Is It Time For A Church Prayer Survey?
Church Survey Below
Many churches have prayer coordinators, prayer ministry teams, prayer workshops, prayer vigils, prayer meetings, prayer rooms, prayer retreats, prayer lists, but, are the members “prayer conditioned?” When sickness strikes, do they ask someone in the church for prayer? After a weekend worship service, do spontaneous prayer circles appear? Can you hear children praying in their Sunday school class? Is the prayer room used by several generations throughout the week? Does everyone participate in prayer when committees and teams meet for planning and decision-making?
It seems to me that to many long-term Christians, a “prayer conditioned” church is much like an air conditioned one! We expect the church facility to be cool and refreshing when the temperature soars without any participation or responsibility on our part, other than enjoying the benefits. As an antidote, consider posting signs on the doors of each room in your facility that issue a “warning”: This room is prayer conditioned!
Post it in your weekly bulletin and monthly newsletter. Add it to your letterhead: This Church Is Prayer Conditioned!
Keep the signs up before a concert of prayer, throughout a sermon series on becoming a praying congregation, or after a prayer workshop.
Integrating Prayer and Worship (example)
Q. Diane, from your role as a worship leader, what is the relationship of prayer to worship?
Both prayer and worship involve connecting with the heart of God. Both are a way of life. Worship brings us in to the very presence of God and what better place to communicate our devotion as well as our need.
Q. How does prayer serve worship?
Over the years (more than 20) I have been leading worship, I have realized that many people fall into the trap of singing about God and not to Him. This can keep us from being fully engaged. A spoken prayer or a time of prayerful reflection in the midst of singing can often wake us from the tendency to withhold our hearts as we praise Him.
Q. How does worship serve prayer?
Any spiritual discipline can so easily move from a heart response of devotion to one of duty. In worship, we enter in to the Most Holy Place and are overwhelmed at times by His presence. In this place, our faith is strengthened and we see just how small we really are and how awesome our God is. For me, it is in these times that the promises I know in my head (God is able to meet all my needs, I can do all things through Christ, ask and you will receive . . .) become alive.
Q. How would you counsel a prayer leader to work more closely with their congregation’s worship leader?
I think that any leaders involved in the spiritual growth of a local body should be finding time to regularly pray for the church. Over the last several years God has been reminding me over and over that He wants us to love the church like He does. This doesn’t always come naturally but prayer is the key! The more we realize that we are each just a part of the whole and were designed to need each other, the more effective our individual parts become.
Q. What are some ways prayer can be incorporated into a worship service? (the singing segments)
Interjecting spoken prayer can be very powerful especially if it flows with the direction established. It doesn’t necessarily need to happen at the end of a song. Consider praying over the music in the middle of a song relating to the lyrics. Singing a song of surrender for instance, pray a corporate prayer of surrender and then move back in to the chorus of the song. Another idea would be to continue to play softly and encourage the congregation to pray silently or even out loud. I am always encouraging those I lead to respond to God. Moving in and out of prayer should flow instead of a feeling of starting and stopping. Prayer can also provide entry points for people that tend to be observers rather than participants.
Q. Agree or disagree: “Songs that address the Lord directly are prayers set to music.”
Absolutely. Prayer is communication with God. Music is just a medium.
Q. It seems many of the great hymns of the Church are horizontal; they allow us to declare our faith in God and love for one another. List some hymns you have found that enable us to sing vertically, that offer praise or petition to the Lord.
I love to use hymns. Often times, I will change the pronouns on the last verse to move us from singing about God to singing to Him. For example, we use the beautiful Hymn, “Tis’ So Sweet,” but we sing the last verse.”I’m so glad I’ve learned to trust You.” Other hymns I have used are “Have Thine Own Way,” “I Surrender All,” “Holy, Holy, Holy,” “It is Well.” Connecting a hymn to a simple chorus in the same key can be very powerful.
Q. Prayer leaders often facilitate small groups in prayer. What ideas have you found helpful for integrating prayer and praise in small group settings?
