Many of you prayer leaders are excited to think of the possibilities of a prayer initiative at your church. But what if your church’s leadership (pastor/elders) decides not to do the initiative? What should you do then?

We never encourage a prayer leader to overstep the authority of his or her pastor or elders. If the negative response was a definite, “we do not want this prayer initiative done here” than we do not ever advocate circumventing them . . . even if they are wrong! Refusing to come under spiritual leadership is a huge problem in the Protestant church in the United States, and we do not want to perpetuate it. But if their decision is more, “we don’t think it can be pulled off now,” or “it doesn’t fit into our church calendar,” than you may want to participate in a smaller scale—provided leadership will let you do this.

Ask them if you can do it with your regular prayer group, or in an adult Sunday school class where the teacher is willing. Maybe they would allow you to promote it to the congregation as an “anyone who is interested” initiative. Then you have a sign-up and order guides for those who sign-up.

Even if you cannot do all church, prayer initiatives are still powerful.