Praying for the Lost in Our Church's Small Group Ministry

We call them all sorts of things. They used to be "Sunday School." Then we decided to offer them at other times throughout the week and we wanted people to know they were welcome to come, so we called them Connect Groups, or Life Groups, or House Groups or ... it's not important what we call them, it's important that we participate in them! 

At our church we encourage ALL our members to connect in a Life Group. For we tell them that they will grow the most in their faith when they do life together with other believers.

Our small group ministries are the lifeline of our churches.

When people get out of the auditorium and into a group, they become more than a spectator--they become a participant. It's like moving from the student section in the football stadium to the sidelines and exchanging your team colored sweatshirts with the uniform itself.

We live out our faith as disciples of Jesus in small groups. 

And this is why I'm committed this year to bring PRAYER to life in our small groups at Thompson Station Church. Right now most of our groups share prayer requests and send out emails with the requests listed, and our people pray over these items on the list. But most of the time that is spent when they are gathered, is spent talking about the prayer requests more than praying for the prayer requests.

We are going to change this.

And one of the things that we are going to be intentional about is that we are going to pray for lost people by name and watch to see what God does as a result.

What might happen if we prayed for those who are not yet a part of the group? What might happen if our groups took on the task of praying for their neighbors by name? What might happen if our groups took on the task of praying by name for family members, co-workers and friends who don't have a personal relationship with Jesus? 

Note this quote: "Prayer is the lifeline of New Testament evangelism, the oxygen for its holy fire. The New Testament was born in prayer. It knows no evangelism without prayer, and no prayer which does not lead to evangelism.” --Armin Gesswein

I totally believe this is true. Here's how CH Spurgeon said it,

"Methinks every true Christian should be exceedingly earnest in prayer concerning the souls of the ungodly; and when they are so, how abundantly God blesses them and how the church prospers!"

I'm still sorting out how we are going to do this, but for now know this. We're going to come up with a strategy to mobilize our people to pray for the lost by name and I'll let you know what happens when we do. 

If you've got a strategy that is working, send it to me!! 

In the meantime, consider participating in this online study where you will learn to Pray for the Lost in the course my friend Jennifer Kennedy and Dean and I created for you.