Collecting Prayer Requests Outreach!

Outreach Time is short. The Harvest is ready.

Topic: OUTREACH – This is a good late spring, late summer, early fall activity when the weather is good.

WARNING!!! Grab a Tissue! After reading this, you may receive a sudden hunger to start collecting prayer requests. It's Spiritually Addictive!

"Come on kids, grab a clipboard, we're going to collect some prayer requests!" One Sunday morning during Young Adult Sunday School class, we were bemoaning the fact that "we never do outreach anymore". We discussed how frightening it was to knock on a door and perhaps get it slammed in your face. Suddenly the Lord brought to my memory of an outreach our Gleaners did at another church to advertise VBS and how FUN it was for us all. I explained to the class the concept of taking PRAYER REQUESTS. TIME: We arrived at the church about an 1 ½ hours early to walk the neighborhood. This activity can be done as often as you wish, once a month, twice a month, once a week.

EQUIPMENT: Each team carries a clipboard and pen. Tape a piece of paper to the back of the clipboard that says "PRAYER REQUESTS" printed in large letters. Carry cards that say: "If you have a need you would like The Church of God to pray for, please call our prayer request line; (phone number). On back print name, address & service times of church. You could also have small zip lock bag with a couple of crayons and a children’s Sunday School lesson to hand out to children. It would be wise NOT to include candy, this may make parents nervous.

TEAMS: Visit in teams of two, each team taking one side of a street. My husband teamed with my teenage daughter and I teamed with my teenage son. This combination of male/female, young/older teams seemed to work the best because it wasn't threatening. (Two teenage boys seem threatening, two girls are too attractive and unsafe)

WHAT TO DO: One team member knocks on the door and the second stands back. The first team member explains to the person opening the door. "Hello, all we're doing today is collecting prayer requests for our church to pray for at our (insert day here) Prayer Meeting. Do you have a need that you would like us to pray for?" Write down the prayer request on the clipboard. Be prepared to pray for that person right there. Some needs are immediate and serious. After you pray for or talk to each person, invite them to church.

FIRST RESPONSE: The first response you usually get a surprised look on people's faces or even disbelief. They usually are faced by people coming to their door asking if they are saved, to change their religion or to donate money. Sometimes the next response is tears. Very quickly you realize the enormous needs and loneliness people face with no one to care. One young man broke down into tears explaining that his wife had left him and had taken his kids. He had recently gotten saved and was praying for his family to be restored. Another time, an elderly blind woman just needed someone to listen and pray for her.

SECOND RESPONSE: Of course some people are too afraid to come to their doors when some stranger knocks on it. Just knock or ring twice. Leave a Prayer-Line card. Another response is: "I ALREADY go to church. We pray there!" I always sincerely say, "Oh, how wonderful! We would appreciate it if you would put us on your prayer list too? We need the prayer of our fellow Christians." ALWAYS be POLITE...ALWAYS be LOVING.

THOTS: This is NOT a race and is not a competition to see how many requests you can collect. This is a ministry. If a lonely person takes up your time and you can only visit 2 houses this week. Okay! There's always next week! More volunteers came with us the following weeks.

PRAYER MEETING: Our church had a Monday night prayer meeting. We copied the lists every week, handed them out and prayed over them during this time and throughout the week. These prayer meetings were visited by the Holy Ghost! You can pray over requests during Gleaners, Children’s Church, Youth Service, every service. After a while, place older requests in a box to pray over.

LIFESTYLE OUTREACH:
Frankly, the walk can be hot, tiring and sweaty. Some people may not be physically able to do this activity. These people are our PRAYER WARRIORS! Then there are seasons when the weather is bad, people are vacation, etc.

Now, how about turning this into a LIFESTYLE activity. What’s that? You can tell the person you are standing in line with “we collect prayer requests for our church to pray over, do you have a need you would like us to remember?"

What about that checkout lady you see having a bad day at Walmart?
What about our beautician, your landlord, your neighbor that is mowing their yard?
What about that elderly person down the street? What about that fruit stand person, you just bought that watermelon from? (I did this!)
What about the gas station attendant, the UPS man, the woman that just put you on hold at the electric company or the man that just fixed your car?

What if we made collecting prayer requests a part of our daily routine? What if everybody in your church collected 5 prayer requests a week....
We would become known as "THAT Church that cares & prays"... We could change our cities...
Revivals could pour out into the streets & people would come from far & wide to "See what the Lord hath done!"

Think about it. Write down the requests, name of person giving request & address if possible. Bring them to church. Mail them a card telling them the church did pray for them with church info.

TESTIMONIES:
Our church had a garage sale. The Children's Church minister and the children gave away FREE water. (Some people wouldn’t hardly believe it was free!) The children were taught about the scripture in the previous children’s church: Matthew 10:42, "And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." We also went around with a clipboard and took up prayer requests, twice gathering the members together to pray on the spot. We met a man that only had 3 months to live! After the prayer, the couple were crying, thanking us for the prayer and "Thanking God" over and over that they "came to this garage sale". The woman declared that "she would not have believed this would happen, even if they told her". They were deeply touched and I believe the man received a touch from the Lord. The ladies also prayed for a woman with an inoperable brain tumor.

“I want to share how the Lord has blessed us since we've been collecting prayer requests. My knee was hurting very badly the first day & I told the Lord I would do a couple of houses then hobble back to the church. Fourteen houses later, I found myself running up the hill, stopped & told my son..."Do you realize I'm not limping anymore?"

“We've had people cry & thank us for coming. The funniest is the man who wanted us to pray he would win a million dollars. I told the kids that we will pray for him to prosper...as his soul prospers.

We always want to visit "One More House"...even when we are out of time because we know there must be a person there who has a need.”