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From CRC PublicationsFaith Alive Christian Resources

The

IDEABOOKIDEABOOK

PRAYING CHURCHPRAYING CHURCH

Douglas A. Kamstra

With Foreword byAlvin J. Vander Griend

Douglas A. Kamstra

With Foreword byAlvin J. Vander Griend

Grand Rapids, Michigan

The

IDEABOOK

PRAYING CHURCH

Douglas A. Kamstra

With Foreword byAlvin J. Vander Griend

Unless otherwise indicated, the Scripture quotations in this publication are from the HOLY BIBLE,NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, © 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used bypermission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Faith Alive Christian Resources published by CRC Publications.The Praying Church Idea Book, © 2001 by CRC Publications, 2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, GrandRapids, MI 49560. All rights reserved. With the exception of brief excerpts for review purposes, nopart of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from thepublisher. Printed in the United States of America on recycled paper. r

We welcome your comments. Call us at 1-800-333-8300 or e-mail us ateditors@faithaliveresources.org.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataThe praying church idea book / [compiled by] Douglas A. Kamstra; with foreword by Alvin J.Vander Griend.

p. cm.Includes bibliographical references.ISBN 1-56212-558-31. Prayer. I. Kamstra, Douglas A., 1952-

BV210.2.P655 2001248.3'2—dc21

2001023691

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To those who have taught me to pray:my father and mother,

William and Adrianna Kamstra

To those at the top of my prayer list:my wife Marilyn,

and my children, Brian, Joel, and Eric

CONTENTS

foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

introduction: toward a praying church. . . . . . . . . . . 16

section 1: prayer formatsGrowing in Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34A.C.T.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Agreeing in Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Alphabet Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Authoritative Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43A.W.C.I.P.A.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Bidding Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Centering Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Classic Prayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Contemplative Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Corporate Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Evangelistic Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Fasting and Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Hand of Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Hour of Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Intercessory Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Intercessory Worship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69The Jesus Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Lectio Divina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Listening Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Lord’s Prayer Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Monastic Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Musical Prayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Names of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83One-Word Prayers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84P.R.A.Y. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Prayer of Discernment (for Decision-Making). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Prayer of Examen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Prayer Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Prayer Journaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Prayer Journeying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Prayer-Summit Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Praying the Psalms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Praying the Scriptures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Repetitive Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100The Salvation Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Silence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Spontaneous Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Warfare Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Weekly Pattern for Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Written Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

section 2: the leader’s prayer lifeThe Leader’s Prayer Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Intercessory Top Ten List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Leading a Meeting by Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Pastor’s Prayer Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Pastor’s Prayer Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Pastor’s Prayer Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Pastors’ Prayer Summits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Pastor’s Small Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Personal Retreats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130Prayer Shield. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Praying Through the Congregation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Praying with Your Leaders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Staff Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

section 3: prayer ministry ideasImplementing a Prayer Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Abrahamic Blessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Adopt-a-Leader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Blessing Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Bulletin Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Children’s Prayer Ministry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Community Prayer Lunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Cradle-a-Child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Dial-a-Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Elder Care Ministry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154E-mail Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Ministry of Deliverance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Ministry of Intercession. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Moms in Touch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Monthly Prayer Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163National Day of Prayer (United States) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Parents’ Prayer Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Pledge-a-Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Pray at the Polls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Prayer Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Prayer Breakfast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Prayer Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175Prayer Chain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Prayer Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Prayer Driving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Prayer Emphasis Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186Prayer Focus Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188Prayer-a-Grams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Prayer Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191Prayer for Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Prayer Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197Prayer Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Prayer Newsletter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Prayer Pager Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203Prayer Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Prayer Request Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Prayer Retreat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207Prayer Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208Prayer Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Prayer Shield. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Prayer Support Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Prayer Tape Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220Prayer Team Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221Prayer Triplets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Prayer Vigil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Prayer Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Prayer Warriors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228Prayer for Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229Praying Through the Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233School of Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235Secret Intercessors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237See You at the Pole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239Senior Intercessors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240Shield a Badge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241Small Group Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242Telephone Prayer Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

section 4: harvest prayer ideasThe Case for Harvest Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246Bar Caroling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249Bookmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250Church-a-Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Circle of Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252Easter Vigil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253Feed the Hungry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254First Friday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Fishbowl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256Fishnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257Halloween Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258Jesus Video Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259Lighthouses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260Outreach Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263Praise Marches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264Prayer Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266Prayer Expeditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268Prayer for Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270Prayer for Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271Prayer for Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274Prayer for Missionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275Prayer for Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277Prayer Journeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279Prayer Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281Prayer Stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282Prayer Triads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283Prayerwalking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284Restaurant Evangelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287Staking a Claim Evangelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

section 5: small group prayer ideasSmall Group Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290Ballooning Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293Christ Candle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294Empty Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295Feelings Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296Hand Squeeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297Hugging Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298Night of Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299Personal Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300Polaroid Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301Prayer Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302Prayer Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303Prayer Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304Sentence Prayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305Silent Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306Spontaneous Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307Written Prayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

section 6: worship ideasPrayer and Worship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312Praying Empowers Preaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

The Prayers of WorshipThe Opening Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318The Prayer of Adoration and Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320The Prayer of Confession. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321The Prayer of Lament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324The Prayer of the People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327The Prayer for the Offering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329The Prayer for Illumination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331The Prayer of Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332The Prayer of Consecration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333The Closing Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Ideas for Worship ServicesAn Invitation to Pray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337Concert of Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339Day of Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341Headline Prayers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342Monthly Prayer Emphasis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343Passing the Pad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344Prayer Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345Prayer in Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347Prayer Litanies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349Prayer Refrains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351Prayer Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352Prayer Slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353Prayers for Worship Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354Responsive Readings About Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355Responsive Prayers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356Soft Ending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357Solemn Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358Teaching Through Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Worship ServicesA.C.T.S. Prayer Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360Celebration of God’s Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362Concert of Prayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364Lectio Divina Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366Lord’s Prayer Service (Hymn Festival) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367Prayers for Crops and Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371Prayers for Healing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375Prayers for the Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376Prayers of the People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378Service of Prayer After Fasting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380Solemn Assembly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Dramas and ReadingsThe Benefits of Nagging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385God and the IRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388Hailing the Chief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391If God Should Speak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394The Lord’s Prayer: A Drama in Candles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398The Warrior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400Will She Call? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402More Dramas on Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

section 7: prayer retreatsRetreats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406Affinity Retreat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409Congregational Retreat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411Ministry Leaders’ Retreat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412Personal Retreat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414Prayer and Fasting Retreat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417Small Group Retreat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

section 8: resourcesAnnual Prayer Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422Servant Prayer Ministries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

11

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wor

d

There is a mounting prayer move-ment in America today, and pastors areincreasingly aware of it. Both the quantityand quality of prayer are increasing. As aresult, more and more pastors are wonderinghow to revive prayer ministries in theirchurches and are looking for resources tofacilitate new and fruitful prayer ministries.Doug Kamstra’s Praying Church Idea Bookmeets this need and answers all kinds ofquestions that pastors and church leadershave about prayer formats.

Prayer is important to the church.The great leaders of the church have alwaysbeen men and women of prayer. The trulyeffective churches throughout the centurieshave been churches of prayer. It is by prayerthat the power of God is directed and acti-vated in every dimension of the church’slife. Without prayer churches are powerlessand fruitless. But restoring prayer to theplace of priority in the church will takemore than correcting the church’s thinkingand improving its teaching about prayer. Itwill take improving its practice of prayer aswell. That’s where The Praying Church IdeaBook comes in. It’s designed to provide prac-tical helps to church leaders who want tobuild praying churches.

Many new books on prayer are beingpublished today. Many of them are useful,elucidating Bible prayer themes and answer-ing questions today’s Christians have aboutprayer. However, there is a void. Very few ofthese books speak to the pressing practicalprayer questions the church is facing today.

That’s why The Praying Church Idea Book issuch an important contribution to the fieldof prayer. It deals with these practical issuesthoroughly and thoughtfully.

This is not a book that anyone isgoing to sit down and read from beginningto end. Instead it will serve as a referencetool that pastors and other church leaderswill turn to again and again. Prayer leaderswill want to peruse the forty prayer methodsin the “Prayer Formats” section. Pastors willbe challenged and encouraged by the sec-tion on the “Leader’s Personal Prayer Life.”Ministry leaders will find help among thefifty-five items under the heading “PrayerMinistry Ideas.” There are even sections forsmall group leaders, for worship leaders, andfor evangelism/mission leaders. So wide isthe potential use of this book within a localcongregation that churches may want toown several copies.

The Praying Church Idea Book will servein many churches as a companion to thewidely used Praying Church Sourcebook (pub-lished by CRC Publications). It adds to thebasic concepts and strategies, so well laid outin the Sourcebook, the kind of detail that willgive confidence to those who are launchinginto these strategies and using prayer formatswith which they are unfamiliar.

I enthusiastically recommend ThePraying Church Idea Book. My friend DougKamstra has done a masterful job of re-searching and organizing prayer strategiesand formats. Regular use of this book willsave the average church leader many hours

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of time and will help prevent mistakes whenlaunching new prayer ministries. As you usethis immensely helpful tool you’ll thankGod for Doug Kamstra, as I do, and you’llturn to it often as you search for fruitfulprayer ideas to help make your church a“house of prayer.”

Alvin J. Vander GriendNational Lighthouse Facilitator

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Prayer has been a fundamental com-ponent of the Christian’s life and worshipsince the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teachus to pray.” Many believers give daily thanksat meals, confess their sins and ask for for-giveness, intercede for family members, prayfor the sick, ask for the protection of mis-sionaries, raise up the needs of the world,pray for their pastor and church, and “standin the gap” for the lost. Of all the activitiesto which a Christian is called, prayer is themost important (Heidelberg Catechism,Q&A 116). Yet statistics continue to indi-cate that many church members spend littletime in prayer.

