16 Characteristics of Effective Houses of Prayer

Use the suggested 16 steps to help you create a Great Commission Prayer Ministry in your church. Visit www.namb.net/prayer, www.lifeway-stores. com, www.imb.org/pray, and www.wmu.org  to identify resources to assist in training and in implementation of your ministry. Remember— all of this begins with prayer for God’s activity to be revealed. 

1. Select through prayer a church prayer ministry coordinator. (Job descriptions are included in the appendices of A Prayer Guide for Associations and Churches.) 

2. Select through prayer a prayer council (which includes the prayer coordinator) that will work together with church leadership to create a Great Commission prayer plan that is unique to your church. They will also provide evangelism and prayer training (see A Prayer Guide for Associations and Churches and If My People . . . Pray.) 

3. Ask the pastor to take the lead in promoting, teaching, modeling, and reminding the congregation of the importance of prayer. 

4. Encourage individual prayer by using the resources available. Use this opportunity to identify and recruit intercessors through prayer revivals, prayer retreats, special prayer commitment services, and conferences. 

5. Launch new prayer groups at work places, through the Sunday School, in small groups, and Discipleship Training. Encourage prayer groups to meet before and during the worship services. 

6. Provide a prayer room. Include resources to help people pray specifically( If My People . . . Pray and House of Prayer provide practical suggestions). Use Missions Mosaic for specific missionary birthday listings, also include IMB and NAMB PrayerGrams. 

7. Refocus the Wednesday night prayer meeting into a time to pray for believers, unbelievers, and individual spiritual growth. Provide nation-al and international prayer needs and opportunities through the International Mission Board (IMB) 1 800 395-PRAY, North American Mission Board (NAMB) 1 800 554-PRAY, and prayerlines. Subscribe to IMB’s “Wednesday Window on the World” (e-mail to prayeroffice@imb.org). Download requests from www.namb.net/prayer and www.imb.org/pray (see A House of Prayer).

8. Create prayer chains for affinity groups of people in your congregation and community. Affinity groups can be created by ethnic group, profession, or interest. Men, women, singles, youth, lawyers, construction workers, and so on can pray specifically and intentionally for others in their profession locally, nationally, and globally. Postal workers, police officers, and other service providers have found particular joy in praying for the homes on their routes. 

9. Develop prayer lists of lost people and prospects in the community. Pray for the names in the telephone book.

10. Participate in the annual Week of Prayer for North American Missions and the annual Week of Prayer for International Missions (see www.imb.org/pray and www.namb.net/prayer). 

11. Schedule a corporate prayer time during the worship service. Occasionally pray in groups, pray for missionaries, and make prayer a vital part of the worship service. 

12. Create a Lighthouse of Prayer in every community or on every street (see the resource pages for several Lighthouse resources). 

13. Schedule prayer journeys for on-site prayer with as many groups as possible and as often as possible (see Taking Prayer to the Streets for complete instructions). 

14. Plan a mission trip that includes a prayer journey (see Follow Me for a Bible study and devotional on prayerwalking/prayer journeys). 

15. Partner with associational, state, and other church prayer coordinators to calendar participation in community, associational, state, national, and international prayer initiatives for evangelization and awakening (such as the National Day of Prayer, Day of Prayer for Revival and Spiritual Awakening and International Day of Prayer and Fasting for World Evangelization and Awakening). 

16. Adopt one of the lost people groups of the world. Pray for direct evangelistic involvement. Call the International Prayer Strategy office at 1 888 462-7729.