Archive: How to start a Prayer Room in Your Church

by Jim Leggett

More than two years ago, Good News ran an article by Terry Teykl entitled, “Why You Should Start A Prayer Room.” The article motivated me to start a prayer room in my church of about 100 worshippers (average attendance). Since then, six to twelve faithful intercessors have logged in more than 300 hours of prayer and have recorded roughly 300 answered prayers (interesting correlation!).

I believe our story provides the sequel to Terry’s motivational article. Consider the six steps that we took in starting a prayer room ministry.

STEP ONE: SECURE THE BLESSING OF YOUR PASTOR

There is a spiritual principle of authority here that needs to be respected. No pastor in his or her right mind would refuse a humble offer to have someone else do the work necessary to start a prayer room ministry in the church. Nevertheless, this blessing needs to be secured first.

In my case, I was the pastor. However, since then, I have initiated prayer ministries at a district and a conference level and each time I have sought the blessing of the person in proper authority. No one has yet refused. In fact, those I have consulted gave me ideas I never would have thought of on my own, and I have strengthened relationships with those in authority.

STEP TWO: SECURE A ROOM

The best case scenario is to find a room that is accessible from the outside of the building and that has independent heating and cooling. Those praying in the prayer room will need either to have a key to the door or to know the combination of a door lock.

In our case, no such room existed. We ended up asking the Dorcas Sunday school class to allow us to use a corner in their classroom/chapel which was otherwise being used only on Sunday mornings. In that corner there is now a desk and a chair with a portrait hanging over it of Christ praying in the garden of Gesthemane. Above this prayer desk hangs a printing of what has become our motivational prayer Scripture passage: “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning” (Exodus 17:11).

Other churches have cleaned out junk closets to use as prayer rooms. Still others have funded the building of an elaborate prayer room or chapel. Many newly planted churches are designing prayer rooms into their architectural plans.

STEP THREE: ASSEMBLE PRAYER MATERIALS

We were now ready to supply our room with prayer aids to help the intercessors who would serve their church in this ministry. As we assembled these prayer helps, we realized it would be helpful to organize them according to a pattern that would walk the intercessor through an hour of prayer. We considered three:

1. Dick Eastman’s Twelve StationsThe hour is divided into 12 five-minute stations: praise, waiting, confession, Scripture praying, watching, intercession, petition, thanksgiving, singing, meditation, listening, and praise.

2. The Lord’s PrayerThe hour can be divided into Praise, Kingdom petitions for the world, nation, denomination, city, and local church, petitions for personal daily needs, confession, prayers for deliverance, and closing praise.

3. The ACTS ModelThe hour can be divided into adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. The supplication portion is divided into petitions for the world, nation, denomination, city, local church, and personal needs.

We have chosen the latter model, although they all have much in common and require much of the same research and collection of materials. With any of these models, separate notebooks can be organized for each of the major categories (i.e., adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication). Items that we use to fill these notebooks include:

  •  the names of national, denominational, and city leaders
  •  the names of area pastors and their churches
  •  the names of the members of our congregation
  •  a listing of our pastor’s personal prayer requests
  •  a map of our city with Isaiah 43:5-7 printed at the top
  •  prayer letters from missionaries whom our church supports
  •  a listing of the church’s mission statement and goals
  •  names of visitors to our church

Many of these lists are too overwhelming for a person to pray for in one sitting; therefore, we have devised 30-Day Rotations to break them into “bite-size” portions. For example, we have a 30-day Rotation for National Leaders which includes daily prayer for the President, one cabinet member, a Supreme Court justice, a congressman, and a state leader. Other 30-day rotations include area churches and pastors, United Methodist bishops, personal requests for our pastor, and church membership lists. Other resources included in our prayer room are:

  • a copy of Patrick Johnson’s Operation World (well-researched prayer requests for every country in the world to be prayed for on a rotation based on the calendar year)
  • a hymnal and other song books
  • a Bible and a Bible-promises resource book
  • stationery, envelopes, and stamps for the purpose of writing short encouraging notes to some for whom we pray (we have a file of national leaders and others who have written us thank-you notes in response to this)
  • a sign-in log (to hold intercessors accountable to their committed time slots and to encourage intercessors that others are praying)
  • a file box of up-to-date prayer requests placed in the offering plate, those phoned into the church office
  • door hangers which read, “In Prayer” or “Vacant.”

One of the most exciting aspects of our prayer room is a spiral notebook entitled, “The Deeds of God: A Record of Answered Prayers of Our Church.” During their time of thanksgiving, intercessors record answers to prayers that they are aware of—especially those that have been prayed for in the prayer room. It has become a habit of mine to share these recorded testimonies from the pulpit about every three months so everyone can be encouraged.

STEP FOUR: CONDUCT AN ENLISTMENT CAMPAIGN

In conjunction with the pastor, an enlistment campaign can be conducted to recruit intercessors for the prayer room.

In our case, I preached a three week sermon series on prayer. Each week we provided a bulletin insert for people to express their interest in attending an informational/training meeting. It was made clear that attendance at the informational meeting was not equivalent to a commitment to pray in the prayer room.

The training meeting was a simulation of an hour long experience in the prayer room. We conducted it in the prayer room itself, and used the prayer notebooks to show how an individual could pray through times of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. People were amazed at how fast an hour passed! It was not enough time to pray through all the material.

We ended the meeting by coordinating specific time slots for each person interested. We asked for a commitment of one hour in the prayer room each week for a three month period. At the end of the three months, the intercessor could take a break or commit to another three months. Specific time slots were required to maintain accountability, consistency, and privacy.

Although the pastor does not need to lead the organizational process of the prayer room ministry, the success of this ministry will depend largely on the pastor’s enthusiasm for and modeling of the prayer room covenant. In a non-threatening way, those pastors who have not been the organizational leaders should also be asked to consider participating.

The prayer room coordinator’s job does not stop with the organization and kickoff of the prayer room. Accountability and encouragement can be provided through phone calls and letter writing.

When our prayer room ministry first began, I wrote a letter to each intercessor the same week I noticed their attendance in the sign-in log book. I wrote letters of thanks to all new intercessors.

Roughly once each year we plan a new recruitment campaign. We also include the prayer room as a volunteer option on the time commitment portion of our stewardship campaign cards.

STEP FIVE: BRANCH OUT INTO NEW PRAYER MINISTRIES

The prayer room is not for everyone. We are discovering that the more prayer ministry options we offer, the more people we get involved in prayer. Some of the additional options that our church and others have offered include:

  • Telephone Prayerline in connection with the prayer room
  • Watchman Intercessors: committing to pray during specific time slots at home
  • Shield-A-Badge: adopting a local police officer to pray for daily
  • Cradle-A-Child: adopting the baby of a teenage student mother to pray for daily
  • Worship Anchors: undergirding the worship service in prayer
  • Pastor’s Prayer Partners: personal intercessors for the pastor
  • Telephone Prayer Chain.

Terry Teykl’s book/workbook entitled Making Room To Pray (Bristol House) is highly recommended. Jesus said, “My Father’s house shall be a house of prayer.” Let’s take tangible steps to make that true in our churches!

Jim Leggett is pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Hearne, Texas.

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