HOW TO START A PRAYER MINISTRY
BY T. F. TENNEY

What is a Prayer Ministry?
Prayer Ministry is a broad term that encompasses many different organized activities, but the best general description used is getting serious about prayer.

Why get serious about Prayer?
One study has shown that the average professing Christian spends less than 2 minutes a day in prayer. Another study reported that 28% of church leaders spent less than 10 minutes a day in prayer.

How to Get Started
PRAY – The proper place to begin anything in the church is in prayer, and prayer ministries are no exception. Pray often, pray regularly, and pray with others who understand the need for prayer.

Pastor and Staff Support
No ministry within a congregation is likely to survive without the genuine endorsement of the Pastor, and a prayer ministry is no exception.

Laity led prayer ministry.
Even if a congregation is large enough to add a Prayer Director to their full time staff, the prayer ministry is likely to be led by someone who is not an ordained minister. The selection of a leader is very important and can be a critical turning point even before the ministry has began. The person must have the gift of leadership. They should have the gift of intercession. Seek this person in prayer.

Some Practical Tips

Beware of Satan
For all the reasons to start a prayer ministry, and for all the reasons we wish to pray more and better, and wish others to also pray, Satan will oppose us. You can rest assured that if you are making progress, he will increase his attempts to distract you. It is crucial that you pray for protection. That you pray for your family, and those dose to you. That you pray for others who are involved in building a prayer ministry. Prayer will cause Satan concern, and prayer is our best defense. Church work is no threat to Satan, but the work of the Church is deadly to his goals and plans. Through Prayer we will advance the work of the Church. Satan cannot stop prayer, so he will attempt to stop the prayer,

Don’t Organize God out of your Ministry
Leave room for Gods hand in all that you do, but don’t sit around doing nothing. If you have done the things above, you will already have assembled a group of like minded Christians. If you meet regularly to
pray for your congregation, its needs, and the needs of it members, then you have already, successfully, implemented a very important prayer ministry.

Teach Prayer
This may include a special class for your Prayer leadership team or a Sunday school class for adults as well as one for children. Prayer must be taught from the pulpit to reach a segment who will attend only
Sunday worship services.

Don’t start too many things at once
People will be overwhelmed by too many changes and it will stress your resources as well. It is much better to begin one or two new things at a time and allow them to become established before adding another
activity.

Build Leaders
One person cannot effectively run a multifaceted ministry. The leader should recruit, encourage, mentor, and DELEGATE. You will build more leaders by having a different person in charge of each activity, and
you are not as likely to bum anyone out. By giving a person ownership of an activity, they will generally do a better job.

Report what you are doing
A goal should be for prayer to become so pervasive in the activities of the congregation and of its members, that there is no need for a separate advocate. People aren’t going to get excited about something they don’t know about Use available avenues to tell the staff, leaders, and congregation as a whole of what the Lord is doing within your midst. It’s much more fun to be excited when you can share it with others.

Allow for a variety of commitment in your activities Much has been written about the shift in the population. One trait consistently brought to the front, is that people are less willing to commit for long periods. There are a growing number of people who will not make long term commitments to anything. Keep this in mind as you implement activities. Keep a mix of things that allow a short term commitment or even no commitment in addition to those things that require a longer term. There are people who will make

ONE commitment for ONE WEEK 52 times in a row, but they would not consider making a commitment for a year to the same activity. Not all are at the same point of spiritual maturity, and not all will grow at
the same rate, or even with the same stimulus. This may be an obvious point; it is very easy for us to forget In forgetting we open ourselves to the pitfall of narrowing the scope of our ministry, in falling prey to pride, and self-righteousness. This can create opposition to our ministry and contention in our congregation.

THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS PUBLISHED BY T. F. TENNEY. THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY & RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.