One of the Strategic Priorities for our movement is to press into initiatives that focus us around prayer. This follows on from the Prayer Commitment that was unanimously adopted at our September 2017 Assembly, that “We call on all within our movement to a renewed commitment to prayer both individually and corporately for revival & renewal across our churches and throughout NSW & ACT.”

We want to see that commitment continue to be lived out among us.   As part of supporting that this year, we are launching the 40 Days of Prayer initiative. It is a simple idea to encourage us all in prayer, either alongside what is already happening around prayer in your local church, or as a principal focus for prayer.  

We know that in our own lives and churches we need God’s Spirit to move, to seek for his Kingdom to come and His will to be done.  Our movement’s Gen1K Vision of 1000 healthy Churches in a generation won’t happen without an outpouring of God’s grace and power – we can’t do this in our own strength. So, over these 40 days we will focus on aligning ourselves with His purposes and work, and pray for them to come to pass.

Starting in Term 3* everyone will watch an intro video (individually or in Bible study groups) covering reasons for prayer. Then from Monday 19th July* people will spend the next 40 days going through the booklet that contains short devotions, and prayer points from the Association that tie into one of the aspects of our Gen1K vision. There will be spaces for you to cover your church’s own prayer points (we’ll ask you to pick three), as well as space each day for each person to write their own personal prayer points. At the end of each week there will also be time to reflect on what you may have learnt about prayer or to record any answers to prayer. On Day 20, we encourage you to have a half-day gathering that follows the prayer guide of “A.C.T.S.” – Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving & Supplication.

*Although, if you’ve already planned for the year, you can wait until next year!

At this point we will also encourage you to add fasting to your final 20 days of prayer. Carolyn Altman will be doing some teaching on prayer and fasting in the May session of Insights, to help you be able to encourage your congregation to get on board.

Resources

Resources available for you to download are:

  1. Short promotional video to use in your Church in the lead up to when you start.
  2. 40 Days of Prayer Devotional Booklet
  3. Introduction & Teaching on Prayer video
  4. Day 20 half-day gathering:
    1. Prayer & Fasting video for half-day gathering
    2. Handout for half-day gathering (coming soon)
    3. Suggested runsheet for half-day gathering 
  5. Image for 40 Days of Prayer that you can use in your E-News etc.

To download these resources, please complete the form at the bottom of the page! 

We are looking forward to seeing what God will do through these 40 Days of Prayer.

In the 40 Days of Prayer booklet there are three blank spaces for you (the Pastors/Leaders) to decide what you would like your people to pray for each day as your Church focus. To give you an example of this, when we ran this as a pilot at Bayside Community Church the first prayer point each day was set by the Pastoral Search Committee as were journeying towards finding a new Lead Pastor. They were repeated weekly, on the same day of the week.

The second prayer point followed a pattern of:

  • Monday – A school connected to the Church
  • Tuesday – A community we reach
  • Wednesday – A ministry of the Church
  • Thursday – A mission partner of the Church
  • Friday – A global issue
  • Saturday – People in leadership
  • Sunday – A fruit of the Spirit

For example, each Monday we prayed for a different school in our area that we connected with, including some Mondays we had more than one school so that all schools were covered over the six Mondays.

The third prayer point was for people in our Church family, grouping people together to ensure that over the 40 days each person from the Church was prayed for.

Note: This booklet is an editable PDF, so before you send it out to your church personalise it! 

  • Add the three weekly prayer points for your Church
  • Insert your churches logo into the booklet 
  • Want a hard copy booklet? Print one out! It’s designed to be printed out “Booklet style/A5 size/Fold & Saddle Stitch” if your printer has these settings, or print it out Double-sided! 

Carolyn Altman                                                                                   Steve Bartlett
Prayer Coordinator                                                                             Director of Ministries

 

Download Resources