“If Jesus was right that the prayer of faith could cause a mountain to be cast into the sea, it makes one wonder what might be possible, if the church could actually be mobilized in fervent, righteous, and strategic prayer…”

As we touched on last week, The Strategic Prayer Initiative(^TM) (SPI) is striving to find ways to successfully help move large numbers of American Christians into much greater effectiveness concerning fervent, righteous, and strategic prayer, as well as other aspects of spiritual warfare.  This week I would like to share with you one of the most encouraging results to date, as well as one of the most troubling.

The primary methodologies employed by SPI(^TM) are prayer, research, advice from many counselors, pilot launches, adjustments, and then new launches (very much an iterative process).  Having gone through a whole string of launches, the adjustments made to the models about two years ago attained what appears to be some serious breakthroughs.  Two churches, launched about six weeks apart, both were able to move their congregations from about 25% reporting good or mature prayer lives, to over 50% reporting good or mature prayer lives, and this was done in about four months at both locations (the churches were not in the same denominations, nor were they even in the same state).

This movement of over a quarter of a congregation, in about four months time, and subsequently repeating it in a second church appears to be a very important milestone in the efforts to move large numbers of American Christians forward in prayer.  A matter of fact: in querying five of what many would consider the top 30 Americans presently involved in the prayer movement, none of them are aware of two back to back churches that have seen this dramatic of a change (one said it was doable but in 10 year time horizons).  Dr. Paul Ceder, President of the Mission America Coalition, recently said that results like that would be extremely meaningful, and might be driven by the Holy Spirit.  He went on to say that he was not able to achieve such results at his church (where he previously had pastored), even though he had heavily focused on it while in leadership there.

The previous results are still a far cry away from being sure of future success.  Questions remain about maintaining results over the long haul (although these churches currently have a two year track record).  Other questions also apply, such as, can the numbers not just be maintained, but can they continue to progress upward?  Furthermore, do the congregants really know what actually constitutes a good prayer life (even though we provide tools helping them to know)?  Additionally, can they actually demonstrate answers to prayer, some of which are to be expected, if they are praying Biblically?

As a quick summary, the above results were derived by: 1) using the SPI Diagnostic Survey — to help lay a foundation & encourage participation in SPI, 2) doing weekly, or bi-monthly congregation wide measurements using a tool known as the QuickCheck Card(^TM), 3) by having the whole congregation go through their own copy of a short booklet called Love to Pray, 4) making the entry level of the PrayerCords(^TM) System available to those who might be interested in it.  Another “very” encouraging result comes from the second of the two churches previously mentioned (running 100 to 150 in weekly attendance).  In this church about a third of their people are in PrayerCords, and after about two years these Cords are averaging over 75% of the people reporting a good prayer life.

Now on to one of the discouraging results. Since we believe that the scriptures teach that known, unconfessed, and unrepented sin in a Christian’s life can limit the effectiveness of his/her prayers, out of necessity we have tried to get a handle on this very important aspect of a good prayer life.  In the diagnostic survey, we are finding there have been large portions of some of the congregations say (sometimes as high as 40%) that sin does not interfere with prayer.  Additionally, when getting a regular, and anonymous read on this, we have been finding that often little or no progress is being made in the sanctification process.  However, a possible silver lining behind this cloud is that those that have been in SPI PrayerCords, in one of the two churches previously mentioned, have become much more effective in the sanctification process, in comparison to those not in PrayerCords.

by Mike Jebb

After approximately 12 years of attempting to build a great church, Pastor Wilson (pseudonym – name available upon request) decided to turn in his resignation, due to his failed attempts concerning his pastorate.  Just prior to resigning, Wilson accepted a complementary invitation to a three and a half day Pastors’ Prayer Summit on the beautiful coast of the Pacific Northwest.  Wilson loved the coast and thought this would be a wonderful opportunity for him to walk the rugged beaches and write his letter of resignation.

During the first day of the prayer summit, while Pastor Wilson walked along the shore, and contemplated his resignation, a pang of guilt came over his conscience.  He had accepted this complementary scholarship for the summit, and over $100 worth of free books, and consequently felt he should at least attend one or two sessions before writing his resignation.  As Pastor Wilson sought the Lord during one of the sessions, he came to the startling realization that in his effort to develop his church, he had tried ‘everything except prayer.”

In light of this startling yet intriguing revelation, Wilson chose not to resign his pastorate. Instead, he would return to his people, and make prayer the “highest” priority in his own life, and in the lives of his congregation.  And yes, you have guessed the conclusion… This new paradigm led to more than a decade and a half of incredible growth and ministry, and it was the total commitment to prayer, not church growth strategies, that Pastor Wilson is convinced made the difference.

If you ask those in fulltime Christian ministry, if they are for prayer, you will almost always hear a resounding yes.  If you ask congregants, who have at least a touch of maturity under their belts, if they believe prayer is powerful, you will hear very few, if any, naysayers.  If the vast majority of layman and pastors (holding to a high view of Scripture) are for prayer, why does it appear that the preponderance of our people are only scratching the surface, when it comes to tapping into this awesome resource?

The work of the Strategic Prayer Initiative^TM has been acutely focused on aiding average American Christians to become seriously more effective in prayer and spiritual warfare.  Part of that effort has been to gather diagnostic survey information from over 3,000 believers on how well they say they are doing in various aspects, or practices, pertinent to the spiritual battle, prayer being the most prominent of these factors.  This analysis, typically done on Sunday mornings, has given us some strong indications of where these people feel they are.

Before we take a brief look at some of the survey results, let me pose what I believe to be a salient question.   If we believe that the fervent prayers of a righteous person can accomplish much, if we believe the prayer of faith can move a mountain, then why do such large numbers of American Christians tap this great resource so casually?

In looking at some of the data, our research shows that 16.6% spend about 30 minutes or more in fully focused prayer on a typical day (somewhat like Mark 1:35, i.e. not multi-tasking).  Eighty-three percent spend 10 or less minutes daily in fully focused prayer, 56.7% spend five minutes a day or less, and 30.6% spend two minutes a day or less.

When you ask these people to tell you if they are satisfied or not with their current prayer lives, 80.2% will say no, yet 95.7% believe “that God wants all of His true followers to have a good prayer life.”

When we asked people to self-rate their current prayer lives, 25.7% said their prayer lives were good or mature, while 46% said fair, and 28% said their prayer lives were poor.

However, one of the most helpful pieces of data shows both the serious need, as well as the incredible untapped potential.  When asked how much of their entire life as a Christian they have actually had a good prayer life, 52.3% said only a small portion of their Christian life, or never.  In other words, half of our warriors are firing blanks from one of their most important weapons!

In conclusion, the Scriptures are replete with admonitions about the power and importance of prayer, and our nation (& world) are abounding in problems and moral crisis.  If Jesus was right that the prayer of faith could cause a mountain to be cast into the sea, it makes one wonder what might be possible, if the church could actually be mobilized in fervent, righteous, and strategic prayer…

by Mike Jebb