What is the most common ministry priority that a pastor neglects? Last week wise Mr. Croft answered, “More than any other aspect of a pastor’s calling, prayer is the most difficult to maintain.”

It surely is no stretch to say the same thing is the true of most churches. The most neglected ordinary posture of Christian obedience has to be prayer, doesn’t it? Thabiti Anyabwile once wrote, “I can’t think of a single Christian I’ve met who did not believe that prayer is important, and not only important but a vital part of the Christian life. . . . But despite its universally accepted status, prayer remains for many Christians a difficult task, a duty without joy and sometimes seemingly without effect. Christians may waver between the poles of neglect and frustration when it comes to prayer.”

I want to think today about that first pole of prayer on which so many churches and their members stand: the pole of neglect.

A HOUSE OF PRAYER

We planted IDC with four distinct things we wanted to be true of our church. Things that would be palpably present in our life together, so much so a guest would quickly recognize them. One of those things is that we would be a praying church. Why? First, a rich prayer life would point towards growing dependence on and obedience to God. Additionally, it would also reflect the clear biblical distinction that God’s people are a praying people and His house is one of prayer.

Such sentiment is all fine and dandy, and even can sound compelling on a website, but if it isn’t a reality it’s all empty hope. So we had to consider what things could we do to see prayer permeate the life of our body. What things would help us veer away from neglecting prayer?

Here are nine ways we are trying to answer that question. I hope some of them will stir you up to consider the place of prayer in your church.

9 WAYS TO PROMOTE PRAYER IN A LOCAL CHURCH

Be a praying pastor.In many ways, it all starts here. Praying churches must have a praying pastor. Just as the holiness of the church will rarely exceed the holiness of their pastor, so too will the prayer life of the church have a clear link to the pastor’s prayer life.

Be praying elders.Every installed elder is called to the ministry of word and prayer, so the collective elder body ought to a be band of praying brothers. One way we try to encourage this at IDC is to have one elders’ meeting each month be largely dedicated to praying for individual church members and pressing issues. If a church member was a fly on the wall in our elders meetings I would want him or her to say, “Wow, they pray a lot.”

Teach on prayer. Christlikeness is caught and taught, and prayer seems to be a discipline most consistently caught. But we still must teach on it. We need to give our members biblical categories to understanding what they are catching with the soul’s glove. One thing I’ve done is set aside a week each year to preach on prayer. Sure, that’s not a lot, but oh how I trust it will bear fruit in the long run. Furthermore, the pulpit isn’t the only vehicle for teaching on prayer. Which leads to the fourth point.

Infuse your corporate gatherings with prayer. Do you pray, and pray often, in your church’s weekly worship gathering? Let your gatherings abound in prayer, and prayers of all kinds: praise, confession, petition, and thanksgiving. In addition to shorter times for prayers of praise, confession, and illumination we have an extended time each week for a pastoral prayer. I stand up in front of the congregation and pray for 6-7 minutes, asking the Lord to meet us in our need and send His gospel to the ends of the earth. I always preface that time of prayer by explaining (teaching) why we would do such an odd thing – odd according to our culture at least. Guests regularly say they were struck by how much we pray in our gatherings. Make no mistake, some of them don’t like it all that much. But that’s ok, we are a peculiar praying people.

Have a monthly prayer meeting. The prayer meeting has fallen on hard times, but I long to see it return to prominent place in the American church. On the third Monday night of each month our church gathers to pray for an hour and fifteen minutes, and oh how I wish you could see the Spirit breathe life into our midst through these meetings. We are careful not to let this just become yet another church gathering that occupies our people’s time. So we encourage small groups to consider taking a break from their normal meeting time to join with us for prayer night. For those families with young children who have difficulty staying up for the prayer night, we simply encourage one of the spouses to come for prayer.

Pray regularly in discipleship gatherings. In one-on-one discipling relationships, as well as in men’s and women’s gatherings, we want prayer to have a regular place. This helps us be faithful to the biblical exhortations to cultivate a ceaselessly praying spirit.

Encourage your church members to pray through a membership directory.We give our members an old-school pictorial directory and exhort them to pray through the entire directory once a month. Not only will such prayer aid the church’s unity, it will also discipline members in the work of intercessory prayer.

Have a dedicated time to pray for the preacher and the sermon.Now, this practice is brand new, only a week old in fact. Last week I was reading Spurgeon’s An All-Round Ministry where the Prince recounted a conversation with another pastor on the matter of encouraging his church in prayer. This pastor said,

I cannot get the people to pray. The bulk of them have not been in the habit of taking public part in the prayers, and it seems impossible to get them to do so. What shall I do?

Spurgeon replied,

‘It may help you if you call in your church-officers on Sunday mornings, before the service, and ask them to pray for you, as my deacons and elders do for me. My officers know what a trembling creature I am; and when I ask them to seek strength for me, they do so with loving hearts.’ Don’t you think that such exercises tend to train men in the art of public prayer? Besides, men are likely to hear better when they have prayed for the preacher. Oh, to get around us a band of men whose hearts the Lord has touched! If we have a holy people about us, we shall be the better able to preach. Tell me not of a marble pulpit; this is a golden pulpit.

I read that, emailed it to our elders, and we decided to start setting aside a fifteen-minute period before the corporate gathering to pray for the night’s preaching. I then invited a group of people we thought would be interested and able in joining the endeavor. Over fifteen people gathered (a great number for the size of our church) to pray, and how wonderful it was! I hope to see this grow and set our church aflame through the word and prayer.

ONE SIZE DOESN’T FIT ALL

We are by no means perfect in any of these areas, nor in our aim to be a praying church. But we are trying. And these eight areas have already brought tangible fruit in our church’s life of prayer. So take whatever might fit your church body, apply it with faith and love, and labor to be a praying church.