Of all the activities to which thechurch is called, prayer is the most impor-tant (see Isa. 56:7; Matt. 20:13; Mark 11:17;Luke 19:46). Individual churches frequentlybuild reputations. Some are recognized fordynamic pastoral leadership, others forstrong lay leadership. Some make animpression by being avant-garde; othersexperience growth by pursuing denomina-tion guidelines. Some are known for theircare-giving; others are characterized as“warm and friendly.” Some are evangelistic;some are concerned with justice and socialissues; some focus on personal spiritualgrowth. Some pride themselves on minister-ing to singles; some emphasize the family.While these churches help to meet a varietyof spiritual and physical needs, manychurches tend to overlook the obvious—that is, the centrality of prayer.

The early church had no large build-ings, well-financed budgets, or long-rangeplans. While these things may all be helpfulin growing the church in the twenty-firstcentury, none of them are indispensable;prayer is. When the disciples realized theywere neglecting prayer, they reminded thechurch of their first priority and called thechurch to elect deacons so they could returnto praying (see Acts 6).

Today’s church, especially in NorthAmerica, is deeply in need of a new prayertheology. Traditionally, we have relied ontheologians to build the framework for ourreligious practices. It is the intent of thisbook, however, to promote a practice ofprayer that will ultimately result in a prayertheology. As long as we have so little prayerin our personal lives and our churches lackthe power prayer brings, any theology ofprayer will remain incomplete. Once webegin to pray, seeking the presence of Godon our knees for an extended time, our the-ology (that is, our understanding of God)can only grow. And the best way to learn topray is to pray.

Over the past decade, there has beena visible increase in prayer throughout theworld. Prayer is moving out of the privacy ofour prayer closets into businesses (smallgroup prayer meetings and Prayer Boxes),into schools (Moms in Touch and See Youat the Pole), into politics (National Day ofPrayer and Pray at the Polls), and onto thestreets (prayerwalking and Lighthouses ofprayer). Some believe this increased interest

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in prayer is a reaction to the moral melt-down in many nations. Others citeincreased secularism, coupled with anincrease in persecution of Christians, as theforce driving believers to their knees. Stillothers point to the growing interest world-wide in the supernatural or the recent pas-sage from one millennium to the next.Whatever the reason, there is an increasedpassion among Christian leaders for revival.Many prayer initiatives have declared thiscentury as the time to fulfill the GreatCommission (unachieved in the twentiethcentury) so every person on earth will haveheard the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a result,many prayer initiatives have an evangelis-tic, rather than a pietistic, focus. After cen-turies of evangelism and missions,Christians increasingly realize that prayer—and only prayer—will usher in the gospel toevery nation.

The result must be that churches getserious about prayer. They need to proclaima passionate call to prayer; they need tomake a conscious and conscientious effortto teach believers to pray. Churches need toget out in front of the growing prayer move-ment and take the lead. Without prayer, ourchurches will lose their focus and influence.

But let’s be clear. Prayer is not the lat-est fad, the current church-growth tech-nique, or a last-ditch effort to combat anincreasingly secular society. Prayer is theexpression of our hunger for divine com-panionship, of our desire for intimacy withour Creator, of our need to build a deeperrelationship with our Lord. Prayer is seekingGod: surrendering ourselves to God’s will,receiving God’s gifts and blessings, welcom-ing God’s presence in our lives, expressingour gratitude to God, and interceding onbehalf of others in need. Unfortunately, toomany Christians view prayer as a drearyobligation, a shopping list of needs, or ameaningless religious ritual. As the disciplesrealized, we need to be taught to pray. Weneed to pray.

This book is not a theology of prayer,a study of the effectiveness and power ofprayer, or a statement of the struggles andpain of prayer. Rather it is designed solely tochallenge, encourage, and direct the local

church to become a “house of prayer.” Thegoal is not to add programs or simply to addprayer services, but to build a prayingchurch. Prayer is not a means to an end.Prayer is not primarily a duty. It is the nour-ishment of a relationship—between heavenand earth, between God and people,between a Savior and sinners, between theLord and his servants, between a Father andhis children, between the head of thechurch and its members. God calls us intorelationship. God calls us to pray.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In compiling this book, every attempthas been made to seek permission and giveproper credit to the appropriate source.Unfortunately, in some instances, becausesome of this information has been used somuch, so often, and by so many people, theoriginal source may have been lost. Uponappropriate notification, these items will beproperly credited in a subsequent edition.

In order to make this book as useful aspossible, consider purchasing The PrayingChurch Sourcebook by Dr. Alvin J. VanderGriend (1996, CRC Publications). It isavailable at your local Christian bookstore,by calling 1-800-333-8300, or on-line atwww.FaithAliveResources.org.

I offer my special appreciation anddeep gratitude to those who have mentoredmy prayer life—my father and mother; tothose who have supported my passion forgrowing praying churches—Dirk Hart, LoriWorst, the Christian Reformed HomeMissions staff, and the Calvary staff andcongregation; and to those who assisted andencouraged me in the writing of this book—Dan Ackerman, Emily Brink, Jack Dik,Brad Long, Don McCrory, Betty Veldman,and John Witvliet. A special thank you toAl Vander Griend, who has been a mentor,an encourager, and an editor.

Douglas A. Kamstra

INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION

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My house will be called a house ofprayer for all nations. (Isa. 56:7)

I would love to see our churchesbecome houses of prayer. I know youwould, too. All too often, however,they are places for everything andanything except prayer. I say this withsorrow, for I believe it saddens theheart of God. True, we need to haveour business meetings and our com-mittee meetings and our Bible studiesand our self-help groups and our wor-ship services, but if the fire is not hotat the center, these things are onlyashes in our hands. (Richard Foster,Prayer, 1992, pp. 197-198)

In Isaiah 56:7, God says that his“house” shall be known as a “house ofprayer.” Following his triumphal entry, Jesusentered the temple, tossed out the moneychangers, and reiterated his Father’s imper-ative: “My house will be called a house ofprayer” (Matt. 21:13). Being a house ofprayer is more than simply believing inprayer. (Statistics say that almost allChristians and a majority of non-Christiansbelieve in prayer.) Being a house of prayerinvolves more than having an interest inprayer, more than periodically praying inchurch, and more than having a number ofactive prayer ministries. Being a house ofprayer means that the church’s primaryidentifying mark is prayer. Richard Fostersadly, but accurately, underscores the factthat very few local churches are houses of

prayer and that the church as a whole hasfailed miserably to live up to this biblicalcommand.

There are, however, some encourag-ing factors. Consider:

• City-wide prayer rallies are sweepingcommunities across the UnitedStates, drawing the participation oftens of thousands of Christians.

• According to George Barna, even 63percent of those who do not attendchurch still pray regularly.

• In Houston, 150 high school studentsgather twice a week to pray forrevival.

• A multilingual prayer rally in Boston’shistoric Park Street Church broughttogether 800 Christians from 75 cen-ter-city churches.

• The divorce rate among couples whoprofess to be Christians is 28 percent.The divorce rate among couples whopray together daily is less than one-tenth of one percent.

• Promise Keepers has brought men topray together across denominational,ethnic, and generational lines. In1998, more than one million mengathered on the Washington Mall in asolemn assembly to pray.

• Pastor’s Prayer Summits have broughtpastors together across denomi-national and ethnic lines in more

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than 100 regions in the United Statesand Canada and thirty other coun-tries.

• The Assemblies of God is enlistingover one million people to regularlyoffer up intercessory prayer.

• John Maxwell and his VIP prayerministry have set out to raise up onemillion men who will commit to prayfor their pastors.

• The Denominational Prayer LeadersNetwork annually brings togethermore than thirty denominations rep-resenting more than 150,000churches in North America to talkabout prayer.

• The National Day of Prayer broadcastis viewed by tens of thousands of wor-shipers.

• Books on prayer and prayer ministrieshave multiplied. There are more than2,500 titles in print focusing onprayer.

• Pray! magazine, the first periodicalentirely devoted to prayer, becameself-supporting after only three years.

• Churches are hiring prayer coordina-tors, encouraging intercessors, andtraining believers.

• More than three million students par-ticipate annually in See You at thePole.

• Small multiracial prayer groups aremeeting in South Africa.

• In Korea, tens of thousands of highschool and university leaders gatherfor prayer.

• Significant prayer ministries haveemerged from crusades led by BillyGraham, Luis Palau, John Guest, EdSilvoso, and others.

• The All-Japan prayer movement isseeking the evangelization of thecountry’s one hundred million people.

• Up to 250,000 people pray throughthe night in Seoul, Korea, everyFriday. It is no coincidence that nineof the world’s twenty largest churchesare in Korea.

C. Peter Wagner summarizes what ishappening around the world when he says,“Prayer is out of control. Not sincePentecost itself, has history recorded a levelof prayer on six continents comparable towhat is happening today” (Confronting thePowers, 1996, p. 11).

the call to prayBut what, really, is so important about

being a house of prayer? Why should thisparticular command stand above any other?

Prayer is, first of all, about spendingtime with God. Simply being together is anecessary part of any growing relationship.Our relationship with God will becomestronger as we share our dreams and joys,our burdens and our pain, our frustrationsand our celebrations. Our dependence onGod will become a reality as we express thatcontinuing dependence in prayer.

Second, it is through prayer in con-cert with our study of Scripture that Godmakes his will known to us. God is at workin the world and invites us to join him inthat work. Because we discover God’s willthrough prayer, prayer is the primary, or ini-tial, work of believers. The power of prayeris that the Holy Spirit enables us to do thework of God when we, through prayer, dis-cover God’s will and join him in that work.

