Living Prayer Center: Resources of The Upper Room

The Upper Room daily devotional guides that have been published since 1935 are familiar to many involved in prayer ministries. The reach of this ministry of the United Methodist Church has been extensive and well respected for decades as a “global ministry dedicated to supporting the spiritual formation of Christians seeking to know and experience God more fully.” The Upper Room Living Prayer Center is one feature of this effective discipling ministry. This seven-day-a-week intercessory prayer ministry, staffed by Christian volunteers,  invites people to submit prayer requests online or by phone. But there’s much more! The mission of the Upper Room Living Prayer Center is “to help individuals, small groups, and local congregations grow in their understanding and experience of prayer.” Here are some of the interesting things you will discover when you go to the website prayer-center.upperroom.org:

Volunteer to Pray

The Prayer Center needs volunteers to do one or both of the following:

• Receive prayer calls in two-hour time slots where you pray for those with needs.
• Receive weekly emails with prayer requests to pray over.

All volunteers are screened via an application process. The FAQ dropdown is helpful and answers questions related to the process of becoming a volunteer.

Be Prayed For

Via the website you may submit a prayer request, which will be emailed to the Upper Room’s Covenant Prayer Groups, who will pray for you! Covenant Prayer Groups are usually small groups in churches that make a commitment to meet weekly to pray together. Each group completes a preparatory study designed to deepen their prayer lives. Upon the recommendation of the pastor, the group is chartered as a designated Upper Room Covenant Prayer Group, and they will receive emailed prayer requests that come to the Living Prayer Center. You can also call them at 1-800-251-2468 (7 a.m. to 11 p.m. CST), and a volunteer will pray with you. These prayer requests will be emailed to Covenant Prayer Groups.

Check Out Overview Video

To get an overall sense of the prayer room ministry, click on the Resources dropdown tab. A short, informative video explains ways to participate as a volunteer, ways to pray, and ways to financially support the work of the Upper Room Living Prayer Center. This provides a good overview of the heart of the ministry. You will also find tabs that offer resources to enrich your prayer life.

1. Spiritual Types Test: Be sure to take the Spiritual Types Test before exploring the articles. It is a short and enjoyable multiple choice questionnaire to see which of the four “spiritual types” you are.
2. Articles on Prayer: Here you will discover some short, helpful articles by authors from a variety of denominational backgrounds that will stretch your prayer life and give you useful tools for seeking God and interacting with His Word.Begin with an introductory article called “Praying As We Are.” It will direct you to whichever spiritual type the survey has identified as yours and show you four ways to pray John 3:16. Other articles include the following: “Why Pray?” describes prayer as a means of grace. “Praying the Psalms” will help you pray through some of your deepest feelings. “Personalizing Scripture” explains how to make God’s Word His word to you. “On Prayer” encourages prayer as a transformational conversation rather than a “formula” to get something from God.
3. Prayer Methods: This material, based on the articles section, tends to be repetitive—but is a helpful explanation.

 

Sidebar Information

Blocks of information on the right side of each page change periodically. Two online classes offered at this writing are a Discernment course and a six-week course entitled, “Learning to Pray: Baby Steps.” There is also a link to the daily Upper Room devotional. The content writers of this site have a long history of providing rich and well-written devotional, prayer, and spiritual formation materials.