Ideas for Your Church: Praying Around the Clock

As the fall season comes upon us, many ministries will kick into high gear. It is important for us to begin the church year with a sense of dependence on God, and an anticipation of what He will accomplish through our service for Him. Setting aside time for a Day of Prayer provides an opportunity for the congregation to unite in calling upon the Lord to bless. This can be done with a program held at in the church itself. But as an alternative you could have members of the congregation sign up to pray at home.

Draw up a schedule for 24 hours, marked off in 15 minute blocks. If your group is small, you could either reduce the total time involved or encourage individuals to sign up for a couple of time periods. If you have a larger church, you could allow for two people to sign up in each space. The object is to have continual prayer ascending to the throne of heaven for the day.

To direct the prayers to some extent, you could provide a hand-out which listed some important praise items and requests. And it might be worthwhile ending the schedule on a Sunday morning, so the theme of prayer can be used in the morning worship hour. Songs and Scriptures about prayer, as well as testimonies concerning answered prayers, could precede a message on prayer.