If you desire to become a community minded church there are a number of things on which you will want to focus prayer. Use these either in a specific prayer group that you set aside to focus on this theme, or rotate these themes in a Sunday morning worship service prayer time.

1. Pray for other churches in town. Pray for God’s blessing on these churches and their pastors. Pray for their “success.” Pray for revival. And don’t just pray for the churches whose theology you are fully comfortable with. People need to find truth in every church! If you focus on this in a weekly group, you can spend time each week on a number of churches. Map out a list of how many each week you will target and systematically go through them. If you focus on this topic in a worship service, you probably should only pick one or two each time.
2. Pray for businesses in town. Pray that your community would experience an economic boom. Pray that God’s blessing would turn business owners’ hearts toward Him. Pray that there would be equity and fairness in their practices. Pray that these businesses would be a blessing to their employees.
3. Pray for government officials and community infrastructure (schools, police, etc.). Get information on the things you focus prayer on—agendas for government planning meetings, names of all government officials. What’s your mayor’s vision for the city? Pray for that. Also, pray out of 1 Tim. 2:1-4, that leaders would govern in a way that people are at peace.
4. Pray for key areas of need in your community. Do you have a significant number of homeless? A gang problem? Unusual amounts of certain types of crime? Unemployment? Remember to focus prayer on any and all of the unique situations that face your community.
5. Above all, pray for lost people. Within each of these areas of focus should be prayers for lost people. You are praying for churches, businesses, leaders and so on with the thought in mind that everything would be optimum for people to be drawn to Jesus Christ. Make sure you focus specific prayers on that issue.

One final thought: with a number of these areas, it would be a great idea from time to time to take a team of people to a site to pray. Ask another church if a team can come and pray God’s blessing through its building. Get permission to pray in a specific business—perhaps one where news media is reporting that lay-offs may be coming soon. Can you pray in the chambers where town meetings are held? Prayerwalk in those regions where your community has a specific need.

As you do these things, God will bless your church. And the more your people see you talk about these things and pray for them, their hearts will become community minded as well.

--Jonathan Graf, president Church Prayer Leaders Network