The Essentials

The Essentials - Part Two
By Dan Reiland

The Prayer Essential

You're a church leader. You have lots to do. The pressure is on. So you dig in and work harder. Right? Wrong. I am convinced that prayer is the only thing, which makes anything of eternal value happen. We do have to work hard, but working alone is foolish.

I just turned forty-nine in February. The staff members are all younger than I am and they love to remind me of my age! There are days when I would love to be thirty again, except for one thing: all I've learned and experienced in life. I wouldn't trade that for anything. At the very core of all that I have learned in my thirty-one years as a Christian and twenty-five as a church leader, is that prayer releases the power of God to make everything that matters become a reality.

I'm not suggesting that you stop working and assume a monastic lifestyle of seclusion and prayer. When I was younger, I was critical of such a lifestyle, but now I believe that the sacrificial lifestyle of a monk dedicated to sincere prayer is making more of a difference than we know. Nonetheless, most of us are called to serve in a capacity that engages with people on the front lines through leadership. The message of this article is that leaders and churches that are weak in prayer are weak in power. They are weak in effectiveness and run the risk of everything being not the spirit, but in the flesh.

In this three-part series, I am calling attention to the essentials of all local churches. Whether you have 60 or 6,000 people attending, the essentials remain the same. They are leadership, prayer, and evangelism. No matter how relevant you become, you can't get away from these three essentials. If you do, you are headed for trouble.

The first article began with leadership. God needs someone to work through. We are charged with the mission He gave us, but we all have a choice. We can engage the mission equipped with our leadership gifts and talents, or we can engage the mission based on the time we spend on our knees asking for God's guidance, power, and blessing. So, let me get personal, as one who authentically cares about local churches and their leaders, how much time do you invest in prayer? This simple question reveals much.

Some may be tempted to say that asking how much you pray tends toward legalism. It could if specific amounts of time were imposed, and you saw the amount of prayer equating with your level of spirituality. I'm giving the benefit of the doubt here and assuming that as a leader, you are past that and you want to pray. But like many church leaders, you find the busyness of your life crowding out time for prayer. I urge you, make time for prayer. Let everything else wait, carve out the time and make it happen.

The purpose of this article goes beyond you the leader praying to deal with the issue of whether or not your church is a praying church. I started with you as a leader, because it all starts with the leader. I have found in consulting with many churches that almost always, if the leader is focused on prayer so is the church.

I am blessed to serve in a praying church. The senior pastor, Kevin Myers, set the stage long before I arrived. He and key intercessors like Dave Bearchell and Tina Kirschner along with scores of others, wear out the knees of their pants on behalf of God's work in our church. Beyond those key intercessors, hundreds of people faithfully pray for the work of the church.

Questions on the Prayer Essential:

Are the pastors and key volunteers men and women who are devoted to prayer?
Is the presence and power of God readily evident within the ministry of the church?
Is it easy to testify about current and fresh things that have happened that could only happen through the power of God?
Is the congregation quick to recognize and give credit to the power of God working in their midst?
Are prayer meetings focused on prayer or merely conversations between Christians who gathered for prayer?
Are there a number of opportunities for the congregation to engage in prayer?
Is there a spirit of faith and anticipation that God will move and answer prayer in your congregation?
Do the leaders consistently emphasize prayer as the only real answer to accomplish anything of real value?
Does the congregation demonstrate trust in God for the church's ministry?
Is there is a clear sense that the leaders hear from God and obey Him?
Is there a clear sense that the people hear from God and obey?
How long would it take a new person to your church to discern that you are a praying church?
As a leader, when you are overwhelmed, do you work more or pray more?
What are the methods that your church employs to teach people to pray?
What are the opportunities that your church provides to help people practice prayer?

The following principle driven thoughts are not comprehensive in nature, but if you heed them consistently and over the long haul, your church will notice the results.

1. Begin by being a leader of prayer.

This morning I read John chapters 13 and 14. I have always been overwhelmed by John 14:13.

9 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
John 14:9-14 (NIV)

At times I feel prompted to insert my name in verse 9. "Don't you know me Dan," even after I've been with you for such a long time. . .and then verse 13. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. The God of the universe has promised me that whatever I ask, according to His plan and purpose, He will do, that I may honor Him! If this isn't motivation to pray, I don't know what is.

God wants us to engage with Him in a ministry partnership. He will provide the power if we will ask.

What is your practice of prayer? Is it time to take it to the next level?

2. Build prayer into the fabric of the church.

We all understand what it means to have something woven deeply within the core fabric of a church. From worship to children's ministry, there are some things that never escape the immediate press of our attention. In the same way, there are attitudes and cultural norms within any given local church such as, a generous attitude or a casual culture. How does prayer stack up? Is it at the core of the church, on the margin, or even worse, a sort of token piece of ministry like a five second prayer before a meal?

In your church, when people say: "I’ll pray for you." Do they? Are people convinced that prayer is the only real way to make things of eternal value happen?

It is important to teach on the topic of prayer as often as possible. You don't need to teach repeated sermon series on the topic of prayer. One series a year on prayer is good. You can preach on prayer 52 times a year by way of a 30-second well-crafted idea within a message on any topic. Please don't get stuck on my usage of 52 times. My desire is for you to see that it is easy to continually prompt, teach, guide, and encourage your congregation to pray, through stories and exhortations throughout the year. Teaching on prayer is not limited to the pulpit. It can be carried into small groups, special seminars, and a number of other creative possibilities.

Equally as important as teaching on prayer, if not more important, is providing environments where the people actually pray. Not just sit in a circle, share prayer requests for 50 minutes, and then pray for 10 minutes, but really pray. At Crossroads we provide a number of unique environments from every Saturday night at 9:15 PM where a group will gather for an hour or more to pray for the next day's services, to prayer links (teams of intercessors) for every staff member and every ministry in the church. Small groups are committed to prayer, the elders set apart significant time for prayer, and the student ministries open the doors an hour before they meet for dozens of teens to come to pray before they meet. My goal is not to list them all, but to show you that they are not complicated. It's all a matter of doing it.

3. Pay attention to what God is doing and give Him the credit.

What is God is up to in your church? What does He want to accomplish? It's good to make plans and develop strategies, but if they are man-made your impact is greatly diluted. What is God blessing? Where is He prompting you to make your next ministry move?

In August of 2003 God prompted the Elders at Crossroads to take compassion ministries to a significantly higher level. The message was clear even to a specific amount of money. We have honored God's lead and given to the needs in our community and God's blessing among us is clear. I don't think we would have put that money or ministry into our budget, but God told us to, so we did.

And always, give God the glory. Never take the praise for yourself. The worst thing we could do at Crossroads would be to say about our compassion expressions, "Look at us, aren't we good." No, we aren't. God is. We are simply stewards of His plan and grateful recipients of His blessings.

Stay tuned for the third essential: Evangelism!

Blessings!

This article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland's free monthly e-newsletter 'The Pastor's Coach' available at www.INJOY.com.