Preparing People to Join Your Prayer Ministry Efforts

So, you've planned your strategy for an effective corporate prayer life. Before implementing your plan, you need to prepare the people. God Himself provides us with the precedence for doing this.

He determined His course of action and sent the prophets to tell the people what to expect. God planned salvation through Jesus, prophesied about Him throughout the Old Testament, and yet still took the time for a special season of preparation before Jesus actually began His ministry here on earth. John the Baptist's primary mission in life was to "prepare the way for the Lord." Even in salvation, rarely do people accept Jesus as Savior when they hear about Him for the first time. Before that new life sprouts within them, their hearts are prepared by the planting and watering of the seed.

If God employs this measure with us to get us ready for a work He is about to do, certainly we should not skip this part of the process.

Preparing People to Join Your Prayer Ministry Efforts Should Include the Following Strategies:

(1) Verbally communicate about prayer.

  • teaching from the pulpit
  • teaching in classes and small groups
  • talking about it in one-on-one discipleship
  • suggesting or providing personal devotional guides on prayer
  • suggesting or providing books on prayer
  • writing about it in a newsletter, the bulletin, or other forms of communication
     

(2) Cultivate an atmosphere conducive to praying.

Be devoted to prayer. Make the elements vital to this kind of an atmosphere a normal part of people's experience within the Body.
 

(3) Show a life of prayer by example.

The impact of modeling an effective prayer life is seen in the life of Christ. After observing the priority and passion Jesus had in spending time with the Father, one of His disciples initiated a request to learn to pray. "One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray" (Lk. 11:1).
 

(4) Connect with people's motivations.

Motivation for praying, or anything we do, ought to be our love for God. Realistically, though, many Christians continue to be motivated more by that which is influenced by needs, background, or personality. Connect with their existing motivations and move them toward where they ought to be. Remember, though, that people are at different places so a one size fits all approach probably will not work.

The Prayer Ministry Manual takes a brief look at what might motivate people and how you can connect with that motivation. It also asks some questions about each of the above points for you to reflect on how well you are preparing people to join you in prayer.

How long the preparation process will take is going to depend on where you need to begin. Obviously you cannot wait until everyone is where they ought to be to start implementing your strategy. The key is to get people moving in that direction and when they get to where they ought to be, have something in place so all they must do is join in.

Share This with Others:

For More on what will help you develop and maintain an effective Prayer Ministry:

For More About Praying: Resources for Prayer Ministry