Prayer
Stanley Hauerwas is professor of
theological ethics at Duke University’s Divinity
School. He has authored, among other books, A
Community of Character and In Good Company: The
Church as Polis. With Charles Pinches, he has
written Christians Among the Virtues: Theological
Conversations with Ancient and Modern Ethics. With
Will Willimon, he has authored Resident Aliens and
Lord Teach Us. Interviewed by Rodney Clapp in an
article, “What Would Pope Stanley Say?,” (Books and
Culture, vol 4, no 6, p. 16-18), Hauerwas says,
with Paul, “first of all, prayers....” In his own
words, “We have to start giving examples of the
kinds of ways we have to learn to pray as
Christians today, where it doesn’t appear that our
praying is something we stop life to do, and then
we go ahead and do what we were going to do anyway.
How our lives become prayer is absolutely crucial
for instutionalizing this kind of Christianity.”
This is much the same thing that Jesus said in
objection to the Pharisees prayers. Lord, teach us
to live our prayer.
Thetus Tenney says that WNOP
(World Network Of Prayer) exists "to more fully
employ the power potential of agreeing, focused
[emphasis hers] prayer for world revival and other
needs within the body of Christ." Setting up
groundwork for this takes time involves intricacy.
The WNOP secretary has prayer guides written and
printed to help people wanting to pray more who
don't know what to pray about or how to develop a
prayer life. For more information, contact your
national WNOP coordinator.
Each district, section and local church--even each
department within each local church--should appoint
a WNOP coordinator and include people in assigned
prayers. WNOP coordinators should share praise
reports (telling about answered prayer) with other
coordinators. You can give these prayer requests to
your local WNOP coordinator, who can then decide
which ones to send to the section. The section
leader then decides which ones to send to the
district WNOP leader, the district leader to the
national, and the national to the international.
Or, if you want a more rapid response system than
that to deal with emergencies, you can authorize
all local pastors or local elders (whatever in each
place the local church leader is called) to
authorize the district WNOP leader directly, or
perhaps even the national. The point is to get bona
fide requests into the hands of the people ASAP.
The WNOP recommends that each country organize a
network of prayer beginning with the leaders, who
then motivate the rest of the church in that
country by exemplifying consistent prayer in the
offices and churches where they work. They set
aside special days of fasting and prayer just for
the leadership. This same thing the Cachar district
secretary suggested to me. I am glad that these
great minds flow in the same channels.
Also, each country would logically use prayer
warriors to minister to churches in different
meetings on national, district, section and local
levels. These prayer warriors need not be men. In
the USA, some of our greatest prayer warriors and
speakers in encouraging people to pray are women--Vesta
Mangun, for example. In Great Britain, the ladies'
ministries group in Falkirk is led by Sylvana
Collumbine, who was also greatly used in the U.K.
general conference such that the conference
speaker, Brian Kinsey, USA general home missions
secretary, said that he had rarely, if ever, seen a
woman used so greatly by God to lead worship as she
was. In India and Nepal, the Holy Spirit has used
Mala Baral in this ministry. These current examples
encourage other people to similarly surrender to
God.
Each conference and convention should emphasize
prayer. Special sessions or seminars should teach
intercessory prayer, also using prayer guides and
tapes to inform and inspire the national
constituency to intercessory prayer, binding us
together in prayer and love, even though we be far
apart physically, geographically and culturally.
Through the North American base, WNOP secretaries
will communicate prayer requests of international
concern to and from various nations. Within FMD
(Foreign Missions Division), at WEC (World
Evangelism Center), the Director of AIM/Training
will coordinate the prayer network. A prayer letter
with answered prayers and miracles, as well as
articles about prayer and lists of prayer needs,
will be sent to each region. The regional directors
will coordinate the prayer network within their
regions, making sure the needs and letters reach
the WNOP coordinator in each country, and seeing
that needs and testimonies from each region are
sent to FMD.
Each national board should choose someone carrying
a burden of prayer as national prayer coordinator.
Each convention, conference and mass meetings
should present to the members an enrollment form so
they can join the network. Each nation should
select a way of communicating between churches so
as to communicate prayer requests and praise
reports through the system. The national prayer
coordinator will send needs and testimonies of
international significance to the regional
director, who will then communicate these to the
director of AIM/Training at FMD.
Don't make this just another program. Passionately
pursue it, seeking God for your involvement. Share
with WNOP leaders your plans, prayer activities and
requests. Tell them about prayer groups to receive
requests. If you have fax or e-mail, tell them
that, too.
Setting this up takes time, effort and expense. The
British church has a subscription system--each
church subscribing pays twenty pounds annually to
pay for their subscription to Britain's weekly
prayer magazine containing requests, praise
reports, and so on.
Remember: the Day of Pentecost began with people
praying together "in one accord." As Thetus Tenney
said, again, "In Acts 4, desperate prayer by
desperate people released supernatural faith"
resulting in supernatural shaking, fullness,
boldness, unity, submission, fruitfulness, and
generosity. "We need all of this." Let Pentecost
happen again in our hearts, and in people's lives
through international revival we all want, God has
promised, and we are already having more and more.
<br><br>Here are sample prayer request and praise
report forms you might want to adopt or adapt in
your various places:
Prayer
Request Form
Name of Person Needing Prayer:
Illness/Request/Update (circle one):
Contact Telephone Number to Find Out Progress of
Need For Which Request Was Given:
Name of Person Supplying This Information:
People Who Have Been Contacted:
World Network of Prayer:
-
Regional
Director: Date: Method: (e-mail,
fax, phone, letter)
-
National WNOP
Leader: Date: Method:
-
Name: Date: Method:
-
Name: Date: Method:
-
Name: Date: Method:
Praise
Report
Name of Person Raise Reports Is About:
Answered Prayer:
Then you would put the contact telephone number,
name of person supplying the information, and same
list of people contacted as in the first example.
So enjoy, and may God bless your prayer life and
answer your prayer.)
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About Sermons: In parts of India
and Nepal where the gospel has recently reached,
some new believers become elders of new
congregations and do not yet know how to baptize,
preach funerals, find messages in God’s Word, or
where the texts are in certain subjects. While I
cannot meet every need in every language, I can
provide some sermon outlines in English. People in
various language area, but also knowing English,
can translate these sermon outlines and pass them
on to ministers in these new areas to help until
such time as they’re able to get new sermons for
themselves and for their congregations from God’s
Word. We get constant requests to keep providing
these.
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