At our church we have a team of over 100 people who've committed to fast and pray once a week, or one day a month specifically for the purpose of praying for our church. We provide this team of prayer partners with a private prayer list. The list is compiled by collecting prayer requests from church staff members. Staff share their requests both for their personal lives and for their areas of ministry. At the first of the list we include churchwide annual goals (what we update monthly). Each month we update our requests and list praises for the answered prayers we've experienced. 

In order for you to capture the spirit of this vital ministry, let me share the introduction I wrote for the first private prayer list we sent to our team members this past January 2022: 

Happy New Year! If you have just now joined our praying and fasting team, WELCOME! We are so glad you are here. This list is for your personal use as you fast and pray a day a week, or a day this month.

The best...

We get together in our church buildings for a lot of different reasons.

We get together to read and discuss the Bible.

We get together to plan mission trips and ministry projects.

We get together to worship.

We get together to play! (My grandchildren especially enjoy this kind of getting together.) 

And, we get together to pray.

Oh, wait--do we do that?

Do you?

If you were to take a pie chart and fill in all the space that you get together at your church building specifically for prayer--how much of your pie would you fill in?

A sliver?

A solid piece?

Most of the plate?

When Jesus mentioned that He wanted His house to be a house of prayer (Matthew 21:13), it seems to me that He thought that the main thing we'd be doing at church would be praying.

After all, the main thing they serve at Chick Fil A is chicken and so it makes sense that if Jesus said His house would be called a house of prayer the main thing we should be doing at church is praying.

The fact that we don't...