In All Things: PRAY FIRST!

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. —Colossians 4:2 NIV

All of us in ministry understand that prayer should always be our starting place for everything, but sometimes we take the power of prayer for granted.

Your journey of creating a congregational care ministry or directing people in their journey to help you should start with prayer.

So, to begin, may I pray for you?

Prayer: O healing God, we give you thanks for the opportunity to serve your people. We give you thanks for being appointed to do this holy task. Yet we don't know and are unsure of how to prioritize needs and create the systems that will best meet their needs. So Lord, I pray for anyone who is starting this journey. Give them courage and strength to know that you will guide them. Please provide them with vision, understanding, and resources. Help them not to be afraid to ask for help. And in all of this, we will give you the praise as we point your people to your healing grace and love.

In Christ's name. Amen.

The Redemptive Force of Prayer

As you recall from the Introduction, in each chapter a redemptive story or stories will be used to illustrate the ministry that happens through Congregational Care. Redemption means the act of restoring. The importance of prayer for redemption in all situations is primary. Let me illustrate through a personal story.

Easter Sunday had finally arrived. That morning promised to be one of the best Easter Sundays ever for The Church of the Resurrection. The weather was exceptional, spring break was over, and the sports schedule was minimal. However, the week before had been brutal in other ways as our department tended to the needs of eight families in the congregation who had experienced a death. For three of those funerals, I had been the lead pastor to attend to the services and the families. So when the sun came up that morning, although I felt charged with energy for the day, I have to say I was running on near empty.

I arrived at the church before our earliest service at 7 a.m., parked along the far edges of the parking lot, and began to walk into church. My arms were laden with my robe, stole, two clean shirts, two pairs of shoes, and two bags of other needed items. As I began to walk briskly (nearly breaking into a jog), I felt myself begin to stumble. As I continued at my quick pace, I completely lost my balance, then went face first toward the pavement. As the left side of my face ate gravel and I felt my glasses give way, I thought, This is not good.

Lying there for just a very brief moment, I hoped that someone had seen the fall, yet also in my embarrassment, I was hoping no one had seen me plummet. Well, it proved to be the latter, so I picked myself up and quickly realized I was bleeding from my mouth, nose, and the scrapes up to my left eye.

As it turned out, I was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital. But the prayers that occurred in between the time the accident happened until I got home around one o'clock tell something about prayer and the restoration that happens through the redemptive process.

Again, I was reminded of my primary contention about prayer: Prayer lifts us up out of the chaos of the moment to a different reality. That reality is where we connect with God and where restoration can happen.

With that in mind, I'll try to relay to you very briefly the number of prayers that either someone said for me, or I said for someone else on that Easter morning:

1. The medical doctor who volunteers his care for our congregation during worship services prayed for me and I prayed for him.

2. Our pastors came and prayed over me individually before I was shipped to the hospital.

3. On the way to the hospital I prayed for the young EMT in the ambulance who told me she and her partner could not find a welcoming church.

4. I prayed with the custodian in the ER who said he was working three jobs and wouldn't make it to church on Easter Sunday.

5. My husband and I prayed with the young man who shared our large room in the ER. He shouted that he was scared and asked us to open the curtain separating us.

Whenever someone was praying for me or I was praying for someone else, we were in the act of restoring. We were transcending the chaos of the moment. We were connecting with God.

That crazy Easter morning that I'll never forget was full of opportunities for people to be touched by God's love—including me! After that morning, I received many calls, cards, Facebook messages, and e-mails from people telling me they were praying for me. And I truly believe those prayers accounted for why I healed so quickly.

Principles of Prayer at Resurrection

Every church and pastor has basic ideas about how to do their daily ministry. For me, prayer absolutely sets the tone and flow for the day. My hope is that this extends out into the congregation in amazing ways. Prayer is the means by which people expect the pastor to connect with God, yet so many times I think pastors are reticent to say, "I'd like to pray for you. Would that be OK?"

Let me explain to you some key ways that prayer is extended at our church.

First of all, the pastors, directors, and leaders understand that every meeting, class, or service begins and ends with prayer. That prayer usually includes thanksgiving to God, a request for God's guiding presence, and acknowledgment of any obvious needs of those assembled.

Pastoral Prayer: in our worship services we try to use clear language that uses all the parts of prayer as described in the acronym ACTS.

A-Adoration

C-Confession

T-Thanksgiving

S-Supplication

We assume there are people who may not have been in church for a long time, so we create prayers that speak to the possible needs of the individual, congregation, or country. We do not preach through our prayers, but rather we try to take people out of the chaos of the world, and help them rise above whatever is hurting or worrying them. This is a very pastoral time. We want to lead people to a holy place so they can truly worship. Once they are centered, they can receive the Scriptures and sermon for the day. Never underestimate the power of a great pastoral prayer.

Prayer requests for the bulletin are so important to the congregation. Whether someone has a new baby, is facing a lifethreatening illness, or is sending a loved one off to war, people want to enlist their community of faith to pray...