| 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. Church leaders have a key role in developing the
capacity of the church for prayer. This may be in an un-structured way, as long as
unstructured doesn't mean non-existent! Just as adding some structure to our prayer
times can bring a benefit, 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.
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An
example of a Prayer Strategy Bingham
Community Church 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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