As if these reasons alone were not suf-ficient, God gives us additional reasons topray:

• God commands us to pray.

Be faithful in prayer (Rom. 12:12).Pray continually (1 Thess. 5:17).

• Jesus modeled prayer.

Very early in the morning, while it wasstill dark, Jesus got up, left the house,and went off to a solitary place, where heprayed (Mark 1:35).

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Prayer characterized the ministry ofChrist, who is the head of the church.He prayed when choosing his disci-ples (Luke 6:12), on the mountain oftransfiguration (Luke 9:29), on retreat(Mark 6:46), at the Last Supper(Matt. 26:27), in the Garden of Geth-semane (Luke 22:39-46), and on thecross (Luke 23:46). Luke emphasizesthat prayer was a regular part of Jesus’life (Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28;11:1; 22:32, 40-45).

• Scripture emphasizes the importanceof prayer.

I urge, first of all, that requests, prayers,intercession and thanksgiving be made foreveryone (1 Tim. 2:1).

Throughout Scripture we are remind-ed of the importance of prayerthrough calls to prayer, models ofpraying people, and the recordedprayers of specific people. In all, theBible contains 667 verses that dealwith prayer.

• Prayer is one of the church’s mostvaluable resources.

Prayer is always available to thechurch—no matter the church’s loca-tion, the size of its membership, or itsavailable resources. Prayer providesthe church with strength, guidance,and power. When churches, pastors,church leaders, intercessors, andmembers pray, things happen: rela-tionships with God deepen, commu-nity grows, and people come to salva-tion. W. Stanley Mooneyham said,“Let us stop complaining that wedon’t have enough people, enoughmoney, enough tools. That is simplynot true. There is no shortage of any-thing we need—except vision, prayer,and will. Prayer is the one resourceimmediately available to each of us.”

• Prayer works.

Scripture is full of accounts ofanswered prayer. Consider Exodus17:8-16—the account of the famous

battle when Moses prayed, handsraised, while Joshua and the Israelitesfought the Amalekites in the valleybelow. The passage clearly illustratesthat the difference between victoryand defeat was prayer. Other accountsinvolve Elijah, who called upon Godand received fire from heaven(1 Kings 18:36); Daniel, who by pray-ing defied King Darius’s order(Dan. 6); Peter, who was freed fromprison by the prayers of believers(Acts 12:1-18); and Paul and Silas,who offered up praise to God in prisonand led the jailor and his family toChrist (Acts 16:25-34).

History also is full of examples ofanswered prayer. Martin Luther’sprayers fanned the fire of theReformation. Revival swept Englandwhen John Wesley prayed. Europeanintercessors prayed, and the Berlinwall crumbled. Martin Luther King Jr.and many others led the Civil RightsMovement by their example of prayer.God answers prayer.

• Prayer pleases Jesus.

This [requests, prayers, intercession, andthanksgiving] is good, and pleases ourSavior (1 Tim. 2:3).

• Prayer reminds us that God is incontrol.

“Ah, sovereign Lord, you have made theheavens and the earth by your greatpower and outstretched arm. Nothing istoo hard for you” (Jer. 32:16-17).

• Through prayer we receive God’sgifts.

Ask and it will be given to you (Matt.7:7).

This is the confidence we have inapproaching God: that if we ask anythingaccording to his will, he hears us. And ifwe know that he hears us—whatever weask—we know that we have what weasked of him (1 John 5:14-15).

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• God uses our prayers to change thenormal course of events.

Elijah was a man just like us. He prayedearnestly that it would not rain, and itdid not rain on the land for three and ahalf years. Again he prayed, and theheavens gave rain, and the earth pro-duced its crops (James 5:17-18).

• Prayer provides a foundation forsharing the gospel.

Devote yourselves to prayer, beingwatchful and thankful. And pray for us,too, that God may open a door for ourmessage, so that we may proclaim themystery of Christ, for which I am inchains. Pray that I may proclaim it clear-ly, as I should (Col. 4:2-4, 12).

• Prayer plays a significant role inbringing people to salvation.

I urge, then, first of all, that requests,prayers, intercession and thanksgiving bemade for everyone.... This is good, andpleases God our Savior, who wants all tobe saved and to come to a knowledge ofthe truth (1 Tim. 2:1-4).

• Prayer is how we receive strength toendure trials.

Do not be anxious about anything, but ineverything, by prayer and petition, withthanksgiving, present your requests toGod. And the peace of God, which tran-scends all understanding, will guard yourhearts and your minds in Christ Jesus(Phil. 4:6-7).

• Prayer prevents us from falling intotemptation.

Watch and pray so that you will not fallinto temptation. The spirit is willing, butthe body is weak (Matt. 26:41).

• Prayer gives power over demons.

He replied, “This kind can come out onlyby prayer” (Mark 9:29).

• Prayer brings healing to nations.

If my people, who are called by myname, will humble themselves and seek

my face and turn from their wickedways, then will I hear from heaven andwill forgive their sin and will heal theirland (2 Chron. 7:14).

• Prayer brings healing to people.

Is any one of you sick? He should call theelders of the church to pray over him andanoint him with oil in the name of theLord. And the prayer offered in faith willmake the sick person well; the Lord willraise him up. If he has sinned, he will beforgiven. Therefore confess your sins toeach other and pray for each other so thatyou may be healed. The prayer of a righ-teous man is powerful and effective(James 5:13-16).

• Prayer enhances our fellowship.

But you, dear friends, build yourselvesup in your most holy faith and pray in theHoly Spirit (Jude 20).

the troublewith praying

If God commands it, why isn’t prayerthe central focus of our churches? We cancite several reasons. Some are merely ex-cuses we offer to save ourselves the embar-rassment of admitting we have been preoc-cupied and disobedient. Others, however,are valid, and we ought to urgently dealwith them.

1. Alvin Vander Griend, Mission America’snational Lighthouse facilitator, suggeststhat we lack a proper theology of prayer.Not that we have no theology; on thecontrary, numerous pieces of a prayertheology are floating around. Somepieces are biblical; some are not. Someresonate experientially; some do not.Unfortunately, the pieces are all mixedtogether and need to be sorted out. Abiblical theology of prayer would help usbetter understand the priority and role ofprayer. However, developing a propertheology of prayer must begin withprayer!

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2. Prayer is, by design, a silent ministry.Innumerable believers quietly—yet fer-vently—pray behind the scenes and intheir prayer closets. In fact, prayer war-riors tend to shun publicity. So whilemuch prayer is occurring, the “model”warriors often remain hidden. Much of aparent’s prayer life takes place behindclosed doors—hidden from their chil-dren’s eyes. Most of the prayer warriors ina church remain anonymous. These arethe models. We need to coax them out ofhiding to teach the rest of us to pray.

3. Prayer ministry in a local church is botha “public” (visible) and “private” (be-hind the scenes) ministry. But fewchurches have an intentional prayerministry—one that has a stated purposeand a plan for continued growth anddevelopment. Few churches are houses ofprayer. As a result, there are few modelsto observe, few references to check, andfew people to resource.

4. While most pastors recognize the impor-tance of a strong prayer ministry, theirpersonal involvement in prayer is oftendeferred by their already overloadedschedules. So pastors often ignore or del-egate the prayer ministry. Since prayerlacks priority in their own lives, it sel-dom becomes a priority in their ministry.John Maxwell, in his book 21 Laws ofLeadership, notes that a leader cannotlead where he or she has not been.Unfortunately, if the pastor is not visiblyinvolved in the ministry of prayer, fewothers in the congregation will sense itsimportance.

5. Discouragement is one of Satan’s mosteffective weapons. He tries to discourageus on many fronts: we find it too difficultto pray for three hours every morning, asMartin Luther did; we are frustrated bythe feeling that we are praying alone orto no one; we waver when our prayerteam shows little sign of progress. Andwhen a congregation becomes intention-al about becoming a praying church,Satan penalizes it through increased spir-itual warfare. Cheryl Sacks, writing in

Bridgebuilder newsletter, notes that thingswill go well for a while and then—WHAM!—Satan retaliates and the war-fare intensifies.

6. Impatience is a twenty-first–centuryvice. We are accustomed to instant pud-ding, ten-minute oil changes, fast food,and the resolution of major life crises inthirty-minute sitcoms. Influenced by ourculture, we take our impatient nature toGod in prayer only to be placed in his“waiting room.” While sometimes wewait only for days, it is not uncommon towait for years, even decades. Our impa-tience leads to frustration; our frustrationleads to discouragement.

7. Jonathan Graf, editor of Pray! magazine,suggests that our lack of prayer is a reflec-tion of an independent and self-sufficient spirit (Pray!, July/August 1998,p. 13). We feel prayer is unnecessary—even a waste of time. We forget we needGod’s help because we think we can han-dle things ourselves. So we have devel-oped a lifestyle in which God is only tan-gentially involved.

8. In addition to our impatience and inde-pendence, there are other cultural factorsthat influence our prayer life. In an afflu-ent society—when our freezers are fulland our checkbook is handy—it is diffi-cult to pray with any real passion for “ourdaily bread.” When doctors can treatmost every illness at the local hospital, itseems less imperative to “call the eldersof the church to pray over [you] andanoint [you] with oil.” When we haveextravagant homes, extended vacations,and plans for the future, it is hard to pray,“May your kingdom come.”

the marks of ahouse of prayer

While we might expect all Bible-believing churches to recognize the impor-tance of prayer, many churches don’t under-stand what it means to be a house of prayer.Jesus never said, “My house shall be called a

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house of preaching” or “a house of music” oreven “a house of worship.” Jesus said, “Myhouse shall be called a house of prayer.” Yetwhen people talk about churches thedynamic of prayer is seldom mentioned.

