Have you seen any successful pastoral prayer support teams?
What are the barriers to building a strong, safe (confidential), effective prayer team for the pastor?
What ultimately motivates a pastor to call for prayer support?
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Speaking from my experience, pastors (including myself) are hesitant to ask for a prayer support team. Humility, discomfort with calling attention to themselves, etc. may all play a part. Also, prayer support requires ultimate and total trust, so the team would, I think, need to be quite small.
To call for one, I think there would be two factors: a recognized need (perhaps something out of the ordinary, dramatic, and urgent) and the trust factor I just described.
A culture of prayer in the church is also a large factor -- how much of that culture is there, what would be needed to develop it.
2 cents....
Scott
We'd love any thoughts and ideas on this.
We're also looking for 1000 intercessors for the Detroit area.
One thing that's key is communication. We don't simply want people that pray... but we need to connect at least weekly... to compare notes, hear about dreams and visions, compare prophetic data, etc.
Both teams have a weekly conference call to discuss the specific prayer points I send to each... and then they pray together and compare notes. The call usually takes an hour or so.
We want to ramp it up significantly though... finding 24/7 coverage just for us is a challenge. I'm sure several out of the 1000 that will emerge at some point in Detroit will fall into the i1 ranks.
I lead a prayer support team for our worship pastor. I take the initiative to get prayer requests from him on a regular basis, usually weekly, and then email them to the team. We've had the blessing of seeing God move in direct relation to our prayers. I think one of the keys to success is that the lead person of the team has to take the initiative. If you wait on the pastor to give you the requests, it just won't be very regular. The way we do it, the team is reminded on a weekly basis to pray for Kevin. Being regular is key.
I actually blogged about this topic on my page. If you have time, take a look and share your thoughts. I'll be adding to it as God allows me to.
Leesha
As a former prayer coordinator of a mega-church in Georgia, I established a “weapons of warfare” prayer team, consisting of 5 warriors, that was specifically assigned to develop specific prayer objectives for our pastor, based upon the Word of God, and we targeted our prayers for specific and general needs for our pastor and pastoral support. We also had a group of 5 pastoral intercessors that met every Saturday night to pray for 2 hours to pray during the same time the pastor was studying and conducting preparation for his sermons on Sundays.
Many pastors desire to establish prayer teams but the biggest barrier is trust, or a unwillingness for a congregation to move in the direction of the vision of the church.
Based upon my observation, family pressures, increased ministerial and community responsibilities as well as spiritual warfare are the driving forces that enable a pastor to lead in corporate prayer.
It is very vital that any prayer initiatives be conducted in conjunction with prayer teachings of various levels on the different types of prayer (Ephesians 6:18), because in all of our getting, we must have understanding and wisdom.
Stan
Stan, I love that idea about the "weapons of warfare" team! I also appreciate your insight on needing wisdom and understanding regarding the various levels or types of prayer.Our pastors focus very much on Scripture-based praying, which has been so rich for us as a congregation.
I would appreciate any resources you've found that have helped you as a prayer coordinator for your church - books, favorite Bible passages, teachings, etc. I'm currently not leading the prayer team for my worship pastor, as the Lord called me to lay it on the altar back in October. (It was probably one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make.) I know He will restore it to me at some point, and so part of this season is about learning how I can be more effectively used by the Lord in that role.
Thank you for sharing your insight!
i was talking to one of the leaders from TABLE 71 when they held their meeting in hawaii last week. their large organization had just hired a full time employee at going wage to create more prayer for their organization. i commended him, and also encouraged him that he was on the cutting edge--people are figuring out where the power is
ps on feb 11 i turned 68--pray for me in my youth
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