For years I’ve been in a prayer group at my church. I’m sorry to say that it’s the only group that’s been intentional about meeting to pray on a regular basis. We have another group, the Mustard Seeds who offer a monthly prayer list and the Mustard Seed prayers commit to praying for those on the list from home.
I once worked at our church and was unhappy with the small amount of prayer that was actually done behind the scenes. I tried to make a difference, but didn’t get very far.
I eventually chose to stop working at the church. For a couple years, I had one foot out the door, but could never make a clean cut. I knew and loved too many of the people. That’s what kept me from leaving.
Meanwhile, while sorta church home shopping, I became more intentional about my own prayer life and chose to take time every morning to sit at the kitchen table with my journal, prayer folder, Bible, and Jesus. It’s served me well. I mean, it doesn’t get any better than checking in with my best friend every morning to evaluate the prior day and figure out what to do with the new one.
All the while, our prayer group has continued to pray. We branched out and took a class together with a non-denominational group just to switch things up a bit. We email one another with prayer requests, touch base by phone, support one another’s families, and just totally enjoy being sisters in Christ.
A few months ago, one of my prayer buddies and I landed in the same book study group with our church. At the final meeting, we were asked what we thought we should do for the good of the church as an extension of the book study. We suggested having a prayer time between services on Sundays so we could cover the leadership, ministries, members, etc. in prayer.
And lo and behold, our pastor agreed. My prayer buddy and I are now leading our informal prayer service. The first Sunday it was just us. We were cool with that. It gave is a chance to do a dry run without anyone there. Yesterday, one person attended who totally enjoyed her time. As you can tell, we aren’t into numbers. We’re just praying that those who feel moved to be more prayerful will join us. Would you mind saying a prayer for the same?
What are the prayer practices of your church family?
4 Comments
One of my favorite things to do at my church is our monthly prayer gatherings. I’d say it’s a cross between contemplative and supplication. We share a meal together, then move to a different room (we meet at someone’s house). Then we start off with a scripture passage then spend about 20 minutes in silent prayer, then just more or less spontaneous prayer for requests. There’s really no sharing of requests beforehand, except for one or two big things that might be going on, and I kind of like that. Everyone just jumps in and prays for whatever and whoever is on their hearts. There is usually only about 6 or 7 of us, but then there’s usually not more than 60 adults at church on Sundays so that’s pretty good, I’d say. I just am more and more convinced of the importance of prayer. I hope you are blessed by your group at church and that it grows, both in depth and number.
Our church has several opportunities for prayer, both corporatley and individually. Weekly prayer list, we can sign up for a day of the month where we commit to praying for leadership and pastoral staff, each Sunday morning there is a prayer meeting for the services for the day, and monthly there is a Sunday night prayer meeting on various themes (abortion, persecuted church, etc). We also have one Adult Bible Fellowship who’s primary focus is prayer. Lots of opportunities to fit into each persons schedule and desire.
Karin
Dianne, thanks for responding. And thanks for sharing your prayer format. I appreciate the time for silence. I treminds me we need to incorporate a little longer time for that.
How do you like being in a small church?
Karin, good for you. Seems like you are steeped in prayer, which is something I feel our church family moving towards. Has this grown through the years, or has it always been this way?
Thanks for sharing. I’m really curious to learn what others are doing about prayer. This post and your responses have cuased me to consider calling local churches to see what opportunities they offer. I think it might be fun to try to incorporate different ways for people to be involved.