UK: Prayer Spaces in schools help children connect with God
Prayer movement 24-7prayer regularly hosts so-called Prayer Spaces in schools across the British Isles to help children connect with God and deal with pastoral issues. Coordinator Phil Togwell reports:
"I still haven't got used to the impact that these simple, sacred, reflective, prayer spaces have. They're just re-arranged classrooms, pleasantly lit, filled with creative 'stuff', mostly post-it notes, torn up cardboard and a few instructions/invitations to participate. I think the participation is the thing that amazes and puzzles me most. When a class of mischievous teens who have been mostly muttering and giggling throughout our pre-amble presentation then goes and engages fully with the prayer stations, it always amazes me. This week at Frances Bardsley School for Girls was no exception.
We had students coming in to talk and pray about hopes and fears and faith and exams. Like A, who came back day after day, mainly to talk with one of our team, Emma. At the end of the week she told Emma that for the first time, she'd woken up feeling that she could be herself, that she didn't have to pretend. She attributed this entirely to her experiences in the Prayer Space, and she asked if she could visit Emma's church that Sunday (which she did). And like C, who sat for a long time at the Forgiveness Zone, with tears in her eyes. 'It's taken me three years to let go of that hurt,' she whispered to me."
The book of Acts is still happening today! Joel News International offers a weekly high-quality selection of the most inspiring stories on the advance of God's Kingdom in six continents. Joel News International inspires thousands of active Christians in over 120 nations.
You are currently subscribed to Joel News International on this e-mail address: phil@nppn.org Address changes can be mailed to service@joelnews.org.
Joel News partners with a wide range of international networks and ministries in the area of prayer, saturation church planting, revival, world missions and community transformation. News reports (no regular mailings) can be sent to our editorial team at info@joelnews.org.
(c) JOEL NEWS, 2011 | republication only with full creditline www.joelnews.org
At our weekly Monday night prayer gathering we try and make sure our hearts are set on how big God is verses how big the problems are we are praying for. With that in mind we begin the evening for the most part with Adoration (worship) or thanksgiving for what God has done in the past few weeks especially as it pertains to answered prayer.
Here are a few words that we are building into the prayer ministry at our church.
Holiness: without holiness, no one will see God. I believe this applies to what happens after the grave, and this side of eternity as well. How often do we quote Ps 37.4 about God giving us the desires of our hearts, without catching the context regarding "Delighting ourselves in the Lord"?
A prayer culture: Eph 4.11-16 says that God gives gifts to each member of the body, and when we ALL use our gifts, the body matures into the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." We must break up and throw away the western church culture that envisions the church as "a place you go a couple times a week." Individually and collectively, we are the church, and God wants to speak to, work through, and reveal Himself in each of us.
Lead by example, not rule: Jesus spent 3 years with 12 guys. My guess is that by the end of that time, no one had any secrets. (except maybe Judas) They couldn't hide their faults. There were no masks left, and Jesus loved them anyways. As leaders we should lead by example, set some guidelines but not rules. I find that as I express vulnerability in our prayer ministry, people are encouraged that God can and will work in and through their lives and prayers as well.
Pray scripture: Teach your fellow prayer warriors the power and peace of praying scripture back to God. We recently had a lesson on "praying scripture as praise, and claiming scriptures as promises." David prayed this way. Jesus prayed through the 22nd psalm while hanging on the cross. We align our hearts and purposes with God's when our prayers are built around the truth of scriptures.
Don't quit: Daniel prayed for 21 days (Dan 9), Elijah for 3 and a half years (1 Kings 18.36-37), simeon for most of his life (Luke 2) God answers, our job is to persevere.
Heaven waits on earth: I don't understand why, but God waits for us to pray. He can do anything, but chooses to work through us. As E Stanley Jones put it: "Some things God won't do until we pray."
From Pray! Network Prayer Leader Dennis Fuqua of International Renewal Ministries - -
Facilitating Corporate Prayer
I have had the privilege of facilitating times of prayer for pastors in cities as well as for specific congregations. Oftentimes people will ask me about the difference between these two groups. First what is not different. Non-pastors have just as much ability and desire to press into deep times of worship. They have the same love for the Lord and want to express that to Him. What is different is that often they do not have the same “reservoir” of biblical knowledge. They simply don’t know as many Scriptures on a given topic and where to find them.
So, as I have facilitated congregational Prayer Summits I have looked for ways to assist them with this. The goal is always the same: to help them hear the Lord (through His Spirit and His Word) about how He wants them to be praying. One thing I have done is what I have begun to refer to as “Concordance praying.” Not a very stunning or creative title, but it fits. Here is what I mean.