I love to shake things up at times. Small groups are great places to try something different. One of the most powerful small group experiences I have had was when I lead a group in worship but with no songs. I instructed them to pour out there hearts of praise and worship through the spoken word. Worship songs are a great tool for personal worship but in reality they are someone else’s thoughts put to music. Much like a greeting card, singing a song is like signing your name to thoughts that express your heart. Challenge a small group to express their thoughts out loud. Encourage language they can relate to. Have them write their worship and then share it with each other.
Q. Many prayer facilitators are like me. They are not confident in leading out with a song (a capella) in a small group setting. Any helps?
I’d say keep it simple! If you are really uncomfortable singing, lead the group in speaking the words to a familiar chorus. Bring a cd player and invite the group to sing along. Vineyard music has just released a wonderful tool for just this purpose. They have a set of DVDs and Cd’s called Home Again. Basically it is acoustic worship and the DVD’s are designed so you can actually choose your own set list and the lyrics are displayed on your screen. A laptop computer would even be large enough for a small group to see the lyrics. It’s a wonderful idea and could be helpful in many settings.
Q. Diane, please write a prayer for prayer leaders who want to incorporate more praise and worship into their corporate praying.
Father, Our hearts desire is to know You! I ask that You would take us deeper. Teach us to worship You in ways that really touch Your heart. Guard us from seeking anything but You! As we draw near, overwhelm us with Your presence. May every breath and every heart beat bring You Honor. Let our very lives be an offering. Grant us faith as we bring our requests before You. In the Matchless Name of Jesus. Amen
Prayer Songs
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs We Sing to God
A wise prayer leader will have a list of songs with lyrics that cause the singer to speak directly to God because there is a difference between horizontal (“Praise Him”) and vertical (“We praise you, Lord”) language. Too often the songs we select speak about the Lord rather than directly to the Lord. The Holy Spirit has given us an increasing catalogue of contemporary upward focused songs but there are also many wonderful hymns that also serve as prayer songs. Look for hymns with lyrics that allow the group or congregation to sing their prayer to the Lord. Singing our prayer is often a good way to to focus the entire group on the same topic or to transition to the next theme.
A few suggestions, taken from The Celebration Hymnal (Word Music / Integrity Music):
Praise
God Our Father, We Adore Thee
Come Thou Almighty King
Lord, I Lift Your Name On High
Repentance
I Need Thee Every Hour
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Ask
Fill My Cup Lord
O God, Our Help In Ages Past
Yield
I Surrender All (Change pronouns to You)
O Jesus I Have Promised
A Resource Just for Our Members
The Church Prayer Leaders Network wants to serve our members better. One way we can do that is to provide more opportunities to touch you personally. We are in the process of adding regional representatives who are available to assist our members in various areas of the country. Our reps are people who work in other ministries, but who have a similar heart to ours--a heart that beats to see churches become houses of prayer, and a heart that wants to encourage prayer leaders.
Our neighborhood
Lord, I lift up our community, especially the surrounding neighborhood. Let us love these people as we love ourselves. May our concern for their needs override other things that take our time and focus. Rebuild and restore areas that have been devastated. Renew our community—send Your peace and prosperity into this place where You’ve planted us. Bless each individual home and family. Build each house from the inside out; watch over our city. (Gal. 5:14; Prov. 3:28; Isa. 61:4; Jer. 29:7; Lk 10:5-6; Ps. 127:1)
Prayer Brings Spiritual Eyesight
Prayer Brings Spiritual Eyesight
One of my favorite passages in Scripture is Luke 2:22-31, the account where Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple for circumcision and to offer a sacrifice.
In the account we see a godly priest, Simeon, and an elderly widow, Anna, who came every day to the Temple to worship and pray. Both of these characters recognized who Jesus was the moment they saw him.
What’s interesting to me is the fact that lots of people probably saw the infant Jesus during the first eight days of His life. I’m sure well-intentioned women visited Mary to admire her newborn. Perhaps as people passed Mary and Joseph on the street they stopped to look at Jesus. They stroked His chin; cooed at Him; perhaps kissed His forehead. They were that close to Him . . . but none of them recognized who He was!
