Blog Home » Church Life » Prayer » Guidelines for Developing a Prayer Ministry in Your Church

Guidelines for Developing a Prayer Ministry in Your Church

Share:

Prayer Ministry ManualIf you’ve come here for a 1-2-3 step plan to develop a prayer ministry in your church, you might be disappointed. We can provide general guidance on factors that will make for a more effective prayer ministry but the specifics depend on your church. Where you begin depends on a number of factors. (The link above will take you to the Prayer Ministry training section on the site. To get that content plus more in document form, click on the image cover.)

Questions to Get You Started on a Prayer Ministry Tailored to Your Church

Where do people stand in terms of the value and need for prayer?

You may need to provide some initial instruction or training about prayer to lay the groundwork if people don’t have that sense. Use Sunday School classes, small groups, and sermons to teach about prayer. Don’t forget about the more informal training that comes from providing an example, testimonies of how God answers prayers, little blurbs in bulletins, newsletter, social media feeds, etc. You might suggest helpful resources about praying like books or articles. — To build a culture of prayer in a church takes a consistent, regular emphasis on prayer as well as actually turning to God in prayer at every turn.

If your church already seems to have a culture of prayer, then it may just be a matter of putting a structure in place that works for them. Questions that follow will help you think through a plan tailored to your church.

How many people are truly interested in being a part of a prayer team?

While you probably desire a big turnout, you may need to start with 2-3 people, while laying the groundwork in others. Rather than let that get you discouraged, remember God’s promise that where two or three are gathered in His name, He is there (Matt. 18:20). The excitement of meeting with God in those who come could be a contagion for others to join.

What are the logistics you need to put in place before you begin such a ministry?

While it is often good to connect meeting to pray to a time people are already at church, like before or at the end of a service, rather than making them come out special, it does present some challenges. You need to think that through in order to remove obstacles people might have in attending. For example, depending on the time your worship service ends, you may run into the lunch hour. Depending on the people who stay, you may have childcare issues. The more you think through and plan for these obstacles, the better you will be able to meet with people’s excuses. If you don’t work through these issues ahead of time and people come but get discouraged, you may find it harder to get them out in the future.

How will you structure the meeting?

In some churches a rigid, formal approach may not work. In other churches a more spontaneous approach may not work. Think of the traditions of your church. While you do want to stretch people, taking them beyond where they are in their prayer life, you don’t want to frustrate them or scare them away. Begin where people are and slowly take them beyond. Regardless of the structure, make it worth their while to be there. Make the real focus on meeting with God.

What will you pray about? How will you determine what to pray about?

Perhaps there are specifics you sense this meeting should focus on, growing out of the needs at your church. If you are going to have a pre-planned agenda, be clear with people about the purpose of the prayer time. If people come thinking you are going to pray for their personal needs and you never get around to it, they may soon stop attending. If you are going to open it for personal requests, guard against spending the majority of time taking requests with little time left for praying.

Think through these questions with your church in mind. While you can learn from what others do, begin with where your people are and go from there.

Share:

11 Replies to “Guidelines for Developing a Prayer Ministry in Your Church”

    • I’m glad you have found it helpful, Noberth. Sometimes coming up with a plan is as simple as asking the right kinds of questions, and trusting God to help you come to the right answers.

  1. I have started a prayer ministry department at my church looking for advice of how to operate this department. I went searching in the internet and found many information about what others have done in their church especially the Seventh Day Adventist Church. I have prayerfully asked God for His guidance and has led me to some information which will help me start up a prayer ministry department at my local church. thanks.

    • How good, Inderlyn jean Oli, that you have found the material helpful for starting a prayer ministry in your church. Certainly do learn from what others are doing but most importantly seek God’s wisdom and discernment for what to do in your specific setting. It might sound odd, but invest sufficient prayer into the prayer ministry to help ensure you are first and foremost listening to His desire for it in your church. You may also find some help in this list of resources: Prayer Resources

    • yes thanks for the info. I need to prepare objectives, goals, and strategies for the prayer ministry of our church.

          • Hello, Emmanuel Zaki. You absolutely would not need to go to seminary before becoming effective in prayer ministry. I would say the main requirement to make you most effective in leading others in prayer ministry is that you have a consistent prayer life yourself that’s based in the truth of God’s Word. This is certainly an area of the Christian life that we best lead by example. Think about when Jesus lived on earth. The disciples saw Jesus praying and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Lk. 11:1)

  2. i have been tasked to initiate/lead a prayer ministry in my church and I have found this information to be very helpful. Thank you

Leave a Reply to Ministry Tools Resource Center Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published but may be used to contact you of any responses to your comment. Spam, requests for free material, and promotional info will not be posted; nor will a response be forthcoming. Required fields are marked *

*