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In every church there are people who are gifted for intercession. It is important to identify who these people are and begin to equip and encourage them to take their place in the prayer ministry. Intercessors are able to press through in prayer in situations where many will just give up. They are instrumental in under girding the ministry of prayer as well as in imparting their understanding of prevailing in prayer to those just discovering prayer in their own lives.

It may be helpful to encourage the entire congregation to take part in a Spiritual Assessment Inventory. There are many of these tools available for churches now. These simple tests can help people determine what their primary spiritual gifts are. It will also help point out those who are already moving in the area of intercession. The training and cultivation of intercessors will be near the top of the Prayer Coordinator’s duties. The Spiritual Gifts inventories will also be helpful in identifying people to plug into other prayer ministry areas.

An excellent starting point for many people will be a willingness to take and pray over a prayer card. These cards can be easily produced on a computer and are distributed weekly or monthly. They can be given out to everyone in the church or to those who have signed up specifically for the “prayer card ministry”. The possibilities for prayer focus cards are endless. Cards can be developed for use throughout the year on topics such as:

How to pray for your pastor
How to pray for your church
How to pray for your children
How to pray for your spouse
How to pray for political leaders
How to pray for missionaries
How to bray for business owners
How to pray for persecuted Christians

People who find it difficult to pray for more than five or ten minutes without getting sidetracked will find prayer cards a very effective prayer tool.

It is also important to have a system in place that will allow urgent prayer needs to be addressed in a timely fashion. “Prayer, like almost everything else, has gone ‘high-tech.’ The Internet provides a fast and reliable way to exchange prayer requests and prayer needs with other intercessors.” This type of prayer can be easily set-up by asking for all those interested to write down their e-mail addresses and then they can be stored on a mailing list. When a need is brought to the attention of the church, one e-mail can be sent to all those on the list at the same time.

A telephone prayer chain can also be fairly easily implemented into the church by organizing the people who are willing to receive and then forward on phone call prayer requests to those down the line on their chain. This allows for prayer requests to reach a lot of people with a minimum of effort. “The word ‘chain’ suggests one person linked to another, who is linked to another, and so on. This structure is often used in churches, though it is susceptible to the problem of weak links. The proverb ‘A chain is only as strong as its weakest link’ is often true here. To avoid the problem of weak links, some prayer chains are actually structures more like inverted pyramids, with a smaller number of committed people making many of the calls.”

Stephen Lawes is a Pastor who also offers Church Growth Consulting to Pastors and Ministry Leaders in order to promote Church Growth.

There is perhaps no more important a ministry in the Church than that of prayer. The Church cannot rely on programs, marketing strategies, or slick presentations in order to grow and complete the mission given to it. The Church needs the power and presence and direction of the Living God. The Scriptures are replete with instances demonstrating the importance of prayer. Jesus made clear the importance of prayer in the Church when he said in Matthew 21:13:

“It is written,” he said to them,” `My
house will be called a house of prayer,
‘but you are making it a `den of robbers.’”

In order to faithfully exercise the mission given the Church to be a house prayer there must be an effective fully functioning prayer ministry established in each congregation.

This ministry needs to honored and recognized by the pastor and leaders of the church. Vital to the success of a healthy prayer ministry is the appointing of a prayer coordinator to oversee and direct the ministry. A prayer room, an area set aside for the purpose of prayer is another important part of an effective prayer ministry.

It is important to find out who the intercessors in each group are and make sure that they are equipped and encouraged for ministry. It is then possible to begin to include virtually everyone in the church in some form of prayer ministry. Weekly or monthly prayer cards can be sent out. Teams of people to pray during the services can be established. People that pray specifically for the Pastors and leaders of the church can be raised up. Prayer-chains can be developed for phone calls as well as by e-mail. Ministry teams can be trained to effectively pray for those in need at each service.

The list of prayer opportunities is as limitless as the directions that God gives us. God’s leading and direction is of course the place where all things should start. Establishing a prayer ministry must start by diligently seeking out the Lord in prayer for His will, His timing, and His direction.

