Establishing A Prayer Team

There are many times when an individual has a real burden to have the church or ministry they are involved in move into a greater prayer activity, one of a deeper nature. You see needs, you know the power of prayer, you spend hours in prayer and you want to see others experience the wonders of prayer.
There are some key things you need to remember and consider if this is you!

1.  What are you believing as the end result of whatever it is you are considering beginning? Is it a specific prayer ministry or is it the mobilizing of prayer warriors or is it a desire to see prayer become integrated in all of the ministry in the church or organization? How broad or how narrow is your focus?

You cannot begin alone! You may have the vision, feel led towards “doing something” but remember, the church and ministry is being led by someone and they need to be fully involved, right from the beginning! They need to be on board, with you, in this endeavor. You are not in competition with the leaders but are to work with them – and frankly, you will need their support in so many ways.

2.  Seek out your Pastor or leadership and present and discuss your vision. Be open to suggestions and ready to spend time seeking the will of the Father as you proceed. Your vision may be for what can be in five or ten years, but you may need to begin by paring down, scaling to meet the existing situation in your church or ministry.

• Called of God: this seems so common sense but it is often ignored or overlooked in the desire to proceed. Both the Pastor/leadership and the potential team leader need to spend time earnestly seeking God’s choice of person. Often someone is chosen because of their present known activity in prayer and those who are more ‘closet prayer warriors’ are overlooked. Or you may be asked to be leader but feel inadequate. But God knows so seek him.
• A healthy prayer life: is there a passion for prayer evident? One can only lead as far as they have travelled themselves.
• Spiritual maturity: the leader must know the Word of God and be able to pray the promises of God, even if they are rephrased into common speech.
• Leadership giftings: just as many leaders in a church or ministry do not have an intercessor’s gift, many intercessors do not have leadership gifts. This position requires both. Tunnel vision needs to be avoided because a “House of Prayer” is not single issue focused. The leader needs to be able to motivate and mobilize people.
• Ability to teach: training of others is an important part of the prayer leader’s function. People who are not familiar with praying or don’t feel comfortable praying in public are among those who need to be trained if the vision is to be more than a prayer ministry, if it is to be a “House of Prayer”. To be a “House of Prayer” means the vast majority of people need to be involved in praying, in their home/family, and/or in the church or ministry.
• Team player: the team leader needs to be able to establish a team but also needs to demonstrate they are able to work with a team, some of whom may have ideas different from the leader.

• Time: to lead a team, especially to establish the team, requires a lot of time and effort. This is one of the reasons busy leadership people are often not able to successfully establish and sustain a Prayer Team, regardless of how keen they are for such a team to be in place.

1. The Prayer Team Leader is not responsible for nor is the one who prays for all the church or ministry needs! That is why there is a team and that is why the goal is to establish a “House of Prayer”.
2. The Prayer Team Leader is not responsible for getting people to prayer meetings! By training and giving opportunities for people to pray and encouraging them to attend, the team leader has done what is required. It is Holy Spirit who draws people to a place of prayer. The leader does what is possible but is not responsible for the failure of people to be involved.
3. The Prayer Team Leader is not solely responsible for the success or failure in establishing a “House of Prayer”! The entire leadership of the church or ministry holds a responsibility to make the efforts a success. They need to be on-side and supportive, not only privately but publicly.

The Prayer Team Leader is just that – the leader of the team. So who makes up the team?

The size of the team depends a lot on the size of your organization. The smaller the organization, the fewer people you have to draw on as part of the Prayer Team. The team may consist of two or a dozen.

To have a team is important if the vision is to grow to become a “House of Prayer” rather than remain a prayer ministry. Normally people consider the Wednesday night prayer meeting attendees or an intercessors group as their prayer team but the reality is that prayer teams are much more than this and have a much greater role to play than ‘just to pray.’

They are to oversee the prayer ministry and bring a focus upon communication with God into all and every aspect of church or ministry life. They are to lead, to motivate, to teach and train others to pray.

Depending on the size of the team, the members may be assigned specific areas of responsibility: corporate prayer, pastor’s/leadership prayer shield, prayer chain, care prayer, etc. This does not mean that the team member is responsible to do all the praying for that specific area, but to lead the membership who are praying for that specific area. And if no one is at present, to perhaps establish and lead a group to engage in prayer for this area.

Team members must be chosen with the same care and deliberation as the team leader – with prayer and seeking the will and choice of God. These are important positions if the goal of becoming a “House of Prayer” is to be achieved.

Every person is different and has different interests. So does every ministry and every church. Though the calling to ministry may be the same – that of saving souls – the method and approach may be entirely different.

The Prayer Team and the Pastor/leadership must be fully aware of where and what they are! What is the vision, what is the calling, what ministry is God wanting to use the church/ministry for at the moment?

Those in leadership or those on the Prayer Team may have one understanding which differs from the members of the body, or the leadership and pastor may have a different concept of ministry than the prayer team. If allowed to proceed without taking all factors into account, the entire effort to establish a “House of Prayer” may fail.

For example, if the church is not accepting of deliverance ministry because they do not believe in deliverance, than for the prayer team to be focused on deliverance will be considered divisive rather than the building up of a ““House of Prayer””.

The Prayer Team must assess where the church/ministry is at both physically (what people group are you ministering to?) and spiritually. What is the body’s calling?

They also need to assess what the existing prayer level of the body is. What part does prayer and praying play in their lives – at home and in a corporate setting? How integrated is prayer in the ministry and life of the body?

What is the interest level for prayer of the members of the church or ministry? Is there one or just a small group who are praying regularly? Is there a desire on the part of the others to engage in prayer, if only they knew how, felt comfortable, knew what to pray for, etc.?

Then a plan needs to be established to incorporate the findings of the assessment. How much training is needed? Can part of the plan be implemented? Should the focus be narrowed to meet the present situation while we pray for revelation to come to the body for what we envision as being possible? How much of my personal choices for intercession, prayer focus, ministry activities, need to be put aside so the body becomes what the body needs to?

A “House of Prayer” needs the involvement of the majority.