by Wayne Dinsbeer
No true follower of Christ, especially a leader of a ministry, would ever discount the validity and power of Prayer in the life of a Christian. Great sermons have been preached and Bible Studies taught about the importance and priority of prayer in our lives. We understand the admonition to pray without ceasing and the promise of fervent prayer avails much.
So why is it that most churches fail to have a systematic structure and plan for organized prayer in the church or ministry? It is very common for ministries to have structured, organized strategies for Bible Study, Discipleship, and Outreach. But Prayer is an “On Your Own” thing.
Whenever Here2There is asked to have a part in the work of a church our first order of business is the establishment of a concerted prayer effort for whatever the purpose is for our participation. A church in Nolensville, Tenn. asked us to come help them establish a Missions component in their church. We told the Pastor we would organize a Prayer Team ministry and also a Missions Team to get this path started.
The first visit to this church we met with a few selected leaders the pastor had invited to an introduction of H2T dinner at his home. As we shared our plan to start with the development of a Prayer Team and Missions Team present that night were two members who had a burden, passion, and experience leading both of these areas in previous churches. God immediately began to work as these two took charge with our training, much to the Pastors surprise.
Within 12 months this church took six members to Nicaragua on a Short Term Journey and identified their first mission work to support.
This was not the work of Here2There. It was the work of the Lord as intentional Prayer was organized in this church and as a Missions Team targeted a strategy and path to get started.
At Here2There one of our core values is that “Nothing Happens Without Prayer”. Another small congregation desired a thriving ministry. H2T helped them establish an organized Prayer Team Ministry. Two leaders were trained. A core team of 12 members were recruited and trained. Within a year this grew to 36 trained members of the Prayer Team. Their work has revolutionized this church and added a new spark of God’s presence and power to each service.
Intentional Prayer is so vital to the development, planning, implementation, and function of any and all parts of the ministry of the church or mission. Failing to invite members to systematically lift up to the Father any area of the work is leaving out a most important ingredient to the strategy mix. This week we will focus on this most important part of Strategy – PRAYER.
