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4 Ways to Create a Culture of Prayer
One of the best things that we can do as church planters and leaders is help the flock of Jesus Christ grow in personal and collective prayer.
Prayer is as essential to the life of the Christ follower and the work of God as blood is to the body. It was the practice of the ancient church to regularly pray together. Scripture states that the apostles, “with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14) and that the early church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
Prayer is foundational for God’s people to thrive, and nothing works without it. Yet, so many Christians have a weak prayer life that often only appears in moments of crisis and need. One of the best things that we can do as church planters and leaders is help the flock of Jesus Christ grow in personal and collective prayer. It’s great to have a prayer ministry within your church or core team, but it’s even better to have a culture of prayer. I’d like to provide you with a few practical tips that we have utilized to help build a culture of prayer within our church. We are still a work in progress, but God has been kind in growing us in this area over the years.
Pray Now
“Pray Now” is a concept we have ingrained into our church family since we were a core team. It is common to hear someone say, “Keep me in prayer,” we say we will—but we forget about their prayer request 5 minutes later. The best thing to do in that moment is to pray with them right then. A good practice is to never allow someone to say, “Keep me in prayer,” and leave without you praying for them. In fact, if someone shares a need they are trusting God for, or a challenge that they are facing, it is best to pray for them in that moment, even if they didn’t ask for prayer. Teaching those under your care to practice the concept of “Pray Now” will help to create a culture of prayer within your local church family.
Begin Every Meeting in Scripture-Based Prayer
It is one thing to open a meeting in a brief word of prayer. It is far better to devote the first 15 minutes of the meeting to prayer that is rooted in the Word of God. Choose a Psalm and begin by praying the Scripture from the passage, allowing the themes of the text to guide your time in prayer. This allows your team to learn the importance of prayer that is rooted in Scripture. The temptation is to feel the time crunch, shorten prayer, and rush to all the needed work and planning. Don’t fall for this trap. Prayer is the work. I’ve found over and over again that our team meetings were more productive, Spirit-led, and finished on time when we devoted the first 15 minutes to prayer that was rooted in Scripture.
Have a Prayer and Worship Service on a Sunday
One of the best things that we ever did as a church was having our entire Sunday service devoted to worship and prayer two times a year. Our people love it! The format is:
- Opening up with a worship set like normal (30 minutes for us).
- 10 minutes of teaching from the Bible on a selected theme for prayer.
- 30 minutes of going back and forth between guided prayer prompts and worship songs.
We normally make it through about three to four songs and four to seven different prayer prompts. 6:4 Fellowship has a wealth of resources for churches to utilize for prayer services. It has been a blessing for us as a church and I believe will be for you, too. Whether you are a core team or have launched your first service, spending significant time together in prayer and worship will strengthen your body, align you with the Spirit, and help your culture to have God’s presence as the center and main focus of all that you do.
Lead by Example
There will never be a culture of prayer within your midst if you, as the Lead Pastor, do not model a life of prayer. A church with a culture of prayer is usually an overflow from the lives of its leaders who are personally devoted to prayer. It is great for you to have times devoted to prayer, but do you have a lifestyle of prayer? Do you regularly pray throughout the day? Is your home marked by a spirit of prayer? It is said of Jesus that, “he would withdraw to desolate places and pray” (Luke 5:16). How about you?
It is important for you to spend significant time in prayer to God, as a disciple and leader. How can you lead well when you pray very little? There is nothing that sets your church up for man-centered plans and fleshly leadership than a group of people who hardly pray together, and who have a prayerless leader.
Creating a culture of prayer takes time and consistency. If you will make it the primary focus in your personal life and ministry, you will be, “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