Once the realization of the importance of establishing a prayer ministry hits home it may be our first response to jump in and try and organize this ministry into existence. This approach is usually fatal just as starting any ministry in this fashion would be. The first thing that must take place is prayer. “We might be tempted, if we are interested in establishing a prayer ministry in our church, to start out by setting up a study group or a prayer chain or a team of callers to visit hospitalized and homebound members. But there is perhaps no ministry that requires a more carefully laid foundation than prayer ministry. Prayer ministry grows out of the heart of our relationship with God. So we need to begin there.”

The understanding of everything being birthed in prayer became real to me in an experience I had in 1995. After years of feeling a stirring to go to a restricted country for some short term missionary work the doors had finally opened and I find myself in a hotel lobby of that country. I had traveled there with a friend who oversaw all of the mission work my denomination was doing worldwide. I assumed that he would have a plan and schedule for us to follow for our days in country. When I asked him what the plan was for the day he said, “I thought we would just sit here and pray until the Lord gave us some direction.” Those were the last words I was expecting. I was used to planning and scheduling and organizing but I had forgotten the most important thing.

Prayer must be at the start of everything. As we prayed that day the Lord answered and began an incredible string of divine appointments that continues to this day. Establishing a prayer ministry has to start with prayer as well. The pastor and a few key leaders need to begin the process by diligently seeking out the Lord for His answers. There is no need to rush, as ultimately seeking the Lord on behalf of the prayer ministry is the beginning of the prayer ministry. It is the first phase of many to come. Praying and waiting and listening for the Lord will make His will for each prayer ministry known. He may reveal a great deal of His plan or He may only reveal the next phase but after hearing from the Lord a plan will begin to take shape.

Stephen Lawes is a Pastor who also offers Church Growth Consulting to Pastors and Ministry Leaders in order to promote Church Growth.

The people who constitute the Church are very observant. If the pastors and leaders only give lip service to something as being important and don’t actually get involved, the people pick up those cues and act accordingly. For the ministry of prayer to be effective, the leadership has to honor it, endorse it, and participate in it. “A congregation will follow the example of its praying leaders. Leaders strongly committed to prayer will convey more to their congregation about the power and reality of prayer then sermons, articles, or special speakers will. Regular and devoted prayer is one very specific way to carry out the elders’ and deacons’ mandate to set an example of godliness for the congregation.” While it is easy to get overwhelmed with the business of the church today, effective leadership requires long times in prayer. The pastor needs to model an effective prayer life in front of the people under his care. If it’s not important to the pastor, it won’t be to the rest of the congregation either.

The pastor also needs to preach and teach regularly on the importance of prayer and present working models of prayer to the church. Keeping this powerful ministry in the forefront of the church is necessary for its success. While the pastor’s involvement is a key issue in the effective prayer ministry, it is also a reality that the full scope and responsibility cannot rest entirely on the Pastor. With the tremendous workload most pastors already carry, adding another ministry, no matter how important is too much. This is where the appointing of a Prayer Coordinator becomes a critical factor in the process. The person(s) appointed to this position should possess the following qualities:

a strong personal prayer life

spiritual maturity

gifts to organize, encourage, and give leadership in prayer (the gifts of administration, communication, leadership)

a good reputation in the congregation and the confident approval of church leaders

enough time to attend key prayer events in the church and the community

In most churches, the candidate for this position is already there. As you pray for the Lord’s leading ask Him to show you who the candidates are. Perhaps they will be semi-retired or at a place in their lives where they are not overwhelmed and will be able to invest the time required to coordinate this ministry. Depending on the size of the church it may be possible to budget a small salary for the prayer coordinator that grows along with the church and the prayer ministry. Seeing this position as one that requires a designated staff position will also add credibility to the ministry of prayer.

