Providing a Framework for Prayer
Although prayer should be a natural and frequent part of
every Christian's daily routine, it can easily get neglected. Prayer needs nurturing and
encouraging if we are to spend quality time with God regularly, as individuals and
together with other Christians. Leaders have a critical role in developing the capacity of
the church for prayer. This may be in an un-structured way, which is fine, as long as
unstructured doesn't mean non-existent! Just as prayer itself can benefit from some
structure, so too can the development of the prayer life of a church through a prayer
strategy.
A Prayer Strategy is typically a short document, possibly only with a few bullet points,
that outlines how a church plans to develop its prayer life, and ensure that prayer needs
are adequately covered. It is best formed by a church council or leadership team, arising
from a review of the prayer life of the church. Like any strategy, it will need to have
people identified who will be responsible for ensuring that required action happens.
A review of the prayer life of a church is an excellent way
of beginning the process of developing such a strategy - by examining what is happening,
it is possible to identify ways of encouraging further growth in what is already going on,
and also spotting the "gaps". |
An example of a Prayer Strategy
St.Ethelburga's
Prayer Plan : We value prayer highly, and plan :
To increase our prayer time - by holding a weekly prayer group, by encouraging
all our housegroups to include some time in prayer at each meeting, and by encouraging
people to have a daily personal quiet time with God.
To pray for our leaders, our mission and ministry by giving prayer needs in each Sunday's
newsletter and by holding quarterly half day prayer meetings.
To provide regular teaching on prayer on Sunday mornings.
To respond quickly to urgent prayer requests from church members via a prayer team
co-ordinator, available 24 hrs a day, who will pass such requests onto our prayer network.
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