Survey Says . . . God Help Us!
A recent survey asked more than 800 pastors to name the critical ministries of their churches by listing the top five. Only five percent of participating pastors listed prayer/prayer ministry/prayer groups in the top five. Do they not know that exclusive of the Psalms, which is a prayer-book of its own, the Bible records 650 definite prayers, 450 of which have recorded answers? Do they not know that the most widely used verb in the ministry of Jesus was the verb “to pray?” Do they not know that almost every great spiritual leader in Christianity has listed prayer as utmost important in their life? Do they not know that the countries in the world where Christianity is growing fastest are countries where prayer is paramount in the churches? The answer is that they do not know. Or at least, if they know, they forgot when they took the survey. No wonder the majority of churches in America are either plateaued or dying. No wonder ministerial burn-out is at an all time high. No wonder theological schools are forced to teach conflict management courses while ignoring courses on prayer. Jesus said, “Therefore, pray . . .” (Matthew 9:38). God help us!
Would you join me in praying for the following global concerns:
• Pray for effective follow-up for many international churches who reported record attendance on Easter Sunday.
• Pray for a ceasing of the wave or arrests and searches of religious leaders in Uzbekistan’s capital of Tashkent.
• Pray for relief efforts to families suffering in Zimbabwe’s unprecedented economic disaster where unemployment is at 94%.
• Sunday, April 19 was Resurrection Sunday on the Orthodox calendar. It also began “Fifty Days of Prayer” for evangelical churches in Kharkov, Ukraine. Would you join them?
• Pray for effective follow-up to orthodox Easter services and activities this past Sunday.
April 20th, 2009 at 8:53 am
This is interesting. I have been interviewing pastor lately. Thier churches were identified as healthy and growing. Everyone of they placed a high priority on prayer in the life of the church.
April 20th, 2009 at 9:01 am
It’s a Lifeway survey. So maybe you can tell me why the discrepency. Does Lifeway ever interview the same pastors you interview in their surveys. There may be a difference in interviews done on the field in the midst of ministry and surveys done from an office in a nice comfortable building. The results surprised me too.
April 20th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Dan - I really love the Monday Morning Memos! Keep them coming! By the way, I have seen several studies along this line…and am wondering if those who come from a cessasionist/dispensational background struggle with the effectiveness of prayer. We find in most churches we get into that 99% of the prayer requests are all health related. If pastors believe that miraculous healing is not for today, how do they reconcile that with praying for those who are physically, spiritually or emotionally sick? Many are following what they have been taught in Bible College and/or seminary and their own experiences rather than doing a serious study of what Scripture has to say about the ministry of Jesus. I love Jack Deere’s book, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, which tells of his journey out of cessationism through studying Scripture. I have to believe that pastors of thriving churches (especially in other nations) fully believe that prayer is the source of it all! So, perhaps this mindset in the lives of so many American pastors is what has led to the need for texts like Giving Ourselves to Prayer. If pastors are not convinced, or do not believe in the power of prayer, and that God still does the miraculous today…prayer is left as a devotional side issue on the periphery of churches.
April 20th, 2009 at 11:13 am
I appreciate your heart so much! Shortly upon my arrival to my new position as Associate Pastor of Student Ministry, I found that there was no prayer going on to prepare for our Sunday morning service. So I asked a guy who has exhibited spiritual hunger to join me early every Sunday morning to just pray over every room and every chair in our sanctuary. I also asked our Pastor to join us, and he has come twice. The great thing is that our Sunday morning services have never been the same sense. Prayer is so important. Any relationship has to have communication to sustain, and prayer is not just us talking, but requires that we listening too.
April 20th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Dan, Well Said! True, researched, Biblical and totally practical in light of reading the Bible. When we served in Korea, many people asked about the powerful prayer there. Often the theology might have been a little shaky. But, over here we study it, write books, have seminars, and talk about it. Over there, they “just did it”. And it worked.
April 21st, 2009 at 9:39 am
Dr. Crawford, first of all, let me say “thank you” to you for what you are doing. Wow! You are such a servant of the Lord. Thanks for sharing the statistics with us…..now we know specifically what to pray for and how to pray. I am grateful that we have a pastor here in Livingston at CBC who has always put prayer at the very top of the list. Bro. Barry is so burdened for the lost in our community and even abroad that he mentions prayer regularly in our services and especially at prayer meeting on Wed. nights. Jim and I will be praying with you about the specific needs you mentioned. I certainly didn’t know the harsh reality of some of the needs there. It sure puts things going on around here in a totally different perspective, that’s for sure! So, you can count on us to be praying faithfully for these requests. God bless you and, again, thank you for all that you do for our Lord!