I have personally been very intrigued with the Psalmist’s use of the word translated “lovingkindness, mercy, steadfast love, unfailing love,” etc. There are about 125 uses of this word in the Psalms. Recently, as I was facilitating a prayer session, I wrote out between 75 and 80 references on a white board during a break. Compiling a list like this can be done very easily with many Bible software programs or just using a concordance.
I invited the people to use this as a resource. I asked them to simply look up any of the references on the board, read the verse over a few times, see what the verse says about God’s great love for us, and turn that into a prayer for them and for the group. I told them not to get stuck on any one verse. If one didn’t work for them, jus t go to another one. I also mentioned that if someone else “took their verse” that they should remember it wasn’t “their verse” to begin with and to pray from that verse anyway.
I gave them a few minutes in silence, then invited them to pray out loud. What followed was a wonderful time of people reveling and receiving God’s great love for them! People prayed prayers like, “Father, You say that I can trust in Your unfailing love. I do that sometimes, but right now that is hard to do. Please help me to trust in Your love today.” (From Ps 13:5) Or, “I rejoice in Your love, oh, Lord. You saw what I needed and You met my deep need. Thank You for Your great love.” (From Ps 31:7)
This can work for any topic that is mentioned often in Scripture, such as “grace,” the “cross,” “today,” or “His voice.” Because people may not be used to this, they may need a little coaching. So, you may want to give them a couple examples of how you would pray from a particular verse. But once they “get it” the Lord can direct them into some very meaningful prayers.
So, if you have opportunity to facilitate a time of corporate prayer, you may want to spend a few minutes compiling a few lists of some topics that are meaningful to you and see if they are not helpful to the other pray-ers.
10 Simple Ideas to Help You Lead Your Ministry in Prayer for the Nations
When we are in full time Christian service, prayer can become routine. Even if you are involved in a global ministry, sincere and dynamic prayer for the nations is rare. So how can you begin to be intentional about integrating prayer into your ministry life? What are some simple ways that you can lift the eyes of those who you are working with? Let these ideas get your juices flowing:
Idea 1: Many ministries have a daily/weekly/monthly chapel service with all the staff. If you have an event like this in your ministry, take a few minutes at the beginning of each service to pray for the country of the day. You might take the time to print out the entry from the Enhanced eBook CD or DVD and cut out the individual prayer items to pass out for various staff to pray for.
Idea 2: When you host your fundraising banquet or make your fundraising telephone calls, find ways to challenge your donors to pray for the nations. You may find that, as you pray together for a part of the world, it binds your hearts together in new and exciting ways.
Idea 3: For those of you whose ministry is focused locally, find ways to integrate prayer into your outreach efforts. If you run a homeless shelter, pray for the country of the day when you have your chapel service with those who are staying the night at your facility.
Idea 4: If you have a monthly newsletter or a weekly email blast, consider integrating a call to prayer into that publication with graphics you can download from the Operation World DVD.
Idea 5: The Operation World Wall Map is a good resource for you to give to major donors and volunteers involved in your cause. You can even talk with GMI about customizing the map with your name and logo.
Idea 6: When you have your annual planning retreats or key ministry planning meetings, make sure to use Operation World as a resource to pray for the countries that you are discussing in the meeting. Also remember that the DVD has many data tables and additional research tools that will be very helpful as you plan your global ministry efforts.
Idea 7: Consider integrating a challenge to prayer for the nations on your phone system. People who are on hold will benefit more from a call to prayer than from elevator music.
Idea 8: Give a copy of Operation World to each staff member along with their Christmas bonus. Challenge them to lead their families in prayer for the nations.
Idea 9: Put a link to the Operation World Web site on your ministry Web page and ask your partners in ministry to pray.
Idea 10: Encourage the leaders within your ministry to make prayer for the nations part of weekly department meetings and key staff events. Hold them accountable for taking prayer seriously within the ministry and celebrate together as you see the impact of praying as a community.
looking at www.greatcommission2020.com can be a real encouragement to create a better global focus. we use the scripture habbakuk 2:14 that the earth will be filled with the glory of the lord-for our friday am world prayer
My favorite picture of "one accord" praying is in Acts 4:31-32 ...oh my goodness such power of the Holy Spirit. God's word says, "when two or more are gathered in my name." It's not about big numbers it's about being in agreement with each other and with God's Word. I've walked into prayer groups and thought to myself "oh no we are not going to have unity in this group." Mrs Jones has a gripe agianst Mrs Smith...and Mary Lou can't stand Blly Bob.