Another way of establishing the importance of the prayer ministry is by setting up a place designated for prayer. A designated prayer room is an essential ministry for any praying church. A Prayer Room should be set up and maintained in order to facilitate a wide variety of prayer activities. They need to be in a place that offers privacy. In our church we converted a classroom that was next to the sanctuary into our prayer room. It is important that the prayer room is comfortable and allows for not only sitting but also kneeling and even the opportunity to be prostrate on the floor. Prayer rooms also need to be set up to be inspirational and informative. Certain areas of the room can have different prayer focuses. It is possible to use bulletin boards and place different types of prayer needs on different boards. It can be helpful to provide some soft background piano or acoustic worship music as well. In order to give the prayer room an even greater world perspective computer terminals hooked to the Internet can be used to access web sites devoted to worldwide prayer.

Stephen Lawes is a Pastor who also offers Church Growth Consulting to Pastors and Ministry Leaders in order to promote Church Growth.

One of the most significant ministries that can be developed is that of a prayer shield or Pastors Intercessory Team (P.I.T. Crew). This ministry is developed to encourage the congregation to begin to intercede on a daily basis for their pastor and other leaders in the church. C. Peter Wagner speaks of three basic levels of intercessors for leaders:

“Level Three intercessors have a distant relationship with the leader. In some cases, these intercessors have never met the person(s) they are praying for. For example, many people have prayed for Billy Graham on a daily basis and yet have never met him; many others pray for missionaries they have never met.

Level Two intercessors have a casual relationship with the leader. There is some regular two-way contact, although it may not be one-on-one, intensive, or sustained over any length of time. This may include, for example, Sunday morning worship attendees who pray for their Pastor.

Level One intercessors have a very close relationship with the person they are praying for, which allows them to pray for items that are personal and possibly confidential. These people have personal contact on a regular basis.”

All the people who participate in this ministry need to have a love for their pastor, a desire to be used by God, and either have a passion for or the gift of intercession.

There is also a tremendous need for a team of intercessors to gather in the prayer room and intercede while the service is going on. Charles Spurgeon had large groups of intercessors praying in a basement room under his pulpit in each service while he preached. He called it his divine ‘furnace room. This type of prayer allows for a deeper impact of the message on those who are listening. The intercessors pray for people to be open to hear and receive, for people to respond to the message and come to Christ, and to come against any activities of the evil one during the service.

The prayer ministry team consists of men and women who are available to pray for people who come forward for prayer at each service. This type of ministry is as important as the time devoted to worship and the time in the Word. This team is set up so that the main team, which consists of eight to fourteen people, is set up in teams of two. Each team should consist of a man and a woman in order to be sensitive to the feelings of people being prayed for. Ministry team members need to have strong personal prayer lives, spiritual maturity, and a love for people. There is also a need for training for prayer team members who will be dealing with a wide variety of situations and problems. This training needs to be provided by the pastor so that all those praying are on the same page during prayer times. John Wimber in his book “Power Healing” provides an excellent model for training called the Five Step Healing Model. This model helps the ministry team members discern what and how to pray and provides for post prayer instruction.

This plan has been a work in progress in my own church. We have been using these thoughts and ideas as our blueprint for establishing a prayer ministry. The results to date have been exciting and encouraging for the entire congregation. My hope is to continue to seek after the Lord for vision and insight and to continue to implement new prayer ideas and ministries as the Lord leads. It is our hearts desire to truly become a House of Prayer and continue to experience real church growth.

Stephen Lawes is a Pastor who also offers Church Growth Consulting to Pastors and Ministry Leaders in order to promote Church Growth.

The rosary has a long and honored tradition and its present form it can be dated back to the last 14th century. The present day rosary seems to have been the work of the Dominican fathers however there is parts that actually date back to St. Dominic, the founder of the Dominican order.

St. Dominic was handed the method to pray the Rosary directly from The Blessed mother. And according to Alan de la Roche St. Dominic revived the rosary on this revelation. At the time St. Dominic was fighting the Albigensians.