Jesus said, “The gates of Hades shallnot prevail against [the church]” (Matt.16:18). This is a call to arms—to take upand use the weapons God has given us. Thiscall emphasizes the primary purpose of thechurch: not to impact political life, nor tobuild monumental facilities, nor even toprovide safe havens for fellowship, but to beactive in the spiritual battle. And one of ourprimary weapons is prayer. Brad Longwrites:

Jesus addressed his words about thegates of hell not to individual Chris-tians, but to the church. He wantsChristians to pray as a church. Hewants to form us into an army, subdi-vided into cohorts who are learning topray in one accord. The effectivearmy is the army that learns to com-municate well, to trust its leaders, toreconnaissance regularly—in short, tofunction together in one accord. Theevil one, Luther noted, does every-thing he can to prevent this from hap-pening, because he wants to keep hisgates intact. (Prayer that Shapes theFuture, p. 191)

So what exactly does it mean to be ahouse of prayer? The Bible doesn’t sayexactly. But we can fairly assume that ahouse of prayer is a church where

• prayer is understood as the primarywork.

• prayer is the most identifiable min-istry.

• prayer is at the heart of every facet ofthe church’s mission and ministry.

Based on these assumptions, a houseof prayer would normally include these fac-tors:

1. The pastor is committed to prayer. Ina house of prayer, the pastor and pas-toral leadership are deeply committed

to and passionate about prayer. Pastorsrealize that the primary work of thechurch is prayer. This is clearly visiblein their personal prayer lives, in theirleading of worship and prayer, and inthe frequency that they teach onprayer. The “praying church” pastorbelieves prayer is critical, essential, andimperative.

2. Leaders lead by prayer. The governingboard, staff, and ministry leaders arepeople of prayer. Praying leaders prayfor the members of the congregation;they pray before, during, and after mak-ing decisions; they pray daily for thepastoral leadership in the church.When church leaders pray, not only dothey model prayer but God’s Spiritmoves in the church.

3. Members are serious about prayer intheir personal and corporate lives. Anoted prayer leader has said, “If person-al and family prayer is neglected, otherattempts at prayer are like sprinkling aplant with water while leaving theroots dry.” The ministry of prayer in thechurch is not limited to those with thespiritual gift of intercession; it isdesigned for all the members of thebody of Christ. In a house of prayer,members

• make prayer for their pastor, leaders,other members, and community adaily priority.

• practice regular (and extended) per-sonal and corporate prayer.

• consider prayer a major factor inmaking their daily decisions and inproblem solving.

• prioritize their personal time withthe Lord and participate in familydevotions.

• are growing spiritually.

4. Prayer is integral, intentional, andintegrated into the church. In additionto being a priority for pastors, leaders,and individual members, prayer must

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be a primary factor in the ministry ofthe congregation. However, simplyadding a prayer ministry to a church’slist of ministries and programs does notmake it a praying church. Prayer is nota program. It must be the lifeblood ofthe church—written into the DNA ofthe congregation. This means thatprayer must be a priority (integral), adeliberate strategy (intentional), and asignificant factor in every area of min-istry (integrated).

In Acts 1:14, we read that the church“all joined together in constant prayer.”After Pentecost, “they devoted them-selves to the apostles’ teaching and tofellowship, to the breaking of bread andto prayer” (Acts 2:42). In a prayingchurch, prayer is visible throughout thelife of the congregation:

• The importance of prayer is reflect-ed in the church’s core values andmission statement.

• The prayer ministry has a defined(and written) prayer strategy thatincludes a purpose statement, goals,and objectives.

• Prayer focuses the direction of thechurch, guides the ministry teams,empowers the ministries, and unitesthe church.

• Prayer is a priority in every meeting,a prerequisite to every decision, anda key factor in every ministry. Thestrength of the church is found inprayer.

• Prayer is emphasized in worshipthrough corporate prayer times, layparticipation, and regular teachingon prayer.

• Prayer is visible in the lives of itsmembers. A praying church holdshigh expectations for its people inthe area of prayer, and its membersare held accountable to pray. Apraying church recognizes the need

to offer various opportunities forprayer; scheduled opportunities areoffered throughout the week, andpeople are encouraged to pray ontheir own.

• Prayer is an integral part of everyworship experience.

• The church has a place specificallydesignated for prayer that is easilyaccessible and regularly used.

• The prayer ministry, like the educa-tion, worship, and evangelism min-istries, is included in the church’sbudget.

5. The emphasis on prayer is both inter-nal and external. A praying churchprays for its members and for the lostwith equal passion. So in addition tointerceding for thechurch’s membersand ministries, apraying churchregularly “standsin the gap” for itsneighbors, com-munity, nation,other nations, andthe world. A pray-ing church regularly intercedes for the“harvesters” and for a rich harvest.

6. The church is visibly united in prayerwith other churches in the commu-nity. A praying church realizes thatGod’s church is one body. Unity is botha prerequisite for and a result of effec-tive prayer. A praying church comes to-gether regularly with other churches—across denominational, ethnic, andcultural lines—to pray. Having brokendown the walls that tend to separatefellow believers, we can more effectivelybreak down the walls that separatepeople from God.

7. There is regular training in prayer. Apraying church intentionally developsintercessors. Training in prayer comesin Sunday school classes and educa-

Any church without awell-organized andsystematic prayerprogram is simplyoperating on a religioustreadmill.

—Paul Billheimer,Destined for the Throne

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tional offerings, through teaching andpreaching in worship, and from experi-ences in prayer meetings and prayingtogether. Training is offered for chil-dren, youth, adults, and seniors. Peopleare regularly encouraged to “raise thebar” in their prayer life.

8. Members gather for a regular prayermeeting. If a church is a house ofprayer, then the prayer meeting is anessential hour of the week. In a prayingchurch, the weekly prayer meeting isthe furnace that keeps the churchwarm.

9. A designated prayer team providesleadership. The team has been iden-tified through prayer, designated by thepastor and church leadership, andanointed by the Holy Spirit to provideleadership. This team is entrusted withthe responsibility of keeping the prayerministry vibrant and growing.

10. God is answering prayers. A prayingchurch knows when God answersprayer because they consciously identi-fy, record, and celebrate God’s answers.Lives are transformed, people are com-ing to know the Lord, and the church isgrowing spiritually and numerically.While the church understands thatGod doesn’t always say “yes,” theyknow that God always answers.

getting startedBuilding a praying church might

sound like an overwhelming task. It is.There is no way you, or an entire prayerteam, or even the senior pastor and thewhole leadership board can accomplish it.Only God can. Building a praying church isalways the work of God.

The call to a prayer ministry must beGod’s call. Sometimes God places this callin the heart of an individual intercessorwho begins to pray for the church, its lead-ership, and the community. Often, Godcalls more than one person in a congrega-tion—although it may be months or even

years before they discover each other.Sometimes God may call a family or a smallgroup to begin praying. Sometimes Godmay call the pastor, a staff member, or amember of the leadership board. But whilethe leadership of the senior pastor is imper-ative in building a praying church, prayer isprimarily a ministry of the people of God—and the call to pray is often heard first bypeople with the spiritual gifts of interces-sion, discernment, or prophecy. That is whywhen you sense God calling you, respond asSamuel did by saying, “Speak, for your ser-vant is listening” (1 Sam. 3:10). Becoming ahouse of prayer begins in dialogue withGod.

While there is no set formula (be sus-picious of anyone who suggests there is),there are some basic steps for developing apraying church:

1. Pray. Ironically, many churches thatdesire to become a house of prayer skipthe most important step. The initial ten-dency is to jump right in—start a prayergroup, build a prayer chain, set up aschool of prayer . . . We figure the quick-er we get started, the quicker we canbecome a praying church. But the placeto start is prayer.

The second tendency is to have our plansalready set before we go to God in prayer.Then we essentially ask God to bless ourown plans. Sometimes God will; fre-quently God doesn’t. It is far better todiscover God’s will and join him in it. Ifwe follow his will, his blessing is guaran-teed.

The third tendency is to short-circuit theprocess. We call a few people together topray and then move immediately intoplanning. Sometimes God answersprayers instantly; more frequently, how-ever, our praying must go on for a sea-son—a month, a year, or even longer.Avoid running ahead of God. Avoid thetemptation to do things in your time.The timing is always the Lord’s.

What should you pray for?

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• Ask God for a spirit of prayer to fallupon your church.

• Ask God to raise up more people towhom he has also given the burden ofbuilding a praying church. When Goddoes that, come together periodicallyto pray.

• Ask God to anoint people in yourcongregation with the gift of interces-sion.

• Ask God for wisdom and vision.What does God want your church todo? Who should be involved? What isthe church ready for? (See James 1:5.)

• Ask God to use prayer to begin build-ing a passion for reaching your com-munity and city for Christ.

• Ask God to tell you what he wantsyou to do.

As you pray, listen carefully for God’sanswer. And don’t stop praying once youhave an answer. Scripture says God’sword is often confirmed by two or threewitnesses (Deut. 17:6) or sometimes by aspecial sign (Judg. 6:35-40). Frequently,the “witness” is Scripture: God pointsyou to a passage that clearly designateshis leading during your devotions, duringa small group Bible study, or during aworship service. Sometimes the witness-es are other believers who have receivedthe same answer. Other times the wit-nesses are the doors that God opens orcloses; observe how things seem to befalling into place: Are people steppingforward? Are the necessary resourcesbecoming available? Is God giving asense of peace about the decision? Whenthe work is from God, the pieces of thepuzzle continue to fall into place untilthe picture (God’s vision) is clear.

