by Mark Bender
- Model it yourself. It all begins with you! How can you expect others at your corps to pray if you aren’t? Do you pray regularly for your corps members, officers, programs and services? How do you enter into worship on Sunday? Spend a few minutes in prayer at the altar before worship service or Sunday school. Ask others to join you!
- Have a sermon series on prayer. A sermon series brings everyone together “on the same page.” People will think about prayer and maybe even discuss it with friends between Sundays. Resource Connection has a worship series called, “Concert of Prayer,” which may be a good place to start.
- Study prayer in small groups. Consider studying prayer in a Bible study, women’s ministries, men’s ministries, a teen group, etc. A great book/DVD curriculum on the transforming power of prayer is, When God’s People Pray, by Jim Cymbala.
- Become a prayer leader. Has God called you to lead your corps in prayer? Cheryl Sacks has written a comprehensive handbook for prayer leaders, “The Prayer-Saturated Church,” which is loaded with practical tools to take any church (any size!) to the next level and saturate its ministry in prayer.
- Be creative. Not everyone feels comfortable going to a traditional/formal prayer meeting. Look for creative ways for people to spend time in prayer through art, music, poetry and other expressions of prayer. Make prayer part of every program that happens in your corps. During your worship services include times for family prayer or prayer with two or three others in small groups. Encourage children and youth to pray in meetings.
For more ideas and resources, email [email protected].
