By Jacquie Tyre
“Hear ye! Hear ye! Starting next month City Community Church will
embark upon a new and exciting ministry. Prepare now to be a part and
see the blessings of God pour out through this new work!”
“Prepare now . . . ?” How do I do that?
Does this scenario sound familiar to you? Whether you are a pastor, lay
leader, or member of a congregation, opportunities for church-wide
involvement come along almost weekly. We usually think of roles like
teaching, serving, greeting, gathering or preparing supplies,
contacting people, set-up, or clean-up as ways to be involved. But what
about mobilizing people to pray before, during, and after the event?
Such moments within church life are optimum times to initiate a new
emphasis on prayer. Whether it’s an outreach event, a new ministry
focus, a stewardship campaign, a sermon series, or a citywide call for
evangelism, this can be an opportunity to engage your congregation in
purposeful, strategic prayer. How? By developing or using an existing
all-church prayer initiative.
What’s an all-church prayer initiative? It is a plan where an entire
congregation (or multiple congregations in a city or nation) are all
praying on the same theme for a set period of time (often one week, a
month, or 40 days, though it can be any length of time that suits your
church). Prayer guides are developed to provide content for a
congregation to pray together. Praying through the Window and Pray!
World are two initiatives that may be familiar to you. The most popular
prayer initiative available today is Seek God for the City, which runs
40 days prior to Palm Sunday each year.
Why hold a prayer initiative? Aside from the tremendous blessing of God
that is released when the body prays together, prayer initiatives
provide a number of benefits to a congregation. First, they bring a
sense of unity in purpose. Second, they will have a long-range effect
on the corporate prayer life of your church. Each time an initiative is
held, a number of your people will get excited about prayer and will
continue to participate in prayer opportunities after the initiative is
over. You will see your ongoing prayer ministries grow following an
initiative.
How do you do an initiative? It’s not difficult! All you need is a
focus, a person who is willing to pray and listen for the Holy Spirit’s
direction and communicate it to the congregation, and a pastor who will
encourage and support the initiative.
Our Story
A few years ago, our church began a stewardship campaign to raise funds
to construct a new sanctuary, fellowship hall, and education space. Our
goal was to have 25 percent of the total cost in hand before beginning
construction. Wisely, the stewardship committee told us that our
prayers for the project would provide the foundation for success.
Teams were set up to oversee the various aspects of the campaign,
including hospitality, printing, information meetings, publicity, and
prayer. The prayer team set to work to develop and distribute a
stewardship prayer focus that would match the campaign theme, “Growing
Up Together . . . In Step with God.”
For several weeks, the weekly church bulletin included a prayer focus
insert with an introductory teaching, Scripture, application, and
prayer point for each day. We also listed specific prayer requests
related to the overall project. Our primary emphasis was not on raising
money, but on growing in grace and maturity as people of God. We asked
Him to prepare our hearts to obey the Holy Spirit’s leading when the
time came to make our pledges of finances and service.
The stewardship campaign concluded successfully, with a higher than
expected percentage of participation. Actual giving exceeded the
pledges made! But perhaps more important was that our people grew in
prayer, both personally and corporately, and we took steps to “grow up
together . . . in step with God.”
Throughout this time, our pastor and church leaders used parts of the
prayer initiative in a variety of ways: for the pastoral prayer, during
corporate prayer times, in announcements, and testifying answers to
prayer. During this prayer initiative, we found that corporate prayer
agreement increased within the congregation. As we followed the prayer
emphasis for the week in our personal prayer times, the Holy Spirit
wove a beautiful tapestry of insight, revelation, and understanding
when we came together for prayer.
How to Begin
A number of prayer guides are available to help you mobilize people to
pray. However, developing your own program that focuses on the needs of
your congregation often provides the relevance that sparks prayer. Here
are some action steps for developing a prayer-mobilizing initiative for
your congregation. While an individual can do this alone, working with
a team has tremendous benefits. If you are working alone, make sure you
seek out people who will honestly critique what you are developing
during the process.
1. Pray. Seek the Lord’s timing, wisdom, and favor on what to do. Then
proceed with faith and assurance that He loves to hear His people
praying.
2. Contact your pastor, or the designated prayer leader, and discuss
the idea. Any church-wide prayer initiative must have the approval and
participation of the church leadership to be a success. Without it, the
core pray-ers will engage, but the majority will not be mobilized
effectively.
3. Choose an emphasis. For your first effort, consider something that
has broad appeal or impact. Big events like vacation Bible school,
backyard clubs, youth missions trips, or outreach events are great
starters. Seasons of the year also work well (begin an initiative in
January, before Easter, or Christmas). Or develop an initiative around
a sermon series. As your pastor preaches through Ephesians, for
example, an initiative that has your congregation praying through
Ephesians at the same time would be a powerful experience.
4. Decide how long the initiative should last. One week is probably too
short, and more than three months, too long. We have found that four to
six weeks works well.
5. Choose a biblical theme or key Scripture. As much as you can develop
your prayer initiative around Scripture, the more long-term benefits
your congregation will reap. Learning to pray Scripture will not only
mobilize prayer, but will foster prayer discipleship and understanding.
6. Pray over the theme or Scripture that’s chosen. As you pray, the
Holy Spirit will release insight and direction for how to communicate
the initiative.
7. Start writing the initiative, seeking the Lord’s guidance. The first
words are the toughest to write every time. The more you write, the
easier the words will flow. Remember, you are simply defining a place
of initiation to get people praying—you are not providing all they will
pray.
8. Submit your work to the appropriate church leaders well in advance
of your deadline for publishing. Allow plenty of time to accommodate
busy staff, last-minute corrections, and printing.
9. Pray as the finished project is released to the congregation. Pray
that the Holy Spirit will take the initiative and multiply His purposes
among the people, for His glory and the advancement of His kingdom.
10. Take advantage of the heightened interest in prayer. Once a
specific prayer initiative concludes, it is sometimes a struggle to
keep people engaged. We found that continuing to provide intentional
opportunities for prayer (in small groups and for the entire
congregation), as well as encouragement and reminders, keep the fires
burning. Use this opportunity to remind people of the ongoing prayer
opportunities your church has. Highlight each one during the last
Sunday morning service of the initiative, or the Sunday just following.
Prayer initiatives can launch your congregation into an experience of
joy in God’s house. I have seen a number of churches whose prayer
foundation was greatly increased due to an initiative. Start seeking
God today to see if He might have something special for your
congregation, through a prayer initiative.
About the Author
 Jacquie Tyre is the president and founder of Kairos Transformation Ministries and the Georgia State Coordinator the National Day of Prayer. Her prayer initiatives, Ready for Revival: A 40-Day Heart Journey Toward the Fullness of Christ and The Jabez Prayer Guide (Pray! Books) have been used by thousands.
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October 2008 
