How to Start Adventist Prayer Ministry
When people pray, things happen! With the exception of God’s grace, prayer is the most abundant—and underused—resource available to the church. When a church emphasizes prayer, it grows.
“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7, 8).
Prayer is a resource that God has made available to the church at all times. Organized prayer ministries seek to help the church and its members make use of this resource to provide strength, guidance, and blessings to the church staff and members, the community, and the world.
“You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.” --A.J. Gordon
Getting Started in Adventist Prayer Ministry
Steps to Starting a Prayer Ministry
1. Pray and Seek God's Plan! - Your most important calling as a prayer leader is to pray. Take time to nurture your personal prayer life and pray with others. Ask God reveal His plans and build a prayer team around you. Take time to review the resources on growing your personal prayer life.
2. Discover the Need - A prayer ministry is most valuable when it is intimately connected with the vision of the church. Schedule time with church leadership to learn their vision for prayer ministry and how they see it supporting the other ministries of the church. This job description can be helpful.
2. Explore Resources - Take time to familiarize yourself with proven prayer ministry strategies. You'll find many of them on this website. This Manual on Building a Vibrant Prayer Ministry by veteran prayer leaders, Jansen and Gloria Trotman, is a good place to start. These lists of prayer ministry ideas and recommended resources are also helpful for further study.
3. Develop a Plan for Prayer Ministry - You'll need to develop a plan of action for prayer ministry so that your church can become a House of Prayer where every aspect of church life is saturated with prayer. It doesn't have to be fancy, but it will help to be intentional about what you are doing in prayer ministry.
4. Get Started! - It is more important to start than to have an elaborate plan in place but never begin. So start small, start simple, and start soon. God will guide you as you move forward.