Think about that. Many of these people were good godly Jews. They worshiped at the Temple, offered the right sacrifices, believed the Christ would come. Many were hoping and praying for the Messiah. But no one—except a few Shepherds, Simeon and Anna—recognized Him. Why? What made the difference?
The Holy Spirit and prayer. Scripture tells us that because of his devoutness and faithfulness, the Holy Spirit told Simeon that he would see the Christ before he died. And the Holy Spirit moved Simeon out into the courtyard at just the right time on just the right day so he would see Jesus.
Anna had been coming to the Temple for more than 60 years (she was widowed after only seven years of marriage, then came every day after that). She spent so much time in the “prayer closet” fasting and praying that she had quite a connection with God! As soon as she saw the baby Jesus, her spirit was quickened, and she prophesied over Him.
Many of us are deeply religious—good Christians. We are believers who go to church, seek to live holy lives, and try to grow in our knowledge of God. Those are all good things. But like the “believers” in Jesus’ day, we can often miss Him. Now I don’t mean we are not saved; rather, I mean that often we can get caught up in “the right things to do” that we do not experience the living Christ the way we should. We need spiritual glasses to better see Jesus.
Those glasses come though prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit. The more time we spend in prayer, connecting with God, the more He can and will work in our lives (see Luke 11:13, Acts 4:31, Acts 13:2-3).
Is Your Church a Praying Church . . . or Not?
Lord, I lift up the Church in our city. Thank You for creating the body as one unit made up of many parts. Help us understand the value of each part as You have arranged them. We confess that we’ve minimized other parts. Forgive us, for we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body. Help us to work at being one: concerned about one another—suffering with and rejoicing with other congregations as appropriate. (1 Cor. 12:12-26)
our congregations are still filled with believers whose corporate prayer experience is listening to their pastor or deacon or group leader pray on their behalf. Even with all the conferences and retreats, resources, and ministries, the preponderance of pew sitters are still expected to do just that; sit and listen in their pew.
Too many Christians are “repeating Kindergarten over and over again” each year, rather than progressing in their practice of prayer. Hopefully, not at your church, not on your watch. Right?
Q. “How can I determine if the prayer life of our church is strong or weak?”
Church used a survey to determine the depth of prayer throughout his congregation. Consider customizing the questions to fit your congregation. The use of a survey is an excellent way to remind and motivate members toward prayer and would be more effective if juxtaposed with a sermon or series of messages on prayer.
PRAYER SURVEY
As the Prayer Action Team, we are asking your help with an important survey. Our goal is to form small group Bible study/prayer times that reach every interested individual in our church family. Please answer the following questions honestly and we are requesting that you do not give your name.
GENERAL QUESTIONS: Please circle that which applies –
Male or Female?
Age Group:
12 or under 13 – 18 19 – 25 26-35
36-49 50-65 Over 65
Married Single Widow Widower?
Do you have children under the age of 6?
Do you have children ages 6-18?
Are you employed outside the home? Full-time or Part-time?
1. Do you have a personal prayer time each day?
2. What part does prayer play in your daily life?
3. What are your major prayer interests? For example, family, missions, pastors and church family, government, social issues, spiritual warfare.
4. Do you have a prayer partner(s)?
5. Are you comfortable praying: a) in a small group b) in a large group c) out loud d) one-on-one e) with your children f) with your spouse g) with someone you don’t know? Please circle all that apply.
6. Do you attend Wednesday evening prayer meeting? Why or why not?
7. What do you like about Wednesday evening prayer meeting? How can it be improved?
8. Do you see prayer included in a meaningful way in our worship services?
How?
9. Have you ever attended our men’s prayer breakfast held on the first Saturday of each month? Would you be interested in attending?
10. Do you attend a small group Bible study? Is this group outside of our church family?
11. Do you think that the phone and e-mail prayer chains are effective? If not, what do you suggest needs changing? Would you like to be added to either of these prayer chains?
