Everywhere we turn, we hear trainers emphasizing the importance of prayer as the fundamental catalyst to launch a movement. Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 9:35-38 to “ask the Lord of the harvest” to raise up harvesters. If we want to multiply disciples and create a movement, we must learn to ask the Lord for that miracle. At the end of the day, multiplying disciples and groups is a spiritual battle, not a tactical one.
So, it should come as no surprise that all the instructions for spiritual battle in Ephesians 6:10-20 apply full-on.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:10-20)
The #1 Element
Garrison listed prayer as #1 in his Ten Universal Elements (page 33 of Church-Planting Movements). He emphasized that it was the vitality of the prayer in the trainer’s life that most predicted how engaged with prayer new pastors in the movement would be.
I heard from a friend that Ying Kai (known for catalyzing a huge multiplication movement in Asia) spent an hour every morning praying for God to work a miracle in his region. He told the same friend, “If one of the disciples I’m training comes to me explaining that he hasn’t seen any fruit yet, I ask him to pull up his pant legs and show me his knees. If there aren’t callouses there, I tell him I refuse to talk to him until he has callouses on his knees (from praying).”
A Case Study in Prayer
During a training we staged in 2010, a relatively new team leader from North Africa was attending. I still remember, during a break, when he came up to ask, “So you’re telling me that one of the most important things I can do to launch a disciple-making movement among my nation is to raise up prayer?” We affirmed that yes, that was true. He looked back at us and asked, “So why haven’t I heard this before?”
We realized, despite our best efforts, we still hadn’t been emphasizing it strongly enough. (We have since redoubled and redoubled our efforts, again and again.) He went to work that year and, before we knew it, his team had set a goal of raising up 1000 people to pray for his nation each day. After observing that it really wasn’t THAT hard to raise up prayer, he and the team decided to double the goal. When they hit 2000 people praying daily, they moved the goal to 10,000. When they hit the 100,000 mark (100,000 people praying every day for their focus nation), something unique happened.
Arab Spring
A fruit-stand vendor set himself on fire in a downtown square in protest of the nation’s high taxes on roving vendors. Within a few short weeks, journalists were calling it the “Arab Spring.” The next thing we knew, a revolution was shaking the country’s government. The dictator went into exile in a foreign land. The new government immediately went to work crafting a new constitution and — guess what — the new constitution no longer made it a crime to convert away from Islam. In fact, residents were no longer asked at all about their religion on their national identity cards applications.
Imagine if one of our workers had tried to suggest that that nation change its constitution, allowing more freedom for Christians in that land. We would have been laughed out of the country (or worse). But from everything we can observe (the facts speak too loudly for themselves), prayer did something that no politician could ever accomplish. And by the way, that team’s work has continued to grow.
They had tried to open an evangelistic website, but it was futile. The government kept blocking their efforts. Lo and behold, the day of the revolution, the government’s filter on the internet suddenly clicked off. By the next morning, thousands of local citizens had now exercised their new-found freedom to read scripture portions and watch excerpts from the Jesus Film. Annual baptisms have climbed from zero to 14 to 40 to 72. Churches are starting to form. A new day has arrived. It all started with prayer.
Do you want to begin making a real difference? Do you want to spread the Gospel to the darkest regions? Start praying and don’t stop.
Will you start praying with us by joining our Prayer Force?
HI JC Williams,
Thanks for this encouraging post on the importance of prayer. I have a group and an area of my city for which I am seeking partners in prayer. My question is, “How do I find people to pray ?” I have asked in my church, made an appeal in my church, and sought to start prayer groups in two outside sites. I have one lady who has committed to pray, and my children come with me when I have prayer times for this target group. I feel God has called me to set up prayer groups for this unreached group, but I don´t see people joining me very quickly.
I think you might say, that I should just start with this one lady prayer warrior and pray with her for more prayer warriors.
Anything else?
Best,
JK
Hi Frank,
Excited to hear that you are pursuing prayer for the unreached! Getting a group going can be challenging, but it’s well worth the effort!
I would set a time and day for your prayer meeting (Ideally, it would be weekly, so it’s easy to remember) and do it consistently, even if it’s only you. If you keep doing it and you keep inviting people, eventually others will begin to come. Admittedly, this can feel tiresome, like you’re wearing them down, but in reality, it’s just the natural process of people taking time to hear the Spirit convict them and rearranging their schedule/priorities to be able to attend the meeting. You have to allow others to come up to the same level of conviction you’re already feeling. Which also takes education and connection. Find ways to share stories from that people group. Creating an online presence may be the easiest way to do this since people can then read and share prayer requests and stories when it’s convenient for them.
Here are a few great resources:
Information on starting a prayer network: https://pray4movement.org/
Information on running a prayer group: https://www.pray4tunisia.com/en/start-a-prayer-group/
Here’s a resource to help your church better understand the Unreached: https://TeamExpansion.org/Unreached
We’d love to hear how your group goes! Please keep us updated!
Thank you for reading the blog post and for your desire to target a group in your city with prayer. You may be surprised to know that “How do I find people to pray?” is a frequently-asked question. You have certainly pursued the answer in the right directions, and you are not alone in finding that people may not join as quickly as you would like. Just remember that this race for the sake of the unreached is a marathon, not a sprint. JC has given you the best advice — be faithful, be consistent, persevere to the end. Remind yourself that, as you pray with your children and with one committed lady, Jesus is with you, too.
Fourteen years ago, the church of which I am a member “adopted” an unreached people group. We started with concerts of prayer to which the whole church was invited. I think our largest gathering was between 20 and 25 people. The church staff participated. We then invited people to a weekly time for prayer for the sake of the people group. We started with less than ten people, and sometimes there were two of us. We eventually moved to a monthly time of prayer which is attended on any given month by ten people max and once in awhile only two people. But we continue to meet and pray for the sake of this people group. Quarterly, we meet for a half day of prayer and fasting. Yesterday, eight people attended this event in person. The numbers are still not huge, but we believe the impact on the Sylheti people is eternal.