Are you thinking of holding a week of prayer at your church but don't know where to begin? Look no further. Three Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) gave a week of their schedules to prayer in September, and each approached it in a different way. Perhaps it can encourage your church if you're planning something similar...
1. Have something for everyone
Surrey Chapel in Norwich held a week of prayer designed to ensure that every member of the church family could engage with it.
As well as a prayer meeting every day – set at a variety of different times – there was also a special commissioning service at the end of the week to encourage church members to commit to serving God throughout the coming year.
"At the beginning of the week everyone is given a prayer card so it is clear which themes we are focusing on at each meeting and we make sure there is something for everyone," church member Rebekah Callow said.
Prayer breakfasts sat alongside family meals, where adults and children were encouraged to pray together for things like spiritual growth, ministries run by the church and mission partners.
"The leaders of each prayer time tried to make sure that, over the week, there were lots of different styles of prayer meetings," Callow added. "Some people love the traditional prayer meeting but for others this is a harder way to pray, so it is good to have these different opportunities."
She urged other churches to get involved. "I would encourage every church to have a week of prayer," she said. "You can be creative, it doesn't have to be a week of stereotypical, evening prayer meetings. We had different leaders for each prayer meeting, who led in a variety of styles, but overall this is a way we can stand up and say: 'this is what we're about'.
"It's much more than 'something that just happens', our week of prayer gives us a focus for the year ahead and a sense of unity."
2. Focus on a theme
New City Church in Milton Keynes held its third annual week of prayer early last month, after noticing a growing desire to pray as a church family.
Pastor Richard Wardman says they usually pray around a particular theme, which this year was 'revival'.
"The theme is really there to provide a sense of unity and purpose for the week, but also helps us to pray for all the various aspects of church and life," he said.
The week starts with a service on the theme of prayer, and a shared lunch for the whole church family. "We then meet for prayer every day in someone's home, usually in the evening," Wardman said.
"One day in the week is also given over to fasting and praying. We usually end the week with some kind of prayer breakfast with children and young people in mind.
"We also produce a booklet with a page for each day of the week and give a paper and digital copy to everyone. Each day there are three sections to particularly focus our prayers."
These are prayer points for that day's theme, praying for each church member by name across the week, and praying for various partners.
"I'm always nervous that people won't turn up to the prayer meetings – it's sometimes a struggle to get people together for prayer every couple of weeks, let alone every night of the week! But each year I am wonderfully surprised and blessed to find that people do actually want to come and pray," Wardman added.
"A small number come every night, quite a few will come more than once, and a few more only once. And almost everyone prays out loud, which is so encouraging. There is a sense of excitement and expectation throughout the week, in spite of the tiredness that usually sets in around Wednesday!"
3. Keep it manageable
KEC Church Centre, Kingshurst, in Birmingham, has an unusual way of approaching prayer which actually totals much more than a week, but splits it up to make it manageable for busy church-goers.
"We have three times in the year when we have a particular focus on prayer. First for 21 days, then for seven days followed by a single day of prayer," Pastor Emil Kerekes explained.
"The 21 days of prayer is held in the run-up to Easter. According to the sociologists, it takes 21 days for a person to change their behaviour. Then we have seven days of prayer in September before a new term starts. For these longer times of focused prayer, we meet for half an hour of prayer every single day.
"But then we have one Saturday a year which is a day of prayer from 8:00am – 8:00pm towards the winter holidays. This is a day where the church is open and the people are free to come in any time during that day to pray. It is amazing how many people get involved in prayer on that day. Not everyone can come at the same hour and giving them the choice to come when they can is a great opportunity for them to be part of this."
Many churches struggle with prayer meetings because they can seem like an added burden for congregants to fit into their packed schedules, Kerekes said, so his church decided to spread it out across the year to try and solve the problem.
"Having 21 days and seven days of prayer at different points in the year just for half an hour each day, means people engage with this and they come with a desire to pray for our families, our ministries and our nation," he said.
"I can say it works for us. People are engaged and we are blessed. We pray with expectation and passion and we look forward to that day when our prayers will be answered."
