It has long been estimated that up to 80% of America's congregations are plateaued at best, shrinking at worst. And, in the past few decades, it has been assumed that the mega-church was both the future and the hope of the Christian faith. The result? We have marginalized the small church and over-hyped / over-hoped those with multi-thousands or multi-campuses.

Please, I am not advocating for congregations that are small because they are isolated from their community or dispassionate about Christ and His Kingdom. I am also not criticizing mega-churches for their success in reaching people with the gospel. I am suggesting we have become too enamored with the quest to apply principles that produce large congregations to groups that are incapable of such increase. In other words, the owner of a mom-and-pop type business should never try to compete with nor copy a multi-national corporation.

So, what does this have to do with prayer?

Plenty, potentially, if we began to see the smaller congregations as prayer units in the Great Commission army. Churches of a few dozen to just over 100, retooled to see their major assignment as outward focused prayer. Refocused, away from merely praying for the sick, to praying for a neighborhood or nation. A person of influence, a place of interest, a thing that impacts.

Could a church of 83, with no real potential for amazing increases in attendance, set their prayer sights on a person of influence? A county commissioner or an international tyrant or a shock jock or a motion picture producer or a famous athlete--a Saul who, by the prayer-prompted intervening grace of God, could become a Paul to our generation.

What if a congregation of 124 Identified a hot-spot? A black hole of immortality or injustice that needs a radical infusion of the light of Christ. A school in need of a culture transformation. A city hall door unlocked allowing God's people to partner with elected officials to pray about an abandoned building . . . a senior citizen's porch in disrepair . . . a park without sport equipment (all things where change could bring new life to a neighborhood). How about an assembly of 49 grabbing hold of a local or national issue; a "thing" that brings more curse than blessing to neighbors or neighborhoods: Discrimination. Unfair policies. Desperate economic conditions. Fractured families. Abused and neglected children.

If Jesus is ever-present in our meetings, then small in number congregations should measure their impact on the size (read, power and authority) of the one to whom they pray. Whether that meeting is two or three hundred. Two or three thousand. Or just plain two or three. They key is not how many we can assemble at prayer meeting but how accurately we discern our assignment.

It seems to me small churches should worry less about how many programs they can provide or even how many show up for prayer and focus more intently on praying for the people, places, and things that are on the heart of God.

Pastor Phil