12. Would you desire more teaching on prayer? For example, sermons, Biblestudies, Sunday School?
13. Do you see prayer modeled in our church meetings and activities?
14. If you serve on a church committee or board, does prayer play a part in decision-making?
15. Would you like to be involved in a small group for the purpose of prayer?
Many churches have prayer coordinators, prayer ministry teams, prayer workshops, prayer vigils, prayer meetings, prayer rooms, prayer retreats, prayer lists, but, are the members “prayer conditioned?” When sickness strikes, do they ask someone in the church for prayer? After a weekend worship service, do spontaneous prayer circles appear? Can you hear children praying in their Sunday school class? Is the prayer room used by several generations throughout the week? Does everyone participate in prayer when committees and teams meet for planning and decision-making?
It seems to me that to many long-term Christians, a “prayer conditioned” church is much like an air conditioned one! We expect the church facility to be cool and refreshing when the temperature soars without any participation or responsibility on our part, other than enjoying the benefits. As an antidote, consider posting signs on the doors of each room in your facility that issue a “warning”: This room is prayer conditioned!
Post it in your weekly bulletin and monthly newsletter. Add it to your letterhead: This Church Is Prayer Conditioned!
Keep the signs up before a concert of prayer, throughout a sermon series on becoming a praying congregation, or after a prayer workshop.
Integrating Prayer and Worship (example)
Q. Diane, from your role as a worship leader, what is the relationship of prayer to worship?
Both prayer and worship involve connecting with the heart of God. Both are a way of life. Worship brings us in to the very presence of God and what better place to communicate our devotion as well as our need.
Q. How does prayer serve worship?
Over the years (more than 20) I have been leading worship, I have realized that many people fall into the trap of singing about God and not to Him. This can keep us from being fully engaged. A spoken prayer or a time of prayerful reflection in the midst of singing can often wake us from the tendency to withhold our hearts as we praise Him.
Q. How does worship serve prayer?
Any spiritual discipline can so easily move from a heart response of devotion to one of duty. In worship, we enter in to the Most Holy Place and are overwhelmed at times by His presence. In this place, our faith is strengthened and we see just how small we really are and how awesome our God is. For me, it is in these times that the promises I know in my head (God is able to meet all my needs, I can do all things through Christ, ask and you will receive . . .) become alive.
Q. How would you counsel a prayer leader to work more closely with their congregation’s worship leader?
I think that any leaders involved in the spiritual growth of a local body should be finding time to regularly pray for the church. Over the last several years God has been reminding me over and over that He wants us to love the church like He does. This doesn’t always come naturally but prayer is the key! The more we realize that we are each just a part of the whole and were designed to need each other, the more effective our individual parts become.
Q. What are some ways prayer can be incorporated into a worship service? (the singing segments)
Interjecting spoken prayer can be very powerful especially if it flows with the direction established. It doesn’t necessarily need to happen at the end of a song. Consider praying over the music in the middle of a song relating to the lyrics. Singing a song of surrender for instance, pray a corporate prayer of surrender and then move back in to the chorus of the song. Another idea would be to continue to play softly and encourage the congregation to pray silently or even out loud. I am always encouraging those I lead to respond to God. Moving in and out of prayer should flow instead of a feeling of starting and stopping. Prayer can also provide entry points for people that tend to be observers rather than participants.
Q. Agree or disagree: “Songs that address the Lord directly are prayers set to music.”
Absolutely. Prayer is communication with God. Music is just a medium.
Q. It seems many of the great hymns of the Church are horizontal; they allow us to declare our faith in God and love for one another. List some hymns you have found that enable us to sing vertically, that offer praise or petition to the Lord.
I love to use hymns. Often times, I will change the pronouns on the last verse to move us from singing about God to singing to Him. For example, we use the beautiful Hymn, “Tis’ So Sweet,” but we sing the last verse.”I’m so glad I’ve learned to trust You.” Other hymns I have used are “Have Thine Own Way,” “I Surrender All,” “Holy, Holy, Holy,” “It is Well.” Connecting a hymn to a simple chorus in the same key can be very powerful.
Q. Prayer leaders often facilitate small groups in prayer. What ideas have you found helpful for integrating prayer and praise in small group settings?