Sometimes God asks us to wait. This canmean a variety of things:

• God isn’t ready. (Remember, God hasperfect timing.)

• There is a sin (personal or corporate)that needs to be confessed before Godwill answer.

• God is waiting for us to realign ourhearts with his will.

• God wants to teach us something—patience, humility, dependence, ortrust—before he moves us towardbeing a praying church.

Sometimes, already in this initial step,opposition may arise. Opposition mustbe evaluated as carefully as confirmation.Its purpose may be to remind us to con-tinue praying, to challenge us to listenmore closely, to invite us to rethink theidea or the timing, or to warn us that thedevil isn’t happy with the idea that achurch may become a house of prayer.

2. Discover the vision. A vision is a pictureof the future that motivates you to see ithappen. Businesses develop visions.They set goals for product development,productivity, sales, delivery, and profit.All too often, churches adopt the sameprocess. The church’s responsibility isnot to develop a vision, but to discoverthe vision God has established. This isimperative, for in the future, when theministry appears to struggle, when we getweary in our persevering, when criticismseems to build, we can take courage fromthe fact that God will see his visionthrough.

Through prayer and through the confir-mation God provides, God forms hisvision in our hearts and minds. Ironi-cally, it takes prayer to “discover” God’svision for our praying. Brad Long writes:

“To cultivate a praying church, it isnecessary to have received a visionfrom God, which will drive the lead-ership and eventually the congrega-tion to prayer. A prayerless churchdoes not receive a vision from God.”(Prayer that Shapes the Future, 1999,p. 193)

Piece by piece, the vision becomes clear.However, in putting the puzzle together,

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avoid the temptation to clone an appar-ently “successful” prayer ministry fromanother congregation. God won’t giveyour church another church’s vision.While the vision God gives you may besimilar in many respects to anotherchurch’s, your vision is unique—reflec-tive of your members’ gifts and resources,of your church’s ministry, and of yourcommunity’s needs.

Normally, a vision answers the basicquestions Who?, What?, When?,Where?, Why?, and How?

• Who should be involved?

• What will the prayer ministry looklike?

• When should we begin?

• Where will the focus of the ministrybe?

• Why do we need a prayer ministry?

• How do we proceed in building ahouse of prayer?

The answer to these questions consti-tutes the vision and ultimately sets thedirection of the ministry.

When the vision is clear, write it out anduse scriptural support. This will help youshare it with the congregation.

Example

The prayer ministry of CommunityChurch exists to involve all wor-shipers (who) in daily prayer (what)through training and encouragement(how) to enlarge our love for JesusChrist, to evangelize, to equip be-lievers for service (where), and tobring God glory (why)!

3. Define the vision. While having aprayer ministry is not the equivalent ofbeing a praying church, it is a significantstep toward intentionally becoming ahouse of prayer. There are a number ofpatterns that churches generally fall into:

• In many churches, prayer is assumed.The church confesses to believe inprayer—during worship, at meetings,and as appropriate in the various min-istries of the church. Prayer is oftenseen as a personal responsibility—be-tween the believer and God. Periodi-cally, the sermon may deal specificallyor tangentially with prayer. Unfor-tunately, in many of these churches,more prayer is assumed to be happen-ing than actually is.

• In a few churches, prayer is the sole(primary) focus. Prayer is the ministryof the church. This is a churchmarked by prayer meetings, prayergroups, and a heavy emphasis onprayer in worship. They nurture theirrelationship with God and pray forthe lost. And extensive prayer resultsin intensive fellowship. While thesechurches are “birthed” with the visionof being a church focusing only onprayer, as they “grow up” (either insize or age) they often add programsthat dilute their emphasis on prayer.These churches tend to become intro-verted, focus on personal piety, andremain fairly small. It also appears tobe very difficult to transition an estab-lished church into this model.

• In some churches, the pastor recog-nizes the importance of prayer, takeson the responsibility of leading theprayer ministry, and makes deliberateefforts to build prayer into the life ofthe church. The pastor may preach afour- to six-week series on prayer, par-ticipate in a national prayer initiative,or organize a thirty-hour prayer vigil.This model can work well. But mostpastors are overworked and responsi-ble for many other ministries, so fre-quently the prayer ministry gives wayto other pressures.

• In some churches, the emphasis onprayer is left to the respective ministryleaders. So, if the pastor is sold onprayer, worship and messages mayemphasize prayer. If the youth pastor

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believes prayer is essential to effectiveministry, a number of prayer min-istries may be incorporated into theyouth program. On the other hand,the evangelism or education min-istries may not have consistent prayersupport. This model provides aninconsistent emphasis on prayer with-in the church because prayer is depen-dant on the commitment of eachministry’s leader.

• In a few churches, prayer is a distinctministry in the congregation. That is,in addition to ministries like evange-lism, education, worship, counseling,and fellowship, there is a stand-aloneprayer ministry. The prayer ministrysets its own goals, recruits and trainsits leaders, develops its own programs,and has its own budget. Part of itsresponsibility is to support andencourage prayer “for” and “in” all theother ministries. This distinct prayerministry

— gives a clear signal to the congre-gation that prayer is important.

— doesn’t get lost among the otherprograms of the church.

— can organize and provide a holisticemphasis on prayer.

— encourages more members tobecome involved in prayer.

— holds someone accountable forrecruiting, training, and supportingpray-ers.

— makes it possible to develop andorganize other prayer ministrieswithin the church.

— assists in identifying those with thegift of intercession.

— is integral in providing a founda-tion for the other ministries of thechurch.

Implementing this patttern—a dis-tinct prayer ministry—is a criticalstep in building a house of prayer.

4. Disseminate the vision. Once the visionhas been discovered and defined, it mustbe shared. There appears to be a properorder for building consensus and sharingthe challenge:

• Get the senior pastor(s) on board.The pastor must be willing to enterinto the discipline of prayer. This isthe first priority. In order for the pro-gram to be effective, the senior pastormust be an enthusiastic participantand model.

• Get the leaders on board. Leadersshould be aware of and supportive ofthe church’s prayer ministry. Askthem to pray about it. Get theendorsement of the leadership board;share the vision with ministry leaders.Work closely with the leadership,responding to their input and keepingthem well informed.

Encourage the leaders to promote thevision by participating in it. Leadersin the church must embody the visionfor prayer by being people of prayerand by actively participating in theprayer ministry of the church.

• Share the vision with the congrega-tion. In sharing the vision with thecongregation, explain why a prayerministry is necessary—many peopleassume they are already spending a lotof time in prayer. And continue toshare the prayer vision on a regularbasis—at least monthly—in a varietyof ways.

5. Develop a team. If you decide to have adistinct prayer ministry, a prayer coordi-nator is essential. A prayer team is evenmore effective. Ask God to raise up aprayer coordinator or potential membersof a prayer team. When introducing newprayer ministries, ask God to identify anadditional prayer-team member to leadthe ministry. The pastor and churchleadership group should approve andencourage the prayer coordinator andprayer team.

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Prayer leaders should have a passion forprayer and the spiritual gifts of organiza-tion, compassion, and encouragement. Aprayer leader with the gift of intercessionis a blessing but not a necessity. For addi-tional information on the qualificationsfor prayer leaders see Prayer Coordinator(pp. 180-184).

In some situations, the Lord calls a mem-ber of the congregation to the ministry ofprayer, but the possibility of that personbeing designated as prayer coordinatorremains remote. If you are a lone prayerwarrior, you should

• commit to pray regularly.

• pray for a prayer partner—someone tohold you accountable to your commit-ment to pray.

• ask your prayer partner to pray withyou on a weekly basis. Invite others tojoin your prayer time. Pray for yourpastor. Pray that God will begin tomake your church a house of prayer.

• learn more about prayer. Take advan-tage of prayer resources (books, semi-nars, and so on) and opportunities topray.

• begin to publicly model prayer: inhome, in your neighborhood, inchurch ministries, in worship.

• become a Lighthouse in your commu-nity.

• wait on the Lord. Listen for God’sdirection to proceed.

6. Plan the work. The primary purpose ofthis book is to assist committed individ-uals, leaders, and ministry teams toaccomplish this sixth step. In preparingto make a church a house of prayer, care-ful planning is necessary. Prayer mustplay an integral part in every facet ofministry:

• Leadership. The pastor must becomea person of prayer. A survey of pastorsat a conference in Dallas indicatedthat more than 95 percent of pastorspray less than five minutes a day. Thepastor should be able to set aside a sig-nificant amount of time (one-half to afull day per week) for prayer (see Acts6:3-4). Only a praying pastor can leada praying church.

The leadership board should alsospend time together in prayer. Thisshould be a top priority.

In churches with three or more staffmembers, bring the staff togetherweekly for extended (one to threehours) prayer. In churches with one ortwo staff members, have the staff joinwith other key leaders for extendedprayer.

At the same time the leaders are pray-ing for the church, the church must bepraying for the leaders. Begin a PrayerShield ministry (see pp. 214-217).When a church begins to earnestlyseek God’s will, the spiritual attackswill intensify. While the church is thetarget for these spiritual attacks, thepastor and his or her family are the“bull’s-eye.” Pastors and leaders needto be protected. Recruit people whoare willing to pray every day for thepastor and for other leaders.

