(Adapted from Fresh Encounters – Experiencing Transformation through United, Worship-based Prayer; by Daniel Henderson; NavPress)
From my personal struggles and interactions with many of my peers, I discovered five basic reasons why pastors sometimes resist leading the way to a dynamic prayer ministry in the local church:
1. Many grew up in a prayerless church environment.
There is a Brazilian proverb that states, “The heart cannot taste what the eyes have not seen.” Today’s pastors often lack firsthand experience of what a dynamic prayer-energized church looks like.
Many pastors recall sparsely attended prayer meetings they’ve attended in the past. These sleepy prayer sessions featured a litany of personal requests or those for a third cousin twice removed.
Accordingly, some pastors are happy if they can provide such a prayer gathering for three people who want to unload their various burdens. But a church where the majority of the people gather in dynamic, worship-based prayer does not register on most pastors’ radar screens.
2. Most were trained in a prayerless educational process.
I went through seven years of formal undergraduate and graduate-level theological education at excellent institutions. While grateful for all the fine classes and grand truths, I never had a professor or pastor personally influence me in the area of prayer. Oh, there were great sermons on prayer and theological truths about prayer, but no one took me aside and taught me to pray by praying together on a regular basis.
Today, church leaders commonly receive many years of instruction about the ministry of the Word, while practical mentoring on the prayer ministry in the local church is neglected completely.
Few churches offer real teaching and practical instruction on prayer. The churches of my youth did not—or if they did, it certainly did not capture my attention. So how was I to learn? How do other pastors catch the passion?
3. All minister in a prayerless, success-oriented culture.
“Man of prayer” no longer ranks high on the typical list of desirable leadership traits for the local church pastor. Usually, the driven, over-achieving, “can-do” person is most admired in our society—and our churches.
Recently, I was in Utah teaching a prayer seminar at a statewide church leadership conference. After my session, a man approached me explaining that he was the chairman of the pastoral search committee for a congregation in that area. He pulled out a list of more than eighty-five desirable attributes for their next pastor. The inventory had been compiled through a recent survey of the congregation. Many of the qualities centered on communication skills, management ability, pleasant personality, and strong pastoral care interests. Nowhere on the list was there any mention of the priority of prayer as an essential characteristic for the new pastor. American society tends to value strong, natural leadership, dynamic programming, entertaining services, and impressive technology. The idea of a pastor locked away in extended prayer does not strike the average churchgoer as a mark of effective leadership.
Some church members think it wastes time if the pastor spends energy attending prayer meetings. Many pastors realize this and decide not to go against the grain.
4. Some battle a prayerless personal life.
It is hard to take the church further than you have journeyed in your life. This sense of failure and guilt immobilizes many pastors in the church prayer ministry. Pastors know they should be leading the way, but as one leader wrote, “If I wished to humble anyone, I should question him about his prayers. I know nothing to compare with this topic for its sorrowful self confessions.” 1 These unfortunate confessions often lead to unnecessary excuses. As a result the prayer ministry is without leadership and everyone suffers.
5. Every pastor is a special target of the enemy.
The “Master of Distraction” does not have to lure your pastor into scandalous sin. He simply needs to distract your pastor with good church activities. As long as the primary leader does not tap into the supernatural work of prayer, the church will be content to engage in a nice, socially pleasing ministry, but will have little Spirit-empowered impact.
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