I love to shake things up at times. Small groups are great places to try something different. One of the most powerful small group experiences I have had was when I lead a group in worship but with no songs. I instructed them to pour out there hearts of praise and worship through the spoken word. Worship songs are a great tool for personal worship but in reality they are someone else’s thoughts put to music. Much like a greeting card, singing a song is like signing your name to thoughts that express your heart. Challenge a small group to express their thoughts out loud. Encourage language they can relate to. Have them write their worship and then share it with each other.
Q. Many prayer facilitators are like me. They are not confident in leading out with a song (a capella) in a small group setting. Any helps?
I’d say keep it simple! If you are really uncomfortable singing, lead the group in speaking the words to a familiar chorus. Bring a cd player and invite the group to sing along. Vineyard music has just released a wonderful tool for just this purpose. They have a set of DVDs and Cd’s called Home Again. Basically it is acoustic worship and the DVD’s are designed so you can actually choose your own set list and the lyrics are displayed on your screen. A laptop computer would even be large enough for a small group to see the lyrics. It’s a wonderful idea and could be helpful in many settings.
Q. Diane, please write a prayer for prayer leaders who want to incorporate more praise and worship into their corporate praying.
Father, Our hearts desire is to know You! I ask that You would take us deeper. Teach us to worship You in ways that really touch Your heart. Guard us from seeking anything but You! As we draw near, overwhelm us with Your presence. May every breath and every heart beat bring You Honor. Let our very lives be an offering. Grant us faith as we bring our requests before You. In the Matchless Name of Jesus. Amen
Prayer Songs
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs We Sing to God
A wise prayer leader will have a list of songs with lyrics that cause the singer to speak directly to God because there is a difference between horizontal (“Praise Him”) and vertical (“We praise you, Lord”) language. Too often the songs we select speak about the Lord rather than directly to the Lord. The Holy Spirit has given us an increasing catalogue of contemporary upward focused songs but there are also many wonderful hymns that also serve as prayer songs. Look for hymns with lyrics that allow the group or congregation to sing their prayer to the Lord. Singing our prayer is often a good way to to focus the entire group on the same topic or to transition to the next theme.
A few suggestions, taken from The Celebration Hymnal (Word Music / Integrity Music):
Praise
God Our Father, We Adore Thee
Come Thou Almighty King
Lord, I Lift Your Name On High
Repentance
I Need Thee Every Hour
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Ask
Fill My Cup Lord
O God, Our Help In Ages Past
Yield
I Surrender All (Change pronouns to You)
O Jesus I Have Promised
A Resource Just for Our Members
The Church Prayer Leaders Network wants to serve our members better. One way we can do that is to provide more opportunities to touch you personally. We are in the process of adding regional representatives who are available to assist our members in various areas of the country. Our reps are people who work in other ministries, but who have a similar heart to ours--a heart that beats to see churches become houses of prayer, and a heart that wants to encourage prayer leaders.
Our neighborhood
Lord, I lift up our community, especially the surrounding neighborhood. Let us love these people as we love ourselves. May our concern for their needs override other things that take our time and focus. Rebuild and restore areas that have been devastated. Renew our community—send Your peace and prosperity into this place where You’ve planted us. Bless each individual home and family. Build each house from the inside out; watch over our city. (Gal. 5:14; Prov. 3:28; Isa. 61:4; Jer. 29:7; Lk 10:5-6; Ps. 127:1)
Prayer Brings Spiritual Eyesight
Prayer Brings Spiritual Eyesight
One of my favorite passages in Scripture is Luke 2:22-31, the account where Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple for circumcision and to offer a sacrifice.
In the account we see a godly priest, Simeon, and an elderly widow, Anna, who came every day to the Temple to worship and pray. Both of these characters recognized who Jesus was the moment they saw him.
What’s interesting to me is the fact that lots of people probably saw the infant Jesus during the first eight days of His life. I’m sure well-intentioned women visited Mary to admire her newborn. Perhaps as people passed Mary and Joseph on the street they stopped to look at Jesus. They stroked His chin; cooed at Him; perhaps kissed His forehead. They were that close to Him . . . but none of them recognized who He was!
