The Lord Jesus maintained His connectivity to the Father through a dynamic prayer life – one so obviously fruitful that the disciples envied it in Luke 11:1.

The early church was born in prayer (Acts 1:14; 2:4), then moved forward from Pentecost into a trajectory of growth in both people and power as they continued steadfastly in prayer (Acts 2:42), and as their obstacles and opportunities grew, they again resorted to corporate prayer in Acts 4:31 for a release of fresh empowerment. From that point on, the church received direction and vision, ordained leaders, and overcame issues through prayer.

It is no wonder that the Lord spoke through Isaiah and said, Isaiah 56:7 (NKJV) “…My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” The house of God must be a place that facilitates communication and communion between man and God.

And beyond that, Jesus revealed in Matthew 18:18-19 that the agreement of God’s people in prayer becomes a powerful tool for advancing the purposes of God on the earth. Matthew 18:18-19 (NKJV) “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.

For these reasons, prayer is an essential component of a church that aspires to be healthy.

Now remember God’s word through Isaiah….. “My house shall be called a house of prayer…” In other words, prayer should characterize the house of God. That means prayer doesn’t just happen at church, it is part of the culture of the church. So establishing a prayer culture within the church is the real goal.

Prayer Culture

A prayer culture is different than a prayer meeting or prayer event, although those things are involved, but the prayer culture of the church becomes the normalized set of values, responses, and practices that motivate and activate the way prayer flows from the congregation as a whole and from it’s members as individuals. It becomes a lifestyle for the church and it’s people.

So, prayer culture is much more than a formula, a process, or a gathering…rather it is the atmosphere that permeates services, classes, groups, outreaches, planning meetings, the church office, and the individual lives of it’s people.

What does the development of a prayer culture accomplish within the church?

Four Functions of a Prayer Culture

• Causes the body to DISCOVER GOD’S CHARACTER

• Causes the body to DISCERN GOD’S DIRECTIONS

• Causes the body to BELIEVE FOR GOD’S PURPOSES TO BE ACCOMPLISHED

• Causes the body to EXERT AUTHORITY OVER HINDERANCES AND ENEMIES (Engage in Spiritual Warfare)

How does the development of a prayer culture contribute to the health of the church? Besides the obvious result of answered prayers, there are at least 2 important benefits the church receives when a prayer culture is established.

Two Benefits of a Prayer Culture

• A prayer culture FOSTERS UNITY among the people by bringing them into alignment with one another as they are focused on the Lord, His will, and His work. Rather than a fragmented and self-centered focus, everyone rallies around the person of Jesus and His will.

• A prayer culture SHIFTS THE WEIGHT of accomplishing the work of the ministry and fulfilling God’s vision for the church off of the shoulders of the people and onto the shoulders of God Himself as they trust Him to release His wisdom and His power to accomplish His plans.

So, where is the starting point for the development of a prayer culture within the church? It starts with the most important component of the church’s prayer culture.

The Most Important Part of Your Church’s Prayer Culture

The leader’s personal prayer life is the single most important element of a local church’s prayer culture. According to Luke 11, John the Baptist’s disciples and Jesus’ disciples assimilated the prayer lives of their leaders. In many ways, the church’s prayer life will look like the pastor’s prayer life.

When the pastor is passionate about prayer, passionate prayer will spill over into the church. When the pastor believes for big things in prayer, the church will also believe for big things. When the pastor values hearing the voice of God in prayer, his people will come to value God’s voice as well. The reality is that the pastor never ceases to be the shepherd. He is living life with the sheep, a few steps ahead, understanding the location of the food and water, the path, and the dangers. Therefore, the sheep will follow in the shepherd’s footsteps in life and in prayer.

Because the sheep will follow the shepherd in prayer, it is absolutely critical that the congregation hears the pastor pray. Jesus’ disciples heard Him pray. John’s disciples heard him pray. The people must hear their leader pray. This is how they form an understanding of communication with God. In fact, many folks in a congregation will have little to no recollection of anyone praying out loud, in front of them, in their lives. How can they learn if they’ve never heard? The pastor must provide them with that example, and not just over the offering or to close a service, the people need to hear their leader communicate with God.

So the inaugural step of implementing a prayer culture within the church is for the pastor to develop a strong personal prayer life of his own, and then be willing to share it with his people.

Once a pastor is ready to take the church on the journey to develop a prayer culture, there are 7 steps that can move a congregation in the right direction.

Developing a Prayer Culture

Establish Prayer Values

Utilize scripture, the leadership of the Spirit, books, experiences, and mentoring to curate values that will shape your prayer culture. (*Refuge Church’s prayer values are provided as an example at the end of this content.)

Implement Prayer Culture With the Leaders

Begin praying with your staff, board, and ministry leaders in normal settings and a special called events being guided by your established prayer values. Leaders will catch on quickly and this will push the prayer culture further down into the church culture as these leaders implement the values in their areas and ministries.

Cast the Vision of Prayer

When a leader is serious about embedding prayer in the culture of the church, the subject of prayer will need to be taught and preached. Isaiah 56, Matthew 6, and Matthew 18 all provide wonderful launch pads for prayer instruction in the church. To go deeper, teach through the prayers of Paul found in his letters.

Implement Prayer Values in Services and Gatherings

This is where the look of some things in the church will change. For example, if one of your values is that all prayer will be intentional, then programmatic prayers in services will be replaced with sincere apostolic prayers or other meaningful communication with the Lord that truly expresses something you are earnestly believing for. If another of your values is that prayer becomes interactive and participation is desired, then you will encourage the people to give voice to their prayers as the leader prays, the leader will be quiet and wait for the people to pray, and you will give opportunities for the people to pray with one another. Beyond services, implementation is where you enact those values even in staff meetings and small groups and other gatherings. You will hold yourself accountable for insisting on the values being observed at all times.

Implement Consistent Prayer in the Schedule

In this step, you will establish the regular prayer gatherings that will become the fuel for the spiritual fire in the church. These gatherings can be monthly, weekly, daily, or whatever the Spirit may direct. The key here is consistency. Another key is that the leader must be involved regularly with these gatherings and have significant input into their direction. An easy way to implement consistent prayer in the schedule is to include a significant prayer time in each service. These times flow very naturally coming out of worship. This time may be directed toward intercession regarding a specific issue like the lost or our nation, it could focus on prayer for healing and miracles, or any other direction the pastor senses is appropriate. (*(Jonesboro, Refuge Church’s prayer schedule is provided as an example at the end of this content.)

Implement Special Prayer Events

This element allows the Holy Spirit to direct you outside the regular flow of prayer to address things like important church projects or initiatives like revivals, conferences, outreaches, etc… These special prayer emphasis will produce unity around these things as the people pray together about them. It also signals to the people what is of great importance to the leadership and creates buy-in because they have invested themselves in prayer. Special prayer events can also be used for situations like natural disasters, elections, and other important scenarios.

Implement Celebration

Create intentional methods of recognizing answered prayers, salvations, healings, deliverances, miracles, and other spiritual wins. As you pray consistently, these wins will happen. Many of them. Sharing them will cultivate an atmosphere of joy and excitement within the people and will feed their faith for future prayer projects. Celebration can be done casually from the pulpit, using live interviews with those involved, pre-recorded videos, or any other numbers of means. Capturing these stories on video and posting them to social media provides great exposure for your church and more importantly, draws significant attention to the works of God among the public.

Resources

Books

• The Praying Church – Sue Curran

• The Prayer Ministry of the Church – Watchman Nee

• The Fourth Dimension – David Yonggi Cho

• Intercessory Prayer – Dutch Sheets

• Authority In Prayer – Dutch Sheets

*Refuge Church Resource Information

Prayer Values

At Refuge, prayer is: consistent -intentional -interactive -intense -scriptural -faith-filled -Spirit-led

Prayer Schedule

Weekly: Wednesday Noon Prayer – People gather in the sanctuary during the noon hour to worship, pray, soak in the presence of God, or whatever they feel led to do. There is no agenda. Background music plays. Pastor and staff are present and pray on their own.

Monthly: Unquenchable Prayer and Worship – Second Sunday of the month at 5:00pm. Worship is integrated with prayers led by staff members, church leaders, or church members. Often a theme is arrived at among the staff, or the pastor feels led a specific direction, then leaders are chosen to lead prayers related to the direction. The congregation is encouraged to engage using a diversity of means. Some of these events are completely unplanned, except for the music, and the pastor and staff flow with the direction of the Spirit.

Midnight Oil: Third Saturday of the month at 11:30pm. This gathering is managed by one leader, usually the pastor. The group engages in worship until the leader feels released to move forward into intercession as directed by the Spirit. The people are encouraged to share what they hear and see in the Spirit as it relates to what is being prayed. They are also encouraged to lead in prayer about those things. Each Midnight Oil is very unique and the leader uses the entire gathering to ‘teach’ about the voice of God, visions, and the Gifts of the Spirit, as they unfold within the context of that meeting. Young Adults particularly love this event. Many of the Refuge folks become familiar and comfortable with the supernatural in this setting because it is safe, there is guidance, and they can immediately see how the way the Spirit is dealing with them relates to the way He is dealing with others.