If your church is about numbers...bless the Lord if you can get the people to come. It's rare to have large prayer groups that meet weekly. .
having success and gaining momentum creating 24 houir prayer with a 5 second committment to specific daily prayer (habakuk 2:14-that the earth or your city or your ministry will be filled with the glory of the lord in your prayer (time) zone.
with only a 2 minute committment during the nine oclock hour, you have created prayer awareness for your passion every hour of each day. SIMPLE?--we think so
Thanks for this great message to all of us, as I read the contribution of all our friends, I also agree that some of us don't have computer, and even others. We pray and believe that we will find a good way to do this .
SCROLL for additional content: Commentary ~ Resources~ Replies ~
Prayer movement 24-7prayer regularly hosts so-called Prayer Spaces in schools across the British Isles to help children connect with God and deal with pastoral issues. Coordinator Phil Togwell reports:
We had students coming in to talk and pray about hopes and fears and faith and exams. Like A, who came back day after day, mainly to talk with one of our team, Emma. At the end of the week she told Emma that for the first time, she'd woken up feeling that she could be herself, that she didn't have to pretend. She attributed this entirely to her experiences in the Prayer Space, and she asked if she could visit Emma's church that Sunday (which she did). And like C, who sat for a long time at the Forgiveness Zone, with tears in her eyes. 'It's taken me three years to let go of that hurt,' she whispered to me."
More about Prayer Spaces in schools:
http://www.prayerspacesinschools.com
Source: Phil Togwell
C O L O P H O N
The book of Acts is still happening today! Joel News International offers a weekly high-quality selection of the most inspiring stories on the advance of God's Kingdom in six continents. Joel News International inspires thousands of active Christians in over 120 nations.
More information: http://www.joelnews.org/frontpage.htm.
You are currently subscribed to Joel News International on this e-mail address: phil@nppn.org
Address changes can be mailed to service@joelnews.org.
Joel News partners with a wide range of international networks and ministries in the area of prayer, saturation church planting, revival, world missions and community transformation. News reports (no regular mailings) can be sent to our editorial team at info@joelnews.org.
(c) JOEL NEWS, 2011 | republication only with full creditline www.joelnews.org
Learning style impacts who connects to prayer --
>>>
Here are a few words that we are building into the prayer ministry at our church.
Holiness: without holiness, no one will see God. I believe this applies to what happens after the grave, and this side of eternity as well. How often do we quote Ps 37.4 about God giving us the desires of our hearts, without catching the context regarding "Delighting ourselves in the Lord"?
A prayer culture: Eph 4.11-16 says that God gives gifts to each member of the body, and when we ALL use our gifts, the body matures into the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." We must break up and throw away the western church culture that envisions the church as "a place you go a couple times a week." Individually and collectively, we are the church, and God wants to speak to, work through, and reveal Himself in each of us.
Lead by example, not rule: Jesus spent 3 years with 12 guys. My guess is that by the end of that time, no one had any secrets. (except maybe Judas) They couldn't hide their faults. There were no masks left, and Jesus loved them anyways. As leaders we should lead by example, set some guidelines but not rules. I find that as I express vulnerability in our prayer ministry, people are encouraged that God can and will work in and through their lives and prayers as well.
Pray scripture: Teach your fellow prayer warriors the power and peace of praying scripture back to God. We recently had a lesson on "praying scripture as praise, and claiming scriptures as promises." David prayed this way. Jesus prayed through the 22nd psalm while hanging on the cross. We align our hearts and purposes with God's when our prayers are built around the truth of scriptures.
Don't quit: Daniel prayed for 21 days (Dan 9), Elijah for 3 and a half years (1 Kings 18.36-37), simeon for most of his life (Luke 2) God answers, our job is to persevere.
Heaven waits on earth: I don't understand why, but God waits for us to pray. He can do anything, but chooses to work through us. As E Stanley Jones put it: "Some things God won't do until we pray."
From Pray! Network Prayer Leader Dennis Fuqua of International Renewal Ministries - -
Facilitating Corporate Prayer
I have had the privilege of facilitating times of prayer for pastors in cities as well as for specific congregations. Oftentimes people will ask me about the difference between these two groups. First what is not different. Non-pastors have just as much ability and desire to press into deep times of worship. They have the same love for the Lord and want to express that to Him. What is different is that often they do not have the same “reservoir” of biblical knowledge. They simply don’t know as many Scriptures on a given topic and where to find them.
So, as I have facilitated congregational Prayer Summits I have looked for ways to assist them with this. The goal is always the same: to help them hear the Lord (through His Spirit and His Word) about how He wants them to be praying. One thing I have done is what I have begun to refer to as “Concordance praying.” Not a very stunning or creative title, but it fits. Here is what I mean.
I have personally been very intrigued with the Psalmist’s use of the word translated “lovingkindness, mercy, steadfast love, unfailing love,” etc. There are about 125 uses of this word in the Psalms. Recently, as I was facilitating a prayer session, I wrote out between 75 and 80 references on a white board during a break. Compiling a list like this can be done very easily with many Bible software programs or just using a concordance.
I invited the people to use this as a resource. I asked them to simply look up any of the references on the board, read the verse over a few times, see what the verse says about God’s great love for us, and turn that into a prayer for them and for the group. I told them not to get stuck on any one verse. If one didn’t work for them, jus t go to another one. I also mentioned that if someone else “took their verse” that they should remember it wasn’t “their verse” to begin with and to pray from that verse anyway.
I gave them a few minutes in silence, then invited them to pray out loud. What followed was a wonderful time of people reveling and receiving God’s great love for them! People prayed prayers like, “Father, You say that I can trust in Your unfailing love. I do that sometimes, but right now that is hard to do. Please help me to trust in Your love today.” (From Ps 13:5) Or, “I rejoice in Your love, oh, Lord. You saw what I needed and You met my deep need. Thank You for Your great love.” (From Ps 31:7)
This can work for any topic that is mentioned often in Scripture, such as “grace,” the “cross,” “today,” or “His voice.” Because people may not be used to this, they may need a little coaching. So, you may want to give them a couple examples of how you would pray from a particular verse. But once they “get it” the Lord can direct them into some very meaningful prayers.
So, if you have opportunity to facilitate a time of corporate prayer, you may want to spend a few minutes compiling a few lists of some topics that are meaningful to you and see if they are not helpful to the other pray-ers.
Found this here>>>
10 Simple Ideas to Help You Lead Your Ministry in Prayer for the Nations
When we are in full time Christian service, prayer can become routine. Even if you are involved in a global ministry, sincere and dynamic prayer for the nations is rare. So how can you begin to be intentional about integrating prayer into your ministry life? What are some simple ways that you can lift the eyes of those who you are working with? Let these ideas get your juices flowing:
Idea 1: Many ministries have a daily/weekly/monthly chapel service with all the staff. If you have an event like this in your ministry, take a few minutes at the beginning of each service to pray for the country of the day. You might take the time to print out the entry from the Enhanced eBook CD or DVD and cut out the individual prayer items to pass out for various staff to pray for.
Idea 2: When you host your fundraising banquet or make your fundraising telephone calls, find ways to challenge your donors to pray for the nations. You may find that, as you pray together for a part of the world, it binds your hearts together in new and exciting ways.
Idea 3: For those of you whose ministry is focused locally, find ways to integrate prayer into your outreach efforts. If you run a homeless shelter, pray for the country of the day when you have your chapel service with those who are staying the night at your facility.
Idea 4: If you have a monthly newsletter or a weekly email blast, consider integrating a call to prayer into that publication with graphics you can download from the Operation World DVD.
Idea 5: The Operation World Wall Map is a good resource for you to give to major donors and volunteers involved in your cause. You can even talk with GMI about customizing the map with your name and logo.
Idea 6: When you have your annual planning retreats or key ministry planning meetings, make sure to use Operation World as a resource to pray for the countries that you are discussing in the meeting. Also remember that the DVD has many data tables and additional research tools that will be very helpful as you plan your global ministry efforts.
Idea 7: Consider integrating a challenge to prayer for the nations on your phone system. People who are on hold will benefit more from a call to prayer than from elevator music.
Idea 8: Give a copy of Operation World to each staff member along with their Christmas bonus. Challenge them to lead their families in prayer for the nations.
Idea 9: Put a link to the Operation World Web site on your ministry Web page and ask your partners in ministry to pray.
Idea 10: Encourage the leaders within your ministry to make prayer for the nations part of weekly department meetings and key staff events. Hold them accountable for taking prayer seriously within the ministry and celebrate together as you see the impact of praying as a community.
Blessings as you lead your ministry in prayer!
If your church is about numbers...bless the Lord if you can get the people to come. It's rare to have large prayer groups that meet weekly. .
with only a 2 minute committment during the nine oclock hour, you have created prayer awareness for your passion every hour of each day. SIMPLE?--we think so
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