Dee Duke, pastor of Jefferson (Oregon) BaptistChurch, once shared a memory of his father withme: He was around ten years old, and his fathertook him to the nearby ship yards. They came toa large ship floating next to the dock on slackropes, and his father walked over to the ship andbegan pushing on it with all his might. Hecontinued to do so for about twenty minutes, allthe while Dee thinking his father must be crazytrying to move the huge ship. Then suddenly theship began to move backwards, pulling the ropestaut. As they sat on the grass togetherafterwards, Dee’s father said, “I don’t knowhow it works, or what law of physics isinvolved, but my energy gets stored up in thatship until there is enough to move it. There aretwo lessons to be learned here. The first is, if Ihad quit, if I had stopped at nineteen minutes, itnever would have moved. And second, if you hadhelped me, we could have done it twice as fast.”

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See The Leader’s Prayer Life sectionof this book for additional assistancein this area.

• Education. Develop opportunities forpeople to learn how to pray. Thismight include developing a resourcelibrary of books, videos, and tapes onprayer; offering educational courseson prayer; holding regular prayerretreats; or sponsoring an annualprayer emphasis week with opportuni-ties for people to be trained in prayer.

Ministries such as Children’s PrayerMinistry, Prayer Library, and Schoolof Prayer, described in the PrayerMinistry Ideas section of this book,are designed to assist in this area.

• Pastoral Care. Intercede for churchmembers. This ministry should offersupport and encouragement to allchurch members. A prayer chain ishelpful for those in crisis. A prayerteam can visit those in the hospital orthose confined to their homes. Ateam of intercessors can pray throughthe directory each week. Prayer calen-dars can encourage people to pray forspecific groups of people (marrieds,singles, parents, children, elderly peo-ple, and so on) and specific churchministries. Share with the congrega-tion the answers God is providing andcelebrate them together.

The Prayer Ministry Ideas section ofthis book describes ministries such asElder Care Ministry, Prayer for Heal-ing, and Prayer Support Group thatoffer assistance in this area.

• Small groups. In many churches, thesmall group ministry provides caregiv-ing, spiritual nurture, and discipleshiptraining. It is an ideal place for peopleto learn to pray for each other. Thisbook’s section on small group prayer isdesigned to encourage praying insmall groups.

• Evangelism and missions. Effectiveevangelism and missions involve in-tentional and active prayer for people

in your local community (evangelism)and around the world (missions). Theterm Harvest Prayer describes bothspecial mission prayer initiatives andthe integration of evangelistic prayerin the life of the church.

Locally, consider becoming a Light-house church, or join with otherchurches in praying for your city. Inconsidering world missions, pray forthe 10/40 or 40/70 Window or partici-pate in the Adopt-a-People program.The Harvest Prayer Ideas section ofthis book provides guidance in thisarea.

• Worship. Prayer must be a meaning-ful part of worship. This can includecorporate prayer, opportunities forpeople to receive prayer, and regularpreaching on prayer.

In addition, worship services mustreceive significant prayer. Pray before,during, and after worship for spiritualprotection, the Spirit’s presence,anointed preaching, receptive hearts,enhanced fellowship, visitors, and soon. Consider using a special prayergroup, rotating through your church’ssmall groups, or asking people to praywhile they are worshiping in order toimplement this ministry.

The section on worship ideas offersoptions to use in this area.

In addition to preparing an overall prayerministry, consider some additionaldetails:

• Each prayer ministry should submit itsbudget needs to the prayer ministryteam. The prayer ministry teamshould submit the needs of the entireprayer ministry to the church’s leader-ship at the appropriate time.

• Prepare job descriptions for key posi-tions. Sample job descriptions for aprayer coordinator and prayer teammembers are found in the Prayer Min-istry Ideas section.

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• Provide a balanced program withsome variety to involve a wide groupof people with differing preferences.

7. Work the plan.

• Start slowly. Avoid the temptation ofdoing too much too quickly. Beginwith a couple of ministries. Get themup and going before introducing newministries. Be sensitive to ministriescurrently going on.

• Explore resources. Look for appropri-ate resources: books, tapes, people,and training opportunities. Whatpeople are available for consulting?What are nearby churches doing?Which people have the gift of inter-cession? What seminars on organizinga prayer ministry are available?

• Recruit participants. When youintroduce a new prayer ministry, peo-ple who have been praying for such anopportunity will immediately becomeinvolved. But recruiting pray-ers is anongoing responsibility in prayer min-istry. Many churches hold annual, oreven quarterly pledge campaigns ask-ing people to pledge to pray for a spe-cific need for a specific period of time.Other churches rotate the recruitingthroughout the year by highlightingone prayer ministry each month. Afew churches continue to recruitthroughout the year for every min-istry.

When recruiting, promote the prayeropportunity in a variety of ways—bul-letin announcements, encouragementfrom the pulpit, testimonies of theministry’s impact, word of mouth, andpersonal invitations to join. Alwaysask people to commit for a specificperiod of time (the first request shouldnot exceed one year).

Build in opportunities to appreciatepeople who fulfill their commitmentand then encourage them to sign upagain.

• Provide training. Train peoplethrough preaching in worship ser-vices, through teaching in Sundayschool, and by developing skills inadult education opportunities. Holdspecial seminars and workshops andprovide “on-the-job” training. Givepeople an opportunity to practiceprayer at retreats, at prayer vigils, intheir personal devotions, and evenduring worship services. People needto hear messages on prayer, to betaught about prayer, and to haveopportunities to practice prayer.

Teach multiple formats for prayer.Some formats will appeal to somepeople; other formats will appeal toothers. Keep the praying fresh. Keep itfocused on God.

• Maintain flexibility. Involve theentire church—children, youth, sin-gles, couples, families, the elderly, andso on. Continue to pray and look fornew ways God might be leading you.Schedule events at different times andfor different purposes.

• Continue to expand your ministry.Develop new prayer ministries in thecontext of current ministries. Forexample, if you have an effectivesmall group ministry, bring the smallgroup leaders together. Challengethem to incorporate prayer into theirsmall groups (see Small Group Prayer,p. 242), or ask a small group to adopta prayer ministry as their ministry. Ifyou have a prayer chain that operatesduring the day, consider expanding itto involve more people, span moretime, or deal with more prayers thanjust emergencies.

As the Lord blesses your currentprayer ministry and as the needs con-tinue to surface, add additional min-istries. As you develop a variety ofprayer ministries to meet diverse in-terests, additional people will becomeinvolved.

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• Persevere. Building a prayer ministryrequires a long-term commitment.Initially, progress is often slow.Comparisons to large, successful min-istries that have been growing fordecades foster discouragement. Bepersistent and keep praying.

Remember, the devil considers prayeran act of aggression. Spiritual warfareand counter-attacks are common.When you begin to resist the enemy’sdarkness and take ground for Christ’skingdom, you will encounter spiritualopposition. Expect Satan to do whathe can to stop you.

God will draw people into his move-ment. God can use a “Gideon’s band”as well as large legions. God placescertain burdens on certain hearts. Yet,over time, with solid teaching, con-tinual encouragement, and faithful-ness, more and more people will dis-cover the vision and your church willbecome the house of prayer Godintends it to be.

8. Evaluate. Periodically, it is imperative topause and honestly address the hardquestions: When people describe ourchurch, do they mention prayer? Isprayer our number one priority? Are we apraying church?

In our world, we strive to do things withexcellence and success. We set goals thatstretch us. We make them quantifiable.We assume that if we meet our goals, weare successful. We figure if we are success-ful, we must be doing things right.

Unfortunately, this often results in dis-couragement (our numbers are downfrom last year), frustration (a couple ofold ministries dried up when we addedthe new ones), and feelings of failure (aneighboring church’s prayer ministriesseem to be going much better than ours).

Thankfully, God isn’t interested in theworld’s definition of success. Scriptureinstead talks about ministry in terms of

service, sacrifice, and suffering.Scripture’s model of success is Jesus—who humbled himself in birth, sufferedpersecution throughout his ministry, andwillingly offered his life on a cross.

It is important to regularly evaluate theprayer ministry using the proper criteria,such as “faithfulness,” “authenticity,”“spiritual growth,” “obedience,” “inti-macy with God,” and “bearing fruit.”While goals and numbers can be helpfulin evaluating the ministry, we must becareful that they do not define it. Somequestions to ask:

• Is prayer a part of the church’s statedmission and core values?

• Is the pastor given time to pray? Is itpart of the pastor’s job description?

• Is prayer an extended part of eachleadership meeting?

• Is prayer a regular part of every wor-ship service?

• Are members of the congregationwilling to participate in public prayer?

• Does the pastor regularly preach onprayer?

• Is there regular teaching on prayer inthe education ministry?

• Are there opportunities for people tobe involved in prayer throughout theweek?

• Are intercessors regularly appreciated?

• Are answers to prayer publicly notedand celebrated?

• Does the staff pray together on aweekly basis?

• Is there intentional prayer for the lostthroughout the week?

• Is the prayer ministry included in theannual budget?

• Have those with the gift of interces-sion been identified in your congrega-tion?

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The answers to the following questionsshould include personal experiences aswell as numerical statistics:

• What answers to prayers have beenreceived over the past year?

• What growth has been experienced inthe prayer ministry over the last year?

• What growth is evidenced in the per-sonal lives of church members?

• What growth has our church experi-enced through conversions?

• Has the percentage of people in-volved in a prayer ministry increasedover the past year?

