LEADING THE CHURCH TO PRAY

Thomas D. Kinnan

"What can I do to mobilize prayer in my church?"

This question grew stronger and more insistent for me a few years ago. It wasn't that I or the congregation needed to be convinced of prayer's value. We had all heard-I had often preached-how essential prayer is to Christian living. But we rarely prayed in any powerful, consistent, or satisfying way.

What we needed was a specific way to actually begin praying, both individually and as a church. We hungered for a hands-on approach that would help make prayer a natural part of our church life.

I told my people, "My dream for this church is to see you praying for one another after every service, asking me to pray for you, even praying for one another over the phone if necessary."

Our dream eventually crystallized in a program we developed called PRAYER (People Responsive and Yielded Experiencing Results). Since its inception more than three years ago, this simple approach has strengthened the people and ...