Prayers for a community are powerful. Ideally, you want your whole community covered in prayer. Even better, you want your whole community praying.
It takes time. And lots of prayer.
If community prayer is your heart, then it starts with you.
Our community is blessed to have many prayer groups, some who have been active for decades. I also know of prayer groups who met here historically, so we are built on a bedrock of prayer.
Even if your community is newer, and doesn’t have a deep history of prayer, I guarantee you God has already been at work preparing the soil. When you respond to His call to pray, He will bless and flourish the prayers you sow into the community.
For several years in our community, we had a group of intercessors meeting each month to pray together. We came from all different churches. We listened for how God would have us pray, and we prayed in unity. Folks in our community saw fruit of what God had led us to pray. (Remember: Prayer is inviting God to do what He already desires and intends to do.)
This summer, I felt led to start praying with others for the community again. We meet once a week at a sidewalk cafe and pray as God leads us. Sometimes we prayer walk around the streets of downtown.
We pray for our schools, health care, highway safety, law enforcement and first responders, businesses, elderly, people living in poverty, students driving for the first time, and other requests that arise with our community news and daily interactions. Our community prayer group meets right before another group of us goes into the jail for ministry, so we pray for the people in the jail as well.
We also declare together that Jesus is Lord over our community. We invite Him to come and have His way in our town.
If you have a heart to pray for your community, see how God would lead you to respond. Do you feel led to start praying with others? It only takes a couple people to get this started. Don’t feel discouraged if you are the only one at first. Spread the word and show up to pray. Often times, the person who starts the group will pray alone for a few weeks. That’s okay. Be faithful and obedient. Before long, others will join you, and it will be amazing.
Keep track of your prayers. We write ours down and take them home to pray during the week. Notice when and how prayers are answered, and thank God together for what He has done. If people want to join you but can’t come at that time, send them your prayer notes so they can join you in prayer from home.
Here are some ideas of what a praying community looks like.
I pray that God will bless your community prayer group immensely and multiply the fruits from the seeds He sows through your prayers.
Adventures with God 