A Sample Chapter from A Year of Prayer Events for Your Church

Create an atmosphere of blessing by praying

through your church building.

“. . . May there be no enemy breaking through our walls, no

going into captivity” (Ps. 144:14, NLT)

The concept behind praying through your church building is similar to the idea behind prayerwalking. You are preparing the way for the presence of the Lord through blessing and intercession. Many churches have teams that pray through their building on a regular basis throughout the year. Some even do it weekly as a way of preparing for the services on Sunday.

Pray through Your Building

This building-pray-through event is a low-key version of a church cleansing. If you sense that there are issues going on in your church that must be resolved through spiritual warfare, you will need to do additional homework before planning that type of full-fledged cleansing event. resources at the end of this chapter will direct you to reading that can help. understanding issues such as spiritual mapping will enable you to determine some of the footholds that have been given to the enemy.

Essentials

Your group will meet at the appointed time for a briefing and then divide up into groups to cover the area more efficiently. You will find that there are people who naturally have a heart for certain ministries that are represented by different areas of the church. It is fine to let those people be responsible to cover those areas. But make sure you have all areas covered—don’t leave any gaps. Choose a time when the church is unoccupied so that you aren’t forced to work around areas being used. This may mean you have to be creative in selecting a time to schedule this event.

As you walk through the building, be aware of all that the Holy Spirit is pointing out to you. Pray for the people and ministries you know occupy each area. You will find an endless number of prayer prompts to keep you going. Certain areas will represent certain things, so pray specifically for what takes place there (or what you want to take place there). In the foyer pray for the newcomers to feel welcomed. In the sanctuary pray over each chair or pew and the people who will be sitting in them; pray for the pulpit and the word that goes out from it, the musician’s instruments and the worship team that uses them, etc.

Here are some suggestions for areas to be covered in prayer. Be sure to adjust the list to fit your own church building:

• Foyer

• Sanctuary

• Pastor(s) Office(s)

• Sunday School Rooms

• Nursery Rooms

• Kitchen

• Fellowship Hall

• Youth Hall or Gym

• Prayer Room

• Outside Perimeter of Building

• Parking Lot

As with the prayerwalk, explain the concept, areas to be covered, and hand out prayer guides if you have them. encourage everyone to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and ask for His direction and wisdom. If someone feels impressed to pray in the furnace room, for instance, and it isn’t “on the list”—by all means, cover it adequately in prayer. If you ask for wisdom, you must believe that you will receive it and pray responsively (Jas. 1:5-8).

Once you’ve prayed through the building, end with a debriefing allowing time for people to share what they felt led to pray. If something strikes you as extremely significant to the health of your church, go back to that area and pray about it together as a larger group. ask the Lord if deeper prayer work needs to be done. You may discover after this initial pray-through that a more thorough spiritual cleansing should be scheduled for a later date.

Sample Schedules

Saturday A.M.

10:00 Meet at church.

10:00 – 10:30 discuss concepts.

Divide area to be covered among participants.

Commission the building pray-through in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to guide.

10:30 – 11:30 Pray through assigned areas.

11:30 Meet back at specified location.

11:30 – 12:00 debrief – allow people to share their experiences and what they were led to pray. This can be done over lunch or refreshments (optional).

Closing prayer.

Alternate Sunday Schedule

12:00 noon Meet after Sunday services.

Have everyone bring a sack lunch or provide something easy such as pizza to eat as you discuss walk-through concepts.

Divide area to be covered among participants.

Commission the building pray-through in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to guide.

12:30 – 1:30 Pray through assigned areas.

1:30 Meet back at specified location.

1:30 – 2:00 Debrief – allow people to share their experiences and what they were led to pray. Serve beverages (optional).

Closing prayer.

Don’t Forget!

Prepare for your building pray-through with adequate pre-event prayer coverage.

Coordinate date, time and use of the church building with church office. Make sure your event does not conflict with other events. remember to choose a time when the entire building is unoccupied.

Promote your event! Put it in the bulletin, use power point and announce from the pulpit at least two weeks in advance (three if possible). Be sure to get it on the church calendar if you have one. Note: When doing a more thorough spiritual cleansing, you will want to select a team of intercessors with an understanding of spiritual warfare to be involved rather than opening it up to the entire church.

Determine all the areas to be covered in advance.

Provide prayer guides.

Make arrangements for refreshments or beverages if served.

Hint: Consider repeating this event multiple times a year—just as you would clean your house more than once every 12 months.

Resources

Waymakers has specific prayer prompt material for praying blessings over an area at www.waymakers.org. a variety of helpful prayer guides including “Life-Giving Prayers for Your Church” are available at www.prayershop.org

Additional reading regarding spiritual cleansing of your church: The Devil Goes to Church by Dave Butts is available at www.prayershop.org The May 2006 issue of Empowered was on the topic of spiritual cleansing your church. You may review articles at www.prayerleader.com.

Spiritual Mapping: The Sentinel Group offers an audio series called Unleashing the Power of Informed Intercession at www.sentinelgroup.org.

Eddie and Alice Smith offer several resources regarding spiritual warfare/mapping at www.prayerbookstore.com. While these resources may be focused on spiritual mapping of a city or country, the principles will apply to mapping any area including your church.

Sandra Higley is the author of A Year of Prayer Events for Your Church, (PrayerShop Publishing 2007) from which this article is excerpted. She is also the director of member relations for the CPLN.

For more information on A Year of Prayer Events for Your Church or to purchase this book, click here.