005