Sometimes, when it is time for me to write this article each month, I sit at my desk and wonder what I should write about. For a while, nothing comes to my mind. Then, suddenly, an idea appears in my mind. That’s how this article came to pass.

I’m not sure why this happens. Neuroscientists would likely contribute it to neurons and electrical charges sort of randomly firing in my brain until some kind of file drawer pops open and exposes an idea. I like to think, at least from time to time, that it’s how the Holy Spirit works in my life. That’s what I think happened this month because the topic of prayer was definitely not front of my mind.

I am not a prayer warrior. Never have been, I’m sorry to say. But I do pray. Sometimes I forget to pray about things I told someone I would pray about and I am embarrassed by that. I need to have lists to remind me of things I want to pray about regularly. For most of my existence, my prayer life consisted mostly of telling God things – actually, mostly telling God things I wanted Him to do – but now I have learned (and am still learning) that a big part of prayer is listening for God’s leading – His still small voice that the busyness of life continuously seeks to drown out. I’ve never been “satisfied” with my prayer life. I wonder if anyone should ever be satisfied with their prayer life.

That’s the background for this month’s article and the question I pose:

What is the role of prayer in the life of your church?

As a young adult years ago, my home church’s prayer strategy revolved around these things:

• An expectation that individuals prayed throughout the week, though we never checked on that.
• A 10-15 minute gathering of church leaders before the worship service on Sunday.
• Perfunctory opening and closing prayers before meetings.
• On many Sundays, prayer team members would wait to pray with people after the service and prayer cards for individual prayer requests to share with church leaders and others.
• A “pastoral prayer” during the worship service.
• Wednesday night prayer meeting.

I rebelled against many of those things. They didn’t seem “real” to me. The prayer requests were almost always about alleviating sickness or injury for someone, oftentimes one’s cousin’s neighbor’s friend or somebody distant like that, but never about the deep issues that people struggle with and certainly not about combatting one’s sin. I worked the graveyard shift and would often fall asleep during the pastoral prayer, and the pastor went on and on about sick people and similar things. The perfunctory opening and closing prayers seemed rote and emotionless. And the Wednesday night prayer meeting which was deemed essential to the health of the church but, of the 500 or so who attended on Sunday morning, only 30-40 would show up for that “essential” prayer meeting – and we typically filled the first thirty minutes of the one-hour “prayer” meeting with a devotional and singing several songs and announcing things.

So, what is your church’s strategy for prayer? That’s something to talk about, and here are some things that might help get that conversation going.

• What is our church’s strategy regarding corporate prayers? Do we have a strategy? What is the rationale behind our strategy or behind not having one?
• What is our prayer strategy during Sunday worship services? I must say that much more often than not, there is little “meaningful” prayer occurring during services at the churches I visit. Sure, the worship leader or someone prays at the start and end of the service, and generally some kind of brief prayer before the sermon but seldom is there any prayer about the situations and issues our congregants are facing. Do we pray for government leaders (without being partisan)? Do we pray for our community and its needs? Do we pray for troubled marriages, financial priorities, significant ministries or issues facing the church as a whole? If we leaders do not pray about these when the church is gathered, do we really think our congregants are going to do so privately?
• What kind of prayer occurs during our board or elder meetings? Do we pray for one another? Pray for the people we shepherd? Pray together about the topics to be addressed in the meeting? Or do we have someone “open in prayer” and “close in prayer” with the same or similar prayer uttered meeting after meeting?
• When was the last time we called a special “prayer meeting” to pray about something in particular? Do we schedule them during our yearly scheduling time? Do we truly exhort people to come or present it as a mere opportunity for those who might be interested? I’m very thankful that during my church’s recent lead pastor search our leaders set aside several evenings throughout that process for members to gather in a large group and pray specifically for the church and its leaders during that awkward season, not only in the large group format, but also in smaller groups throughout the evening.

Scripture speaks so much to us about prayer, yet collective prayer often seems to not be a priority in the life of a church.

What do we really believe about prayer?

Does it change things? Is it really important?

Do we treat it as an item of importance or something we do to transition from one component of the Sunday service to another?

Why do we pray?

Prayer is a vital component of our individual and collective connection with God. Where would one find it on our church’s list of priorities?

That’s something to talk about. Not just among ourselves, but also with God. He might have something to say about it.

Let us know if we can help and how your conversation goes. Contact Bob Osborne by e-mail at bob.osborne@efca.org. 

This is one of a series of articles intended to facilitate and guide church leaders’ conversations about significant issues that often are not talked about among pastors, boards, and church leadership teams. Visit the EFCA West website to see prior Something to Talk About articles.