10 Key Issues to Cover In Your Church’s Prayer Meeting
Does your church have regular gatherings outside of the Sunday service where members can meet together and pray? Our church does, and I had the privelege of leading our last gathering. My pastor encouraged me to work through a little booklet called “Biblical Patterns for Powerful Church Prayer Meetings” by Dr. Gregory R. Frizzell in preparation for the event; this was very helpful. Frizzel describes a prayer meeting as, “nothing less than a powerful, relationship encounter with God Himself” (7). He laments the scarcity of prayer meetings in most churches today, which he believes is due to several reasons: (1) past generations understood that these meetings were “essential” in God bringing about revival and evangelism; (2) earlier generations “were experienced at meeting God in powerful prayer meetings;” (3) “former generations exhibited intense spiritual hunger and a deep desperation to seek God’s face in prayer” (7-8).
How do we lead prayer meetings that result in a deeper intimacy with God, stir up hearts for revival and the lost, and are filled with prayer requests that extend beyond praying merely for relief from physical maladies (‘healing for grandma’s ankle’)? One way is structure our prayer meetings around key topics and Scripture. Frizzell provides a list of 10 key “Kingdom” issues which do just that:
“1. Specific confession and repentance from personal and corporate sin
2. Lost People and backslidden individuals
3. Sweepting revival and spiritual awakening
4. Missionaries, mission initiatives and unrearched people groups
5. Specific church needs and ministry iniatives
6. Key denominational needs, ministrys and leaders
7. Government, educational and cultural leaders
8. Sick, bereaved, widowed, orphaned, financial needs, etc.
9. Prayer for God to raise up many soul winners, pastor, teachers, missionaries, etc.
10. Prayer for persecuted believers.” (p 43)
How does your church approach and structure prayer meetings?
