More Prayer
One of the outcomes of a crisis is that people who have never prayed, or people who have not prayed in a long time, find themselves crying out to God. During this pandemic, there are many who have turned to seek help from God. People who have lost jobs or have been sick with the coronavirus have prayed perhaps as never before.
The President of the United States called for a day of prayer. Many denominations, including the Missionary Church, called for a day of fasting and prayer. We have called our churches to a “First Friday Fast,” encouraging our people to set aside at least one day of the month for prayer and fasting. For details, go to Firstfridayfast.
Local churches have increased their focus on prayer. Over the past few weeks, I have been asking for stories of how churches have provided more opportunities for their people to be involved in prayer.
One prayer coordinator wrote: “I have been encouraging everyone to pray through Psalm 91 every day. I’m also recommending the book Psalm 91 by Peggy Joyce Ruth, with many stories of God’s protection.”
Another prayer leader wrote, “Before the quarantine arrived, we began to pray for our city, and we have continued to pray for our country. We have seen the hands of God at work. Although several of our brothers became ill with the coronavirus, not one died! God is good! Another thing we did was divide into 14 prayer groups by phone with 14 leaders praying — 2 groups every day from 8:00 to 9:00 PM from home. We are doing this until we meet again on our premises. This has kept the church united as the body of Christ. We are also praying every day from 5:00 to 7:00 AM. Every day I believe that prayer is the key to give us victory. We have had the supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit in church life. Glory to our God!”
A church planter shared with me that they have set aside each Saturday as a day of prayer. They pray from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. People from the church sign up to cover an hour.
Another church has a prayer time every morning and evening at 8:20 on Facebook Live. They chose this time because of missionary friends who are praying at those times in a time zone that is 12 hours ahead. So whether they are praying morning or evening, they are praying with friends on the other side of the world.
Some churches have been hosting daily prayer meetings on Facebook Live where people can share prayer requests and pray together.
Another church did a parking lot prayer meeting. They set up stations around the parking lot, each with a different prayer focus. Congregants could either walk to each station and pray or drive their cars and stop at each station.
We would love to receive more stories of how your church is calling people to pray and the opportunities you are providing for them. Send your stories to prayfirst@mcusa.org.