We currently do not have an operating budget for the prayer ministry at our church. We are totally self-funded. How many of you have funding for a prayer ministry at your church? How were you able to convince others that it was needed? What committee does "Prayer Ministry" fall under, i.e., Nurture?
Thanks for your help!
Patty
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Patty,
Just wondering why anyone would need a budget for a church prayer ministry? What kind of costs would there be?
Hi Jenni, thanks for your reply and question. I'll try to answer your question as best I can.
We need funds for our Prayer Minstry so we can:
Purchase Praise Music DVD's, prayer cards, banners, posters, pay for advertising, design and publish a prayer brochure, make and decorate a community prayer box, fund guest speakers at our prayer conferences/workshops, purchase food and supplies for the Saturday night Praise and Prayer Gathering for families (includes a meal), pay nursery staff that work during our Prayer Gatherings, purchase food and supplies for all of our community prayer events.
This list will grow as we continue to saturate our church and community in prayer, I hope this helps.
How I pray That God can show all Of Us how the Prayer teams are Funded, I have seen great folly in the Kingdom Of God of diverted focus and neglect to prayer Support to Praying men and women,
May God help us to support all guys who are praying for Nations, Families and Churches
Hi Rev Chris!
Many churches do not have a budget for their Prayer Ministry. Why is that? We seem to minimize the importance of prayer within the church. Many seem satisfied to settle for an "isolated" prayer program in the church, i.e., the once a week prayer gathering where only the same few show up every week to pray. If we are to change this, perhaps we should invest in this worthwhile ministry.
I never would have thought about giving money to a local church-based prayer meeting. That's for several reasons: 1) Prayer is free; 2) Prayer provides the resources needed to support itself; and 3) Prayer meetings that are large enough to do everything that you have mentioned, should be capable of funding itself.
On the other hand, many of the expenses that you have described should actually fall under an existing ministry that has a budget. A prayer box should be paid for by the church. Meals should be paid for by the food pantry (and meals can double as fundraisers). Conference / workshop costs should be covered by the money paid by the speakers. Community prayer meetings that are backed by the church should be covered by outreach funds.
Hope that's helpful for you. From an entrepreneurial perspective, I would start with small fundraisers and build as the kitty grows fatter, until you can afford to host major conferences and workshops. By starting small, you can start with zero cash - and then every penny you make is 100% profit. That's the design I use, and it seems to work pretty well so far.
Hope you get it all worked out!
How well is it staffed? How obvious and strategic is it? Is a place even set aside for it?
If we did exit interviews of people leaving your church on Sunday and asked what are the three highest purposes of your church, how many would include prayer in their descriptions? Further, if we interviewed the same number of people from the neighborhood around your church with the same question, how would they answer? Is your church a house of prayer, or is prayer a side, seldom seen, minor activity?
We can all improve.
Eddie Smith
www.prayerbookstore.com
We have for the first time have had a budget for the prayer ministry last year. It was small but so helpful. We were able to put a room together for prayer that is interactive and stimulates and invites people to pray. Picture below is the focal point of the room and also shows part of the Wailing Wall done in chalk. On another wall we were able to put a display together of the world to pray for our missionaries and persecuted Christians and the nations including the Operation World book. We used every bit of that budget and had some donations as well. Many enjoy communing with the Lord there. We also have a prayer theme every month and we set up a prayer table with materials and prayer cards that we give away for free to encourage prayer. I hear you on the budget. The prayer ministry is not in the budget this year so I am trying to think of fund raisers to support it. I have had people come to me and say they want to sow in this ministry but so few realize the importance. We also need funds to support taking prayer to the people a ministry that goes out to evangelize through prayer into our communities. Let me know if you have any ideas for fund raisers. I am planning on putting together a budget plan for next year and presenting it to the elders.