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A passion for prayer. The prayer leader's entire life is directed by and focused upon prayer. His or her burning passion for prayer influences others to become prayer intercessors. The following comments of a prayer ministry coordinator reflect this attitude: "I simply cannot understand why all of our church members are not giving our prayer ministry one or more hours a week. Prayer is such a precious privilege. You would think the people would be in line to sign up!"·
The support of the pastor. One vital role of the pastor is to support the prayer ministry and the prayer leader. "I knew God was calling me to lead this ministry," a California woman shared. "But I simply could get nothing more than token support from our pastor. Rather than making an issue of him, I gave the matter to God in prayer. Would you believe that within one year, the pastor was called to another church? Our new pastor is a man of prayer and enthusiastically supports the ministry!" Perhaps there is a lesson for pastors in her comments!·
Leadership and organization. Our researchers found that leaders of prayer ministries truly are "called leaders" because they have willing and excited followers. Excluding Sunday school, church prayer ministries often have more member involvement than any other church ministry. For that reason, good organization is an essential skill for "called leaders."·
A church that is ready. Not all churches are ready for corporate prayer ministries. The level of readiness is not as dependent on financial and personnel resources as it is on spiritual factors. As one rather blunt prayer leader told us: "Some churches make Laodicea look like a paradigm of passion. These churches must have business meetings and a majority vote just to decide if they are going to pray."