Think about that. Many of these people were good godly Jews. They worshiped at the Temple, offered the right sacrifices, believed the Christ would come. Many were hoping and praying for the Messiah. But no one—except a few Shepherds, Simeon and Anna—recognized Him. Why? What made the difference?
The Holy Spirit and prayer. Scripture tells us that because of his devoutness and faithfulness, the Holy Spirit told Simeon that he would see the Christ before he died. And the Holy Spirit moved Simeon out into the courtyard at just the right time on just the right day so he would see Jesus.
Anna had been coming to the Temple for more than 60 years (she was widowed after only seven years of marriage, then came every day after that). She spent so much time in the “prayer closet” fasting and praying that she had quite a connection with God! As soon as she saw the baby Jesus, her spirit was quickened, and she prophesied over Him.
Many of us are deeply religious—good Christians. We are believers who go to church, seek to live holy lives, and try to grow in our knowledge of God. Those are all good things. But like the “believers” in Jesus’ day, we can often miss Him. Now I don’t mean we are not saved; rather, I mean that often we can get caught up in “the right things to do” that we do not experience the living Christ the way we should. We need spiritual glasses to better see Jesus.
Those glasses come though prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit. The more time we spend in prayer, connecting with God, the more He can and will work in our lives (see Luke 11:13, Acts 4:31, Acts 13:2-3).
Is Your Church a Praying Church . . . or Not?
Lord, I lift up the Church in our city. Thank You for creating the body as one unit made up of many parts. Help us understand the value of each part as You have arranged them. We confess that we’ve minimized other parts. Forgive us, for we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body. Help us to work at being one: concerned about one another—suffering with and rejoicing with other congregations as appropriate. (1 Cor. 12:12-26)
our congregations are still filled with believers whose corporate prayer experience is listening to their pastor or deacon or group leader pray on their behalf. Even with all the conferences and retreats, resources, and ministries, the preponderance of pew sitters are still expected to do just that; sit and listen in their pew.
Too many Christians are “repeating Kindergarten over and over again” each year, rather than progressing in their practice of prayer. Hopefully, not at your church, not on your watch. Right?
Q. “How can I determine if the prayer life of our church is strong or weak?”
Church used a survey to determine the depth of prayer throughout his congregation. Consider customizing the questions to fit your congregation. The use of a survey is an excellent way to remind and motivate members toward prayer and would be more effective if juxtaposed with a sermon or series of messages on prayer.
PRAYER SURVEY
As the Prayer Action Team, we are asking your help with an important survey. Our goal is to form small group Bible study/prayer times that reach every interested individual in our church family. Please answer the following questions honestly and we are requesting that you do not give your name.
GENERAL QUESTIONS: Please circle that which applies –
Male or Female?
Age Group:
12 or under 13 – 18 19 – 25 26-35
36-49 50-65 Over 65
Married Single Widow Widower?
Do you have children under the age of 6?
Do you have children ages 6-18?
Are you employed outside the home? Full-time or Part-time?
1. Do you have a personal prayer time each day?
2. What part does prayer play in your daily life?
3. What are your major prayer interests? For example, family, missions, pastors and church family, government, social issues, spiritual warfare.
4. Do you have a prayer partner(s)?
5. Are you comfortable praying: a) in a small group b) in a large group c) out loud d) one-on-one e) with your children f) with your spouse g) with someone you don’t know? Please circle all that apply.
6. Do you attend Wednesday evening prayer meeting? Why or why not?
7. What do you like about Wednesday evening prayer meeting? How can it be improved?
8. Do you see prayer included in a meaningful way in our worship services?
How?
9. Have you ever attended our men’s prayer breakfast held on the first Saturday of each month? Would you be interested in attending?
10. Do you attend a small group Bible study? Is this group outside of our church family?
11. Do you think that the phone and e-mail prayer chains are effective? If not, what do you suggest needs changing? Would you like to be added to either of these prayer chains?
12. Would you desire more teaching on prayer? For example, sermons, Biblestudies, Sunday School?
13. Do you see prayer modeled in our church meetings and activities?
14. If you serve on a church committee or board, does prayer play a part in decision-making?
15. Would you like to be involved in a small group for the purpose of prayer?
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