Rainey Prays on Some Days

The General Idea Participants will pray together in small groups in shorter bursts of focused prayer to help them stay focused and not lose interest. When time is up or prayer begins to lag, the leader will have group’s come back together and move them to the next topic. Materials Needed PowerPoint slides or overhead project Set Up Prepare slides with a different prayer focus on each slide and instructions for the group. Instructions You will create 8-10 “prayer slides” to display for 4-6 minute prayer segments. You will divide the congregation into groups of 5-7 people, who will then remain in one location in the sanctuary/room. (This activity also helps those who are in a group together get to know each other better.) Assign a group leader for each group by selecting the person whose was born the farthest away, and then have that person choose someone else to be the leader. The group leader’s job is to make sure the group stays focused and observes time limits. When in...

The General Idea In a van or bus, a group of people will drive to spiritually significant locations in your town or city to pray about what they represent. People will stay in the vehicle and pray in what represents “drive-by praying.” Materials Needed Van or bus Qualified driver (different from prayer trip leader) Prayer trip leader Set Up Select locations that you will visit ahead of time and practice driving the route before taking the group. Instructions The prayer trip leader will plot out a course with spiritually significant locations in the town/city that the group will drive to. After stopping at the location, the prayer trip leader will introduce the significance of the location and instruct the group on how to pray. Select significant locations such as: Specific neighborhoods City hall or other government buildings Other churches Synagogues or mosques Buildings that were churches but have been converted to businesses Schools Crisis pregnancy...

The General Idea This activity can be used in conjuction with a Bible study as a call to response or during a prayer emphasis. Spread cut-out slips of paper photocopied from the annual The Persecuted Church: Global Report at the altar area. Have people come forward and pick up a slip of paper. The paper will describe a Restricted Nation or Hostile Area . Allow 5-7 minutes for people to read the description of the country and pray for the country. Materials Needed Cut out slips of paper from country reports in The Persecuted Church: Global Report , available with the free monthly newsletter or purchase in bulk at 800.747.0085. For more information, go to http://www.persecution.com/ . Set Up Prior to session, copy the pages from the report with the descriptions of individual countries in which a country is classified as a Restricted Nation or Hostile Area. Then cut the pages into slips so that each slip of paper has information about one country. (You may also be able to print t...

Click on the link for a good guide for those who want to pray for Haiti .

The General Idea This works much like a fitness circuit or a trip through an art museum. Participants will move individually or in designated groups to “prayer stations” that are posted on the wall (or the floor, or both) around the sanctuary on printed or flipchart pages with instructions on how to pray at that particular station. I’ve led this type of prayer several times and it works well because it gives specific instructions for prayer at each station, keeps people moving and active (and less likely to get sleepy or bored), and is not driven by a leader holding a microphone and drowning out everyone else who is trying to pray. Materials Needed Prepared flipchart pages or printed pages Tape Using the instructions below, create several stations around the sanctuary with a specific prayer focus at each one by printing the instructions on the page and taping them to the wall or floor. Prior to the service, you will create “prayer stations” around the sanctuary by taping pag...