They were a sect that lived in the south of France in the 12th and 13th centuries. They mostly were a group that created what they called heresies. They believed in two opposing .God. principles, one that was good one that was bad. They also did not think that the Church had any authority. The Albigensians also rejected the premise of sacraments and a sacramental church. And one of their most radical beliefs was there was no resurrection of the body and they did not condone marriage. St. Dominic was trying to use the rosary as away to confront the heredities and bring the Albigensians back to the church.

The Church in the early days was often threaded by these heresies. And the Church would assemble Councils to help deal with these wrong believe. But the Albigensians grew in popularity which forced the church to send in missionaries St Dominic was one of the missionaries to help deal with this and get this group back on track. He did have some success but the Crusades came. This helped break the group down even farther.

There have been many who often try to minimize St. Dominic.s role in the formation of the modern rosary and place the formation of the modern rosary into the earlier times. But even without placing the rosary in the 12th century it has a long rich history in the church for its devotion to Mary and its meditative properties.

When trying to trace the history of the rosary it is difficult. There is very minimal documentation on the rosary to show when it began or how it began. Through the ages though the each Pope has always advocated its use and written about it favorably. But despite the lacking documentation on it, there is no doubt of the Dominican influence and devotion to the rosary. They have long advocated the recitation of the Hail Mary and the meditation of the events of Jesus life.

It was thought that back in the 12th century the original rosary contained 150 prayers, initially consistent with the 150 Psalms the residents of a town could hear the monasteries pray. Because only a select few could read they would mimic what they would hear using initially the .Our Father. as its base. It then moved to the Hail Mary.s in 3 groups of fifty and was assigned what we know as the Joyful, the Sorrowful and the Glorious Mysteries or events in Christ.s life.

Eventually the beads were assigned the actual Hail Mary prayer we pray today, making it that by the 16th century the Rosary is what we know it to be today with the one addendum of Pope John Paul II making the last change adding the Luminous Mysteries to the fold on the anniversary of his 25th year of being Pope.

Beth carries many Lenten Supplies including many Rosaries.

The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults or RCIA is something you may see advertised in your parish bulletin but not really know something about. You may be asked to be a sponsor but not really know what it means or if you can even participate in the process. But over the course of the last 30 years the RCIA programs, has gone though a major transformation that in the end returns the process to the roots of the early church even though it is still in its infancy relatively speaking. Its seems to call a ritual that is 2000 years old in its infancy but it wasn.t until Vatican II did the church return back to its roots in how it brings a person wishing to become Catholic, or an unbaptized person who wishes to be baptized Catholic, into the church.

Approximately 10 years ago the United States Bishops mandated that this new way to bringing adults and children older than 4 into the church be implemented in all United States parishes. The RCIA label was assigned when they passed this mandate. In 2000, the Bishops decided to re-evaluate again. They found that RCIA process was working in some places but nonexistent in others. They felt it was important for the congregation to participate in the process and just as important as the person that was coming into the church. What is most interesting about this is the bishops so much believed in this process that they said even though there were some parishes without a process in place, they said that they were not going change the process because it was that important.

The bishops strongly believed that this process can renew parish life. RCIA is a journey and is often within the groups are referred to as one. It is also a journey of conversion for the parish as well. The parish is involved in the process now and they should be welcoming these candidates and catechumens/elect into the church. The congregation participates in the rights of ignition that the candidates and catechumens walk though.

If the RCIA program is run well it can be a great experience for the whole parish as they watch and help walk with the new converts on their journey. They help as sponsors. They also may be asked to pray for them. And if asked they may be faced with questions from them. They may be asked to share their faith in witnessing about it. The support the parish offers to their coverts is very similar to the early church and in part why the bishops want to stick with this process. As the congregation walks with the converts they are also renewing their own faith and reinforcing their own conversion.

The conversion to Jesus Christ is a lifelong process and the RCIA is a wonderful reminder to all members of the parish. It gives opportunity to reflect on the vows made in Baptism and renew those promises. This recommits each member of the congregation to Jesus and makes each one a far better witness to Christ.s teachings.

Beth carries many Lenten Supplies including many RCIA Gifts.