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#032 PASTORS PRAYER GROUPS: FOCUS AND PURPOSE
What is a
Pastors Prayer Group? It is a gathering of those who shepherd congregations in
a community, who pray individually and together, especially for revival,
reconciliation, repentance, and social change in their city and region. It is
not another ministerial meeting, not a new program, and not just another
organization of pastors because its “the thing to do.” A Pastors Prayer Group
has a definite focus and purpose.
It takes
time for pastors in such a group to develop a comfortable level of confidence
and trust with each other, resulting in a closeness that forms meaningful
relationships. (Often, however, a Prayer Summit lasting several days will
shorten the time for relationship building.) Sometimes in the process
confession and brokenness are essential before relationships can deepen or even
begin. The better you know someone, the more likely you are to value and like
that person.
The
process in Pastors Prayer Groups is based on and saturated with prayer. The result is unity among pastors in
focusing on the pains and problems of their city and working toward common
goals to address those pains and problems. No longer ministering to needs in
isolation from one another, pastors serve together in unity and collaboration.
No city
will ever be able to start and sustain a city-wide Light-House ministry without
having pastors on board. And pastors are not likely to be on board unless they
are thinking and praying together. Pastors Prayer Groups are usually the start
of pastors coming together and beginning to work together. Their involvement is
absolutely crucial to the success of a city Light-House ministry.
Since
the Pastors Prayer Group meeting is a prayer-focused gathering, 95 percent of
the time should be spent in prayer . . .
for each other. for the
city. for those who are lost.
General
guidelines:
Maximize
your prayer time by praying your prayer requests rather than discussing them.
Pray in
“one accord” by allowing the Spirit to introduce prayer themes, and pray them
patiently through together, to completion.
Anyone
can take the initiative and begin a Pastors Prayer Group.
If you
are not a pastor, don’t let that stop you from being proactive and beginning to
get pastors together. Your role is to bring pastors together, give initial
leadership, and then turn over the leadership to a pastor.
If you
are a pastor, your initial role is similar to invite other pastors, give
initial leadership, and be available as the group decides your involvement.
If you
want to start a Pastors Prayer Group, first you must pray! Ask God how he will
use you to gather pastors so that pastors in your city may pray with humility
and in unity, seeking Gods authority and strategy, to do his ministry and
declare victory to everyone in your city and region. And then keep on praying.
Second,
ask the Lord to identify intercessors who will work with you to make this a . .
. prayer-birthed strategy. prayer-based ministry. prayed-saturated activity.
Then
invite pastors to pray with you. Pastors should consider meeting together . .
. to pray for each other and their city
or region. to build relationships
personally and professionally. to
deepen their fellowship with God and with one another. HOPE Ministries has a publication titled
Light-House Lens: Pastors Prayer Groups that will give you step-by-step ideas
on how to form a group.
To
invite pastors to a prayer group, a personal contact is more effective than a letter
or flyer. You can use written communication to reinforce the personal contact
and to remind those who agreed to meet with regard to the date, place, and time
of your meeting.
The
pastors you invite must be Christians who believe Jesus is the only Savior for
the whole world, that Jesus is God in human flesh. They should share these
basic characteristics:
Committed
to the complete unity that the Lord Jesus desires for his church. Open to and/or active in prayer for revival
and awakening and empowering of the church that alerts and attracts the world
to the good news of Jesus. Willing to
invite other pastors to meet for prayer.
Willing
to encourage other pastors to join a Pastors Prayer Group. Willing to ensure that this group cooperates
rather than competes with local ministerial and denominational groups.
Responsible
to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit by balancing both spirit (freedom +
diversity) and truth (Scripture-based prayers + petitions).
1. Respond to the call to begin a Pastors Prayer
Group.
2. Invite pastors to meet weekly for an hour of
prayer.
3. Facilitate the initial meetings:
Begin and
conclude on time.
Make
introductions.
Set “ground
rules.”
Give
individuals the freedom to pray their own way (kneeling, prone, sitting but
without being a distraction).
Stay
focused on prayer.
Use Bibles
to quote Scripture as it is revealed. Let God speak!
Encourage
singing praise, petition, confession, thanksgiving, doxology. Spend time together talking and listening to
God, as well as building personal relationships.
Set the
date for your next meeting together.
4. Challenge pastors to attend the next meeting
and to bring other pastors.
Relationships.
Pastors discover that the Lord has called them together to pray so that they
might begin to love one another by listening, encouraging, exhorting, and
praying with and for one another.
Ministry. Pastors find themselves drawn to gather people together for
activities such as saturating the city with Light-Houses, Concerts of Prayer,
worship and praise, feeding the hungry, Prayerwalking, Round Tables, and so on.
These
results happen through prayer. That’s the reason for meeting. These results are
not the focus of prayer but they are a benefit.
The
church must recognize itself as a living city-wide entity. In order for that to
happen, pastors must establish a leadership infrastructure that will empower
its many individual congregations to function autonomously but in cooperation
with other churches in the city. Without such an infrastructure redemptive and
social transformation will not happen.
Again,
vision brings diversity together into one unified entity. Leadership must be
selected and affirmed. Then teams can be formed to address the components of
change.
Dear
children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really
show it
by our actions.1 John 3:18, NLT
Contact HOPE
Ministries for more information and strategies about the Light-House Movement,
the vision and potential of Light-Houses, or becoming a Light-House church.
HOPE
Ministries
1-800-217-5200
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2000, NPPN - Permission granted for duplication or distribution among
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