Whether you have a “Gideon’s band” ora “legion of intercessors,” the essence of asuccessful prayer ministry is perseveranceand faithfulness. Our finite eyes seldomsee the full impact of prayer, a prayingpeople, and a praying church. Our finiteminds seldom comprehend how Goduses our prayers to move mountains. Theprimary question to ask in evaluatingyour prayer ministry is simply, “Have webeen faithful?” If you answer in the affir-mative, God is using your prayers tobuild his kingdom. God will bless yourcongregation.

9. Celebrate. Seeing God’s answers toprayer reinforces our sense of God’s faith-fulness. Seeing God’s faithfulnessencourages us to pray more. Prayingmore brings more answers to prayer.Share God’s answers with as much regu-larity and passion as you share the needs.And when God answers prayers, cele-brate! Celebrate God! Here are someideas:

• Hang a banner in the church declar-ing “God answers prayer” and invitingpeople to write answers to prayer onthe banner.

• Start a visual prayer chain where thepetitions and intercessions are onecolor and the answers are anothercolor. Every time a prayer is answered,

the “petition link” is taken down andreplaced with an “answered link.”

• Share answers to prayer as well asrequests for prayer during worship.

• Place a “prayer answer box” next toyour “prayer request box.”

• Hold a special worship service period-ically to celebrate “God sightings”(testimonies of people who have seenGod at work in answer to prayer).

• Include periodic testimonies duringworship by people who have prayedand received answers.

• When people return to church afteran illness or hospitalization, welcomethem back to worship and thankthose who prayed for their recovery.

• Hold an annual appreciation dinner(or breakfast) for those who havebeen involved in the church’s prayerministries.

Section 1Section 1

PRAYERFORMATSPRAYERFORMATS

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The key to building a praying churchis to build a praying people. This section isdesigned to encourage people to learn topray, to practice the disciplines of prayer,and to enjoy the privilege of spending timewith God.

In one sense, there is no wrong way topray—as long as the prayer is directed toGod from a sincere and contrite heart.However, there are distinct prayer formsthat can enhance our faithfulness in prayer.

The purpose of spending time alonewith God is to develop an intimacy withhim, to learn how he wants us to live, andto intercede for the things that are close tohis heart. To achieve this purpose, we mustspend time with God, find a regular place topray, and stretch our relationship with Godby varying our discipline of prayer.

timeMost of us know the familiar story of

Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha(Luke 10). Martha uses her time, energy,and expertise in the kitchen to prepare ameal for Jesus while her sister, Mary, simplysits and listens to Jesus. Martha is every pas-tor’s dream—a hard worker, a good organ-izer, active in ministry. However, we mustremind ourselves of Jesus’ response toMartha’s demands that Mary help her in thekitchen: that he values the service Marthais extending, but he values the time Mary isspending with him more. Mary is sitting at

the feet of Jesus—a place and posture wetend to overlook in our busy culture.

In our fast-paced culture, where thereis much to do and be done, we tend to looklike Martha. Time is a premium, so it seemsfoolish to “waste” it. But while both timewith the Lord and time in his service areimportant to the kingdom, Jesus prioritizesthe time we spend with him. In his bookToo Busy Not to Pray, Bill Hybels writes thatif we are too busy to pray, we are simply toobusy.

We must make time to pray. We needto schedule it on our calendars like everyother important “meeting.” We must factorit into our daily routines. Spending extend-ed, regular time in prayer will radicallydeepen our personal discipleship, transformour priorities, invigorate our service, andincrease our awareness of God’s presence.

placeSome prayer leaders recommend hav-

ing one place to meet God. They call thisplace the “altar” and encourage people to gothere on a regular, daily basis (for example,for an hour every morning). This altar canbe as simple as a favorite chair.

Others emphasize that believers are tolive prayerful lives and should pray through-out the day wherever and whenever theHoly Spirit moves. We should be prayingwhile

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• waiting in line (at the grocery store,bank, and so on)

• riding the bus or a taxi• waiting for someone• doing dishes• driving• watching the evening news• browsing the local library• eating dinner• visiting a local retreat center• worshiping at church• walking• taking a shower or a bath• exercising

In reality, both having an altar andpraying throughout the day are importantpieces of a healthy prayer life. We need tobe disciplined enough to have a regular,daily prayer time; and it is the disciplinedroutine that gives rise to the spontaneousopportunities.

varietyThere are nearly as many different

ways to pray as there are pray-ers. Somepeople write outtheir prayers; othersprefer more sponta-neous praying. Somepeople pray silently;others pray aloud.Some people preferpraying alone; oth-ers like to pray in asmall-group contextor lead prayer inworship. Some peo-ple are comfortable

with shorter periods of prayer; others preferto pray for extended periods.

While there is considerable varietyamong pray-ers; there appears to be lessvariety in an individual’s prayer life. It is notuncommon for us to learn a form of prayer(for example, seated, with head bowed,hands folded, and listening as the leaderprays) and use that prayer form exclusively.We tend to resist “stretching” our prayer for-mats—yet it is this “stretching” that pro-

motes growth. Using a variety of prayerformats

• allows us to grow spiritually and tobuild intimacy with Jesus.

• helps us avoid the overuse of a singleformat that produces a mechanicalprayer life.

• prevents boredom and keeps ourprayer lives fresh and vibrant.

• continues to make prayer relevant byallowing us to adapt as our needschange over time.

In order to grow, we need to be chal-lenged—perhaps prodded and pushed—tostep out in faith, to take a risk, to try some-thing new that jars our comfort zone.Perhaps this means praying aloud when wehave prayed only silently before; perhaps itmeans leading in prayer when previously wehave only participated; perhaps it meansspending an hour in prayer when we nor-mally spend only minutes; perhaps it meanspraying the Names of God when we areused to the A.C.T.S. format.

While most new prayer formats mayfeel uncomfortable at first, they can domuch to enhance our relationship withGod. And because different prayer formatswill be helpful to different people, refusingto try new ways to pray may mean we neverdiscover a prayer format that brings us morefully into God’s presence.

how to usethe formats

This section includes many formatsfor prayer. Some emphasize seeking God’spresence; some seek his power; some requestGod to act; some encourage simply spend-ing time with God. But whatever the natureof the formats, they are offered for one pur-pose: to help bring you into the presence ofGod.

These formats come with no guaran-tees: no format is helpful if it goes unused,and no one format is a prescription for inti-macy. Modify, adapt, and change the prayer

In talking to pastors andother leaders over theyears, I’ve always tried tostress that everyone is ledby God to pray in a littledifferent way. In fact, itoften seems one person’sapproach may evencontradict another person’sapproach.

—Warren Wiersbe

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formats to meet your personality, style, andspecific needs. While being comfortablewith a certain prayer may be an indicatorfrom the Holy Spirit that this is a good fit,it may also signal that there isn’t enough“stretch” in the format to bring growth.While it may take some time and experi-mentation to find additional prayer formatsthat are helpful, don’t lose patience. Thebenefits are worth the effort.

The explanations that follow are notintended to be exhaustive. They simplyintroduce the prayer format and provide suf-ficient information to begin using it. Inmany cases, additional references are offeredfor further study.

Each format is labeled by three indi-cators—setting, level, and time. The settingindicator acknowledges that some prayerformats fit better in one setting thananother. This guide recognizes five basic set-tings:

• individuals (for personal quiet times)

• families/households (for example,around the table after dinner)

• small groups (three to twelve peopleparticipating in a formal or informalsmall group, including smaller Sundayschool classes)

• large groups (thirteen or more people,including larger Sunday school classes)

• congregations (usually a larger group,particularly in a worship setting)

The level indicator recognizes thatsome prayer formats are simpler to use thanothers. Normally, pray-ers should begin sim-ply. When they are comfortable with theinitial formats, they should be challenged tostep up to an intermediate level prayer formatand ultimately to participate—at least peri-odically—in an intense prayer format. Theselevels do not imply that one prayer format ismore effective than another or that Godhears the higher level prayer first. But aspray-ers move from initial to intermediateto intense prayer formats they will noticegrowth in time commitment, personal vul-nerability, and dynamics not commonlyfound in our spiritual lives (for example,

reflection, contemplation, and spiritualconfrontation). The more intense theprayer format, the more the pray-er is askedto stretch.

Some prayer formats involve a greatertime commitment than others. The timeindicator suggests the average amount oftime necessary to use that particular prayerformat appropriately and is admittedly sub-jective. These time labels should never beused as limits or time constraints:

• short designates a prayer format thatcan be used effectively in less than tenminutes

• medium designates a prayer formatthat requires ten to thirty minutes

• long designates a period of thirty min-utes to one hour

• extended requires one or more hours

Remember, the format is simplydesigned as a conduit into the presence ofGod. The format of prayer should neverreplace the function of prayer.

prayer positionsPeople often ask, “What is the proper

physical position for prayer? Is one positionmore conducive to prayer? Which positionsdoes Scripture recommend?” While Scrip-ture does not appear to recommend a spe-cific prayer position, it does identify at leastfive distinct physical positions for prayer.They are (in alphabetical order):

• Bowing the head.

Then the man bowed down and wor-shiped the LORD, saying, “Praise be tothe LORD, the God of my master Abra-ham . . .” (Gen. 24:26).

Moses bowed to the ground at once andworshiped, “O Lord, if I have foundfavor in your eyes,” he said, “then let theLord go with us” (Ex. 34:8-9).

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• Kneeling.

The woman came and knelt before him.“Lord, help me!” she said (Matt.15:25).

[Jesus] withdrew about a stone’s throwbeyond them, knelt down and prayed(Luke 22:41).

• Prostrate.

Going a little further, [Jesus] fell with hisface to the ground and prayed . . .(Matt. 26:39; see also Mark 14:35).

• Standing.

