I Would Love It if Prayer Was Seldom Mentioned!

jong@harvestprayer.com — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:54:52 +0100

It’s true. I long for a day when prayer seldom will be mentioned in church. Now before you drop your membership to CPLN or report me to the heresy watchdogs, let me explain.

My dream is to see churches so committed to prayer that it is just done! It is so much a part of the spiritual DNA of a congregation that no one has to beg “please come to this prayer gathering.” People just come to pray.

Or the worship leader or prayer lead [...]

Make It Simple for Them

jong@harvestprayer.com — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:12:57 +0100

For the past 16 years I have had a burden to see believers discipled in prayer. Most churches neglect this important area probably because they asusme prayer growth will just happen in the life of a believer. It typically does not. We need to be intentional about it if we want to see believers grow.

One of the most significant truths I have learned is that good prayer discipleship needs to be simple (more simple than you would think) and basic. Most people are very unsure [...]

Bring Repentance Back to Our Vocabularies

jong@harvestprayer.com — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:12:00 +0100

Back in 2005, we moved from Colorado to Indiana. After three and a half months church searching, my wife and I have settled on a church of about 600 in small-town Brazil, Indiana. It was actually the second church we visited, way back in July. Since I travel most weekends, I wanted my wife to be the main decision-maker in where she wanted to attend. She did one Sunday in mid-October. She went back to Christ Community (her third time there) and felt a sense this was where God wanted us.

A Balanced Prayer Agenda in a Church

jong@harvestprayer.com — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:02:00 +0100

As prayer leaders we are all excited when our church increases its prayer practices. Any visible prayer activity in a congregation is good, right? Or is it possible to have unbalanced prayer practices in a church?

While I am for all prayer (provided it is prayer to God through our relationship with Jesus) I do believe it is possible to unknowingly be very unbalanced in the prayer life of a church--even with lots of prayer going on. There are three key areas where a church needs [...]

How Personal Prayer Hurts Corporate Prayer

jong@harvestprayer.com — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:24:45 +0100

In most churches in the western world, only a small fraction of believers participate in expressions of corporate prayer. This is a sad statement, and it is the reason why the American church is virtually powerless.

But one of the most significant reasons why many do not participate is that corporate prayer in most churches is not corporate prayer, but personal prayer done in a group. By that I mean, usually everyone brings their own prayer practices into the larger gro [...]

Prayer Is Not Just Another Ministry

jong@harvestprayer.com — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:45:58 +0100

A few years ago I spoke at a prayer conference at a large church in
metro Atlanta. The Friday night/Saturday event was poorly attended (80
people) for such a large church (6,000 members).

The prayer leader apologized for the small turnout, but revealed that
one of the problems was that most events at this church were not
announced from the platform. She went on to say that so many ministries
have events each month that a rule had been made: none could have
“platf [...]

National Day of Prayer and the Courts

jong@harvestprayer.com — Fri, 07 May 2010 08:05:51 +0100

It seems to me our fears for the National Day of Prayer may cause us to appeal to
the wrong court!

Along with most of you, I am a huge supporter of the National Day of Prayer. I am privileged to serve on America's National Prayer committee, the members of which are collectively stewards of this vital spiritual enterprise. As director of the National Pastors' Prayer Network, I have annually promoted the event and encouraged pastors' prayer groups across the country to meet on that day a [...]

How Did Leaders in Scripture Mobilize Prayer?

jong@harvestprayer.com — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:53:54 +0100

Recently I did a study of prayer mobilization in the Bible. I
discovered something I thought was interesting: prayer was usually
mobilized by a leader challenging the people.

In the Old Testament we see Nehemiah, Ezra, Jehoshaphat, to name some,
who challenged people to seek God and provided a venue for them to do
so. Some of you would say, “that isn’t the case in the New Testament.”
Perhaps for the first months and a few years in the life of the early
church pe [...]

Do Churches Have Corporate Passions in Prayer?

jong@harvestprayer.com — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Recently I was leading a Sunday PM concert of prayer at Kenmore Alliance Church in Kenmore, NY (Buffalo). There were about 60 people present and we were in six or seven prayer groups for the times when we went to intercession.

I was intrigued by something that happened during the prayer times that got me thinking. Do churches have corporate passions when it comes to prayer?

I believe that most individuals who pray much, do have burdens or
bents toward a particular [...]

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