the free methodist church in canada

National Prayer Ministry

The Mandate of the National Prayer Team

As a movement of churches seeking to glorify God and bring people into an eternal relationship with Him, we feel our helplessness. Yes, we have plans and strategies, peoples and programs, buildings and budgets, but if we do not have power, we are like a huge steam engine sitting on miles of track but with no fire in the firebox. Knowing this, and the promise that God will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask, the FMCIC is intentionally seeking to become a house of prayer for all nations that will tap into the power of God to renew and revive us into being a church that is making disciples of all nations. As the National Prayer Team thought and prayed about what we were to be about, we came up with the following expression of it.

The National Prayer Team sees its mandate as: Equipping the churches of the FMCIC to become functioning houses of prayer. We believe a church is becoming a “house of prayer” when a significant number of God’s people pray privately and corporately seeking the kingdom of God in such an intimate way that the Lord’s Presence, unity, power and gifts operate effectively, leading to peace, divine healing, deliverance, wisdom, guidance, provision, and ultimately spiritual growth through conversion & ongoing sanctification.

So how can you be more involved?

  1. Please start praying about it. It is so easy to talk about prayer, but so hard to do. Would you make time each week to pray for the FMCIC whether it is in your own devotional time, in your prayer meetings, or during your regular worship service times.
  2. Make sure there is someone appointed in your church, whether it is a lay person or pastor, to take the lead in encouraging the growth of the prayer life of your church. We want pastors to lead the way in prayer, but we believe Prayer Point People can help put legs under those ideas.
  3. Begin asking God for ways you can grow the prayer life of your church and don’t be afraid to be creative or even a bit radical. For example, I was just talking to a pastor out West who said that they have just started devoting 15 minutes of corporate prayer in their regular worship services.
  4. Join with the larger body in prayer by attending the national, monthly, Zoom Room prayer meetings. Presently we have 3 groups that meet each month, but I am praying for the day when there will be meetings like this in every region of the country.
  5. Share with us how God is helping you to grow in prayer and the answers to your prayers. We are starting to hear reports of new initiatives and encouraging answers to prayer that inspire us all to grow in this grace.

ZOOM ROOM PRAYER MEETINGS

From across Canada we meet for prayer online the last Wednesday evening of every month. For our French speaking brothers and sisters, we have one in French as well. These meetings are for pastors, prayer point people and anyone that they would like to invite “into the room” to pray. If you would like to be part of these prayer meetings, please let your pastor or Prayer Point Person know and he/she will know how to help you get in the Zoom Room. The FMCIC feels its need for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us and we believe that there is power in united and concerted prayer.

PRAYER POINT PERSON

·        The prayer point person, in partnership with their pastor, is the National Prayer Team’s connection with each local church to encourage, resource and solicit prayer.

·        Our strategy is to inspire, equip, resource and pray with them so that they can be a catalyst of prayer in their local congregation.

·        They also become an important link with the FMCIC leadership and its vision so that their church can pray into where God is leading the movement.

·        We would like them to be a regular part of our national Zoom Room Prayer meetings. We have a daily one for half an hour mid-day, and an hour long one that happens the last Wednesday evening of each month. The daily one is nationwide, the monthly one has three groups: one in Ontario, one in Quebec and one in the West.

·        They will be included in an email list for a monthly Prayer Point Update that give an inspirational devotion on prayer, ideas, testimonies, and resources.

·        Grow their own prayer life and encourage others by attending Regional Gatherings and retreats related to prayer.

 

·        As a link with the FMCIC we want it to be two-way relationship, so we want to hear of prayer initiatives your church is taking, important prayer requests testimonies of answered prayer so that we can share them with the rest of the FM family of churches (we have a page in the FMCIC website and a group Facebook page).