I hope and pray that God will purposefully use this work to reclaim His glory through the revitalization of His Church. I thank God for the immense blessing you are in my life, and I pray fervently that God might use each of you in a mighty way to spread His gospel message to the world.