In case you missed it ;p

My Prayer Evangelism talk at the Assembly. :p


Raise your hand If you have ever prayed for someone who is not a member of The Church of God or for someone who is a complete stranger to you?

Then you have practiced Prayer Evangelism.

The Barna Group published a survey that said that Prayer Evangelism is the most widely used and one of the more effective ways to evangelize.

What is PRAYER EVANGELISM? Simply put….It is reaching and winning souls to Christ and His Church through prayer.

One morning during a Sunday School class, we discussed how "we don’t go door to door anymore" and agreed that it had mostly to do with fear. We discussed how frightening it is to knock on a door and perhaps getting it slammed in your face.
Guess what…our imaginations are far more frightening than reality.

Psalms 27 tells us… The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

During the discussion, the Lord brought to my memory an outreach we did with our Gleaners in the late 80’s to teach them about praying for our community. We went door to door collecting PRAYER REQUESTS.

My children were babies at the time…and I realized that I had neglected to teach my own children to do this…so after that Sunday School class discussion, that very afternoon, we took our family door to door and collected prayer requests.

We didn’t knock on their doors to ask…Are you Saved? Are you a Christian?
We didn’t ask…do you attend church?
Because those are YES or NO questions.
and YES & NO ANSWERS are the sound of mental doors slamming shut on a conversation.

But if you ask this question….
We are out collecting prayer requests today. Our church is praying for the needs of our community. Do you have any needs that you would like us to pray for?

THEN You get a much different response.


Although we occasionally have received mildly negative reactions….the majority of the people we meet ….

Their first response is usually surprise and even disbelief.

People are used to having someone come to their door asking if they are saved, do they want to change their religion or to donate money….but they are NOT used to seeing a member of the Body of Christ on their doorstep asking to pray for their very needs.

MANY TIMES the next response is tears welling up in their eyes. Very quickly you realize and see 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. Of course, we stopped and prayed for him on the spot. Another time, an elderly blind woman just needed someone to visit and pray for her.


People always ask us….WHAT CHURCH DO YOU GO TO?? The Church of God of course!

Prayer Evangelism is one way to build a bridge of compassion so that we CAN ask someone…”Do you know the Lord?”…”Do you attend church?” Then you can collect names and addresses for future contacts with your local church.

Bro. Licktee shared in his message yesterday….that there is something about seeing a “body” in person (someone physically present) that uplifts people’s spirits. Hearing a friendly voice…looking into someone’s compassionate eyes.

I’m going to take his message one step further. Tonight we are privileged to enjoy the benefits of a healing line. Wouldn’t it be awful if Bro. Smith had to make an announcement…”We’re going to have to cancel the healing line tonight…because none of our ministers want to stand in the line.” We would have a lot of disappointed people wouldn’t we! I’ve already heard several people say that they were looking forward to going through the healing line.

Why? Because we know that when the body of Christ comes together and in compassion TO pray one for another, following the command of God found in
James 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

…then individually & corporately our faith is increased and God moves on our behalf.

Prayer Evangelism is simply The Church of God - The Body of Christ taking what we are so privileged to experience in our prayer lines and in our churches and taking it to the streets of our communities.

At a church garage sale, we collected prayer requests and twice we gathered the members together to pray on the spot. Once for a woman with an inoperable brain tumor and then for a man that only had 3 months to live! After the prayer, the couple were crying, "Thanking God" that they came. The woman declared that "she would not have believed this would happen, even if they told her". They were deeply touched.

People need Hope. We know the giver of Hope. People need Faith and Healing. We know the author and finisher of our Faith and the Great Physician. People need Peace & Joy. We know the Prince of Peace and that Joy only comes from God. People need the Lord. We have a personal relationship with Him!

However, Satan is seeking to shake our faith in God. We may feel “We’re such a small local church….how can we go out and pray for other people….God hasn’t answered our prayers yet?”…..or….“as soon as God answers MY prayers…I‘ll go work for him.” Have you considered that God may be waiting to GROW our churches….and answer our prayers WHEN we go about working for him…AS we go about praying for others?

Funny thing about Faith…as soon as you exercise it…as soon as you stir it….it grows, and expands…..Then not only do you have enough faith for yourself, your family, your church…but you can have faith for complete Strangers. Don’t let satan shake your faith….Let the Holy Ghost INCREASE IT!

The day we taught our children how to collect prayer requests, my knee was hurting very badly that day and I was limping. I told them that I would go with them to the first few houses at the top of the hill and then let them go to the rest. An hour later….AS I was running BACK up the hill…I realized that the Lord had healed my knee pain about 4 houses back?

We don’t need special appointed leaders to conduct Prayer Evangelism. We already have appointed leaders… and what better way to TRAIN our children, EXCITE our VLB‘s, INVIGORATE our J O Y’s, grow our Sunday Schools…than to go out and pray for our community’s needs. Like Stephanas and his household in the Bible….we will find ourselves spiritually addicted to the ministry of the Saints.

But We don’t have to wait for our church to organize a door to door event every time. Sometimes the weather doesn’t permit and sometimes schedules collide….

How about turning Prayer Evangelism nto a LIFESTYLE???

You can tell the person you are STUCK 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 having a bad day at Walmart? your barber, your landlord, your neighbor, the elderly person down the street? Or the mechanic that fixed your car?

Yes I am shy. Yes I get fearful….but MOSTELY my problem is that I tend to get self-absorbed. I can EASILY breeze through my life, errands and stores without ever noticing other people.

I have to practice and remember to….STOP for a moment, LOOK people in the eyes…and LISTEN for their needs….AND then ask them “Is there something you need prayer for?”

Sometimes, the people we pray for may never come to our church…but that is okay.
God just needs obedient people…..If we keep planting…He WILL provide the harvest.

Sometimes we want to make the excuses…. But I’m not called to be an evangelist….Or….. “IF I FEEL the Lord leading me to speak with a person, I will.”
Well if you are waiting on a FEELING….satan will MAKE SURE you never FEEL it!

However, If you are a covenanted member of The Church of God, then you already are CALLED and COMMANDED to GO YE.

…and you have ALREADY agreed to that call and command by placing your hand on the Bible and saying…”I will”.

When we daily PRACTICE Prayer Evangelism…we will soon find ourselves in the SPIRIT of Prayer Evangelism…

…..in a frame of mind where God CAN direct our paths to specific persons he wants us to reach.

What if every member of The Church of God - The Body of Christ made Prayer Evangelism or collecting prayer requests a part of our daily routine?

What if everybody in our local church collected prayer requests each week and brought these needs before the local church?

The Church of God WOULD become known by the nations as The House of Prayer.

We would become known as "THAT Church that cares & prays"...

We could change our communities ..
Revivals could pour out into the streets..
People would come from far & wide to "See what the Lord hath done!"

Trust & Obey…for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus…but to trust and obey.

Make prayer evangelism a part of your life.


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The Mechanics:

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 daughter and I teamed with my 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, we're 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.

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.

We've had people cry & thank us for praying for them. 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. The Children at our church LOVE this outreach.

Thots:
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.