[Solomon] stood and blessed the wholeassembly of Israel in a loud voice . . .(1 Kings 8:55).

The Pharisee stood up and prayed abouthimself: “God, I thank you that I am notlike other men. . . .” But the tax collec-tor stood at a distance. He would noteven look up to heaven, but beat hisbreast and said, “God, have mercy onme, a sinner” (Luke 18:11, 13).

• Raised hands.

When Solomon had finished theseprayers and supplications to the LORD, herose from before the altar of the LORD,where he had been kneeling with hishands spread out toward heaven (1 Kings8:54).

From these Scriptures and others wemay draw some basic conclusions:

• Prayer can be offered to God from anymeaningful position.

• The position taken in prayer oftenreflects the type of prayer beingoffered (for example, submission—prostrate; worship—standing). Thatis, the nonverbal (body language) ide-ally matches the verbal (prayer).

• The position of prayer may changeduring a single prayer.

• The pray-er’s position can enhancethe pray-er’s praying.

• Prayer is an active—not a passive—activity.

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This is probably one of the most-usedand best-known prayer formats. Theacronym serves as an outline for structuringprayer.

aThe first part of prayer is adoration.

We offer praise for who God is, for whatGod has done, and for what God has yet todo.

cAdoration is followed by confession.

We acknowledge our sins and our need forGod’s forgiveness. Our confession must beopen, honest, and specific.

tNext is thanksgiving. We thank God

for his goodness and for his answers to ourprayers.

sFinally comes supplication, where we

lay both the needs of others and our needsbefore God.

Sometimes an additional “S” is addedto the acronym, representing surrender—

waiting on the Lord and being willing toaccept his answers in obedience

Setting: individuals, families/households,small groups, large groups, congregations

Level: initial

Time: medium, long, extended

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Jesus calls us to agree in prayer (Matt.18:19). He wants us to pray “in agreement”with God’s Word and with other believersfor a specific, desired outcome.

Scripture doesn’t require that two ormore pray-ers agree about everything—butthat they agree about what they are prayingfor. So two pastors from different denomina-tions can pray together. A husband and awife—even after a heated argument—can

come together inprayer. Churchleaders, in spiteof disagreeingover some policyissues, can standside by side inprayer. Jesus callsus to pray aboutthose things weagree on, and toagree on thosethings we prayabout.

Praying inagreement, alsoknown as “pray-ing in accord,”allows the HolySpirit to intro-duce the themes.So this prayerformat requiresintensive andintuitive listen-ing to the Holy

Spirit. It requires those praying to praythrough the theme(s) together until theHoly Spirit moves them to another issue.When Christians pray together, the HolySpirit usually speaks the same thing to twoor more as they pray. Likewise, the Spiritnever contradicts himself.

While people praying in agreementnormally are together, it is not necessarythat they be in the same room—or even bepraying at the same time. One of the bestexamples of praying “in agreement” hasbeen the intercession focused on the 10/40Window (see p. 277 for a description).Intercessors around the world receive infor-mation on particular people groups andthen pray for these groups on their ownschedule. Although these pray-ers willnever be in the same place physically, theypray in agreement as they pray for the samethings.

Charles Finney, in his book Lectureson Revivals of Religion (Fleming H. Revell,1988), offers the following suggestions forpraying in agreement:

• Avoid long prayers.

The prayers should always be short.When individuals suffer themselves topray long, they forget where they are,that they are only the mouth of thecongregation, and that the congrega-tion cannot be expected to go alongand feel united in prayer if they arelong and tedious, and go all aroundthe world and pray for everything

Agreeing in Prayer

Nothing tends more to cementthe hearts of Christians thanpraying together. Never dothey love one another so wellas when they witness theoutpouring of each other’shearts in prayer. Theirspirituality begets a feeling ofunion and confidence, highlyimportant to the prosperity ofthe church. It is doubtfulwhether Christians can everbe otherwise than united, ifthey are in the habit ofpraying together. And wherethey have had hard feelingsand differences amongthemselves, they are all doneaway, by being united inprayer. The great object isgained, if you can bring themreally to unite in prayer. Ifthis can be done, thedifficulties vanish.—Charles Finney, Lectures on

Revivals of Religion, p. 117

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they can think of. Commonly thosewho pray long in meetings do it notbecause they have the spirit of prayer,but because they have it not.

• Avoid lectures or sermons.

Some pray out a whole system ofdivinity. Some preach, some exhortthe people, till everybody wishes theywould stop. They should keep it to thepoint, and pray for what they came topray for, and not pray all over the uni-verse.

• Focus on one thing at a time.

Everyone should pray for some oneobject. It is well for every individualto have one object for prayer. Two ormore may pray for the same thing.When one leads and the others fol-low, but are thinking of somethingelse, prayer is hindered. Their heartsdo not unite, do not say “Amen.”

• Follow the Holy Spirit’s leadings.

Great pains should be taken, both bythe leader and others, to watch care-fully the motions of the Spirit of God.Let them not pray without the Spirit,but follow the Spirit’s leadings. Besure not to quench the Spirit for thesake of praying according to the regu-lar custom. Avoid everything calcu-lated to divert attention away fromthe object.

• Pray aloud and clearly.

People cannot agree with what theydo not hear or what they do notunderstand. Avoid speaking intongues in this setting.

• Stay focused.

This prayer format requires checkingour personal thoughts and prayers,focusing on what is being prayed, andagreeing with the biblical prayers ofothers. Avoid changing the subjectunless you are convinced the Spirit isprompting you to do so and the previ-ous subject has been exhausted.

• Feel free to vocalize your agreement.

Praying in agreement can involvepraying the prayer with someone,praying for similar things immediatelyfollowing the initial prayer, or offeringyour personal “yes” or “amen” during(or at the conclusion of) the prayer.

Setting: families/households, small groups,large groups

Level: intermediate, intense

Time: medium, long

ExamplesMoms in Touch; Shield a Badge; Marchesfor Jesus; See You at the Pole; National Dayof Prayer

ResourceBrad Long and Doug McMurry, Prayer thatShapes the Future (Grand Rapids, MI:Zondervan, 1999).

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The Alphabet Prayer format can beused in a couple of ways.

praying throughthe alphabet

The leader begins with “A,” and par-ticipants say the attributes and/or names ofGod that begin with that letter using a sin-gle word or short phrase. This can be doneby simply naming the attribute (for exam-ple, “almighty”) or by saying a sentence ofthanksgiving (for example, “God, I thankyou for being an awesome God”). Peoplecan participate as often as they would likewith each letter. When the list is exhausted,the leader announces the next letter. It isnot necessary to do the entire alphabet atone sitting, nor is it necessary to go inalphabetical order. However, the most cre-ative and heartfelt responses often comeafter the familiar ones have been men-tioned. On one occasion, “Z” brought out,“God, you are the ‘Zamboni’ of my life.”

praying aroundthe circle

One person begins by thanking Godfor an attribute starting with “A,” the sec-ond person thanks God for an attributestarting with “B,” and so on. Continue to goaround the circle until the entire alphabet is

completed at least once. The letters “Q”and “X” may be omitted.

Here is a partial list of the attributesand/or names of God:

A—almighty, all-powerful, Adonai,Advocate, Alpha (and Omega), Ancient ofDays, Anchor, Author of Life

B—Beginning, Begotten Son, beloved,Branch, Bread of Life, Bridegroom, BrightMorning Star

C—caring, Cornerstone, Counselor, Crea-tor, Chosen

D—Deliverer, Door, Defender, DivinePhysician

E—eternal, everlasting, ever-present,Eternal Life, El Shaddai (The All-SufficientOne), El Elyon (God Most High), El Roi(The God Who Sees All), End

F—faithful, Friend, Finisher of our Faith,Firstborn of Creation, Forgiving Father,Fortress

G—good, gracious, Great Shepherd, guile-less, Guest, God

H—holy, helpful, Head of the Church/Body, Hope of Glory, humble, High Priest

I—influential, Immanuel, innocent, “IAm,” infinite, incomparable, inscrutable,invisible

J—jealous, just, joyful, Judge, Jesus, Jehovah(The Self-Existent One), Jehovah-Jireh(The Lord Is My Provider), Jehovah-

Alphabet Prayer

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Mekoddish (The Lord Is My Sanctifica-tion), Jehovah-Rapha (The Lord WhoHeals), Jehovah-Rohi (The Lord Is MyShepherd), Jehovah-Shalom (The Lord IsPeace), Jehovah-Tsidkenu (The Lord Is MyRighteousness), Jehovah-Shammah (TheLord Is Present with Me)

K—kind, King, King of Kings

L—loving, Lord, Lord of Lords, Lamb ofGod, Life, Light of the World, Living Water

M—merciful, Mighty God, Morning Star,majestic, Mediator, merciful, Most High,Messiah

N—Name above All Names, God of theNations

O—omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent,Omega

P—powerful, perfect, Physician, Prince ofPeace, Potentate, Personal God, Preserver,Prophet

Q—question-less

R—Redeemer, Ransom, Resurrection andLife, Righteous Judge, Rock, Refuge

S—Savior, Shepherd, Sinless One, spotless,Strength, Son of David, Son of God,Servant of God, Suffering Servant, Stone,Scapegoat, Sanctuary

T—Truth, Temple, Thunder, Tower,Treasure

U—Unspeakable Gift, unchangeable,unequal, unsearchable

V—Vine

W—wonderful, Way, Word, Word of Life,Wisdom

X—(e)xcellent

Y—Yahweh

Z—zealous

Setting: individuals, families/households,small groups, large groups, congregations

Level: initial, intermediate

Time: medium, long, extended