Starting a prayer movement

The first step is to pray. In Luke 10:2, the Lord invites us to pray and ask for laborers into the Harvest field. Seek Him to identify other prayer laborers in the community.

Secondly, look for where God is already at work. Identify existing prayer groups and networks that are already praying for the city. Explore the different types of prayer meetings that are going on in the community, how long they've been praying together and past attempts they've made to try to pray together with other groups.

Thirdly, identify any unresolved issues that might keep the community from praying together in humility and unity. Prayerfully seek reconciliation and possibly work together to resolve any problems.

Fourthly, call a community wide prayer gathering for the current leaders and intercessors within the community to meet one another and simply to pray together.

Discern together what the next steps should be for your community. Some cities will decide that the Pastors should meet weekly for prayer. Some will want an annual city prayer and worship gathering. Some cities start a 24/7 House of Prayer. Some communities start prayer walking troubled areas of their city.

Seek out resources that will help foster the prayer movement in your community and share them with those who are interested.

Pray Together

Discover God’s DNA for Your Community

Connect through Prayer

In working together to disciple teenagers, prayer is your foundation and source of strength. Your relationship with God fills you with His love, which overflows into the lives of those you are reaching. As you connect with Him you are more prepared to connect with others. Prayer is the vital communication we have with Him.

Ask God for His Vision

God knows how He wants to mobilize a move­ment in your area to reach and empower every teenager. Why not allow Him to orchestrate the movement? Ask God to give you His vision and heart for your community.

Establish a Foundation of Prayer

Building a local movement means making prayer intentional. With whom can you pray and who will pray for you? Here are some ideas:

+ Make prayer a consistent part of your network meeting.

+ Meet regularly in smaller prayer groups.

+ Take one or more days to have a group prayer summit.

+ Enlist the local Moms in Prayer Intl. group to pray for your network and the schools you want to reach.

+ Set up an online social networking group to share requests. (On www.youthworkers.net you can set up your network and share private posts with your group’s members)

3D Prayer

Prayer can be multidirectional for your community. New England regional coordinator Mark Orr gives this great reminder to hit three levels as you pray:

+ Pray Up: Establish the vertical relationship with God through praise and thanksgiving.

+ Pray Across: Intercede for one another regularly and at gatherings.

+ Pray Out: Listen to God as He reveals your community’s needs and resources for teenagers.

Prioritizing Prayer

In our network one leader served at a small church that had a prayer garden and we met there. Our prayers were about seeking His will, lifting up our kids, and our community.

As we prayed, I saw us mature with cohesive­ness and intimacy among us. Then we were prepared to truly help.

--Venetia Yates, Network Coordinator Bosque Farms, New Mexico

Pray Together Interactive

Connect through Prayer

How is your soul today? How can prayer help you in working together to transform teenagers into disciple makers?

Ask God for His Vision

Take some time to pray right now. How do you sense God is moving in the lives of teenagers in your community? When can you schedule some more time to get away, asking God what He has to say about reaching and equipping youth in your community?

Establishing Your Foundation

Who would be willing to pray for the youth of your community? As you read “Establish a Foundation of Prayer” on page 4, which ideas resonate with you? What action points can you set to get people praying together?

Praying in New Dimensions

How can you build prayer more intentionally into your networking times with other youth

INDEPTH Check out these links at www.youthworkers.net/training

+ Adding Dimensions to Prayer in Your Network

+ Making Prayer a Priority

+ Listening Prayer: Discover God’s DNA for Your Community

+ Birth of a Prayer Movement

http://nationalprayercommittee.com

http://prayersummit.net

http://www.ihopkc.org

http://www.praynetwork.org

http://www.youthworkers.net/index.cfm/fuseaction/blog.view/BlogID/1550

Starting and Multiplying Prayer Movements

The first step is to pray. In Luke 10:2, the Lord invites us to pray and ask for laborers into the Harvest field. Seek Him to identify other prayer laborers in the community.

Secondly, look for where God is already at work. Identify existing prayer groups and networks that are already praying for the city. Explore the different types of prayer meetings that are going on in the community, how long they've been praying together and past attempts they've made to try to pray together with other groups.

Thirdly, identify any unresolved issues that might keep the community from praying together in humility and unity. Prayerfully seek reconciliation and possibly work together to resolve any problems.

Fourthly, Pray with and build relationship with prayer leaders in the community, i.e. pastors, intercessors, gatekeepers and ministry leaders. Call a community wide prayer gathering for the current leaders and intercessors within the community to meet one another and simply to pray together.

Discern together what the next steps should be for your community. Some cities will decide that the Pastors should meet weekly for prayer. Some will want an annual city prayer and worship gathering. Some cities start a 24/7 House of Prayer. Some communities start prayer walking troubled areas of their city. The goal should be an ongoing sustainable prayer movement that results in more disciples of Jesus, not just prayer events, but fostering a lifestyle of prayer for everyone.

Seek out resources that will help foster the prayer movement in your community and share them with those who are interested.

Pray Together and invite people to come together for prayer. Don’t just pray for people -  pray with people.

Discover God’s DNA for Your Community

Connect through Prayer

In working together to disciple believers, prayer is your foundation and source of strength. Your relationship with God fills you with His love, which overflows into the lives of those you are reaching. As you connect with Him you are more prepared to connect with others. Prayer is the vital communication we have with Him.

Ask God for His Vision

God knows how He wants to mobilize a move­ment in your area to reach and empower every person. Why not allow Him to orchestrate the movement? Ask God to give you His vision and heart for your community.

Establish a Foundation of Prayer

Building a local movement means making prayer intentional. With whom can you pray and who will pray for you? Here are some ideas:

+ Make prayer a consistent part of your network meeting.

+ Meet regularly in smaller prayer groups.

+ Take one or more days to have a group prayer summit.

+ Enlist local groups to pray for your network and the communities you want to reach, i.e. Moms in Prayer, Congregational prayer groups, etc.

+ Set up an online social networking group to share requests.

3D Prayer

Prayer can be multidirectional for your community.

+ Pray Up: Establish the vertical relationship with God through praise and thanksgiving.

+ Pray Across: Intercede for one another regularly and at gatherings.

+ Pray Out: Listen to God as He reveals your community’s needs and resources for the people in your community.

Prioritizing Prayer

In our network one leader served at a small church that had a prayer garden and we met there. Our prayers were about seeking His will, lifting up our kids, and our community.

As we prayed, I saw us mature with cohesive­ness and intimacy among us. Then we were prepared to truly help.

--Venetia Yates, Network Coordinator Bosque Farms, New Mexico

Connect through Prayer

How is your soul today? How can prayer help you in working together to transform people into disciple makers?

Ask God for His Vision

Take some time to pray right now. How do you sense God is moving in the lives of people in your community? When can you schedule some more time to get away, asking God what He has to say about reaching and equipping youth in your community?

Establishing Your Foundation

Who would be willing to pray for the people of your community? What action points can you set to get people praying together?

Praying in New Dimensions

How can you build prayer more intentionally into your networking times with other believers?

Additional resources

http://nationalprayercommittee.com

http://prayersummit.net

http://www.ihopkc.org

http://www.praynetwork.org

http://www.youthworkers.net/index.cfm/fuseaction/blog.view/BlogID/1550

Active Shooter Preparedness

Sunday, August 5^th, in a suburb of Milwaukee, a lone gunman entered a Sikh temple, opened fire and killed six people before he himself was shot and killed. Reports say that there have been at least three other men who were shot but will recover. The investigation, led by the FBI, is currently ongoing and more information will be released as it is made available.

What’s the Christian Response?

The first step in the Christian response should be to pray. God is the only one who can fully understand the implications of the event on the individual. Pray for his wisdom in how to minister to those around you. Pray for strength, guidance and wisdom for the responders who respond to the incident. (To read more on a Christain Response: http://community.christianemergencynetwork.org/blog/active-shooter-preparedness.html)

Mission America Coalition (http://www.missionamerica.org/Brix?pageID=12737) is working with CEN (http://www.christianemergencynetwork.org) and BASICS Milwaukee (http://www.basicsinmke.org) to unite the Church to Prepare, Pray, Care and Share!

Thank you for your prayers. Please prayerfully consider how prepared your community, church and individuals are for a disaster.

The Train Runs on Two Tracks

by John Kieffer

Think of each rail as Relationship and Strategy.

The tracks are laid on the ties/foundation of Prayer. It is hard work to lay the ties and tracks; but once in place, we can really move to where God wants us to go. Prayer is the work! Prayer is the foundation. Prayer is what ties it all together and keeps it level and balanced. Relationship and strategy must flow from prayer. If you try to lay the tracks of relationship and strategy without the foundation of prayer or run your train into town with out tracks, you will have a train wreck.

Prayer

Why is prayer so important? It seems like we pour a whole lot more time, energy and money into the planning of events than we do in actually praying for the event. Prayer is vital; because first of all, we need to hear from God about whether or not we should even be doing what we are planning. Prayer is vital because it prepares our hearts and purifies us as The Father speaks to us. Prayer is foundational because, out of hearing from God and humbling ourselves, we can grow in unity and love with each other. Prayer is crucial because it prepares the hearts of those we are inviting to hear the Good News. Prayer prepares the ground for all our relating and planning.

We envision every believer who will be attending praying for people to invite, caring for them as the Lord directs and being ready to share with them and be there for them at the event and ready to do the necessary follow-up after the event.

The prayer foundation is essential before we start laying the tracks of relationship and strategy, and more important than the train pulling into town. The Lord could do all His work through the power of prayer, or we can do all the work of putting on another event and loose the precious fruit of our labor.

1 Timothy 2:1, 3-4 - I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone -- This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

We have found through the years that as Pastors and Christian Leaders come together in concerted humble prayer, a unity is forged that creates the right groundwork for healthy community. Out of this foundation of prayer comes community impact and transformation. Where God is at work we see a humble prayer movement bonding relationships and then wonderful ideas springing forth from the unity and love that has been developed in prayer.

Relationship

We started praying together twenty years ago. We started with a four day Pastors Prayer Summit and began meeting monthly for prayer at various churches across the Valley. Sometimes the Pastor wasn't available and we would pray in the churches parking lot for the pastor and congregation. Every year we make it a priority to get away and pray together at the Summit. The strength of relationship that is forged in this context is strong. As we have humbled ourselves before the Lord over all these years, we have bonded in true unity and love in the Spirit. Trust has been built and the ability to work through issues in a Godly and Biblical manner. We are enjoying healthy Christian Community.

Strategy is all about where we are going. What is the plan? How are we going to get there? What is the destination?

Matthew 24:14 - And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Matthew 28:19 - Therefore go and make disciples of all nations...

The destination seems clear; proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom to all nations.

The question is, are we laying the tracks to get us there? Are we doing the hard work of prayer and relationship building so we can reach our destination? We can't just roll into town, do a Gospel dump, and then leave with out teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded us. Jesus taught us to love one another and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

We need both tracks of relationship and strategy laid on the firm foundation of prayer to truly fulfill the great commission.