Official Start of Praying Church Movement to be at GA2012
“The Praying Church Movement” – is an undertaking by the Prayer Ministry of the Church of God to identify congregations that want to be intentional in the area of prayer, who want to bring prayer to the center of all they do.
The movement was announced in Cartersville, GA in March, but the primary kick-off of the movement will be at the forthcoming General Assembly. P. Douglas Small, international coordinator of prayer ministries, says that two new resources have been created. The Praying Church Resource Guide is a loose-leaf, 3-ring notebook chock full of practical ideas for local church prayer ministry. The notebook is a staggering 750 pages. Small says, “The idea is that a pastor or prayer leader can literally pull from the notebook a resource, take it to the copy machine, and have a ready-made handout on a wide variety of prayer materials.” Small indicates that one section is on family prayer, another on prayer evangelism, still another on intercessory prayer, and yet another on the church’s prayer room/center and prayer groups.
Small said one section is to help a church ‘get organized’ with their prayer ministry, and launch ‘learning teams.’ In addition a two-volume work, The Praying Church Manual, is more substantive – to inform the pastors and prayer leaders about the theology and Biblical history of prayer. A preview edition will be unwrapped at the General Assembly.
“One of the things I have noted,” Small says, “is that our ‘prayer theology’ is very narrow, shallow, self-interested. And if a prayer leadership team proceeds on the basis of such a narrow foundation, the prayer ministry in the church will certainly falter. So what is needed from the beginning are teachable prayer leaders, and both the resource guide and the manual is meant as a basic curriculum for them to begin to expand their understanding of prayer and prayer ministries.”
David Butts, Chairman of the National Prayer Committee was present at the meeting when the manual was introduced. He commented, “I know of no other denomination that has anything comparable to this resource – Congratulations, to the Church of God.”
Church of God Prayer ministries will sponsor a day of training in the area of prayer on Monday, July 23, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. More information is available at www.praycog.org. Churches can also sign up to become a part of the ‘Praying Church Movement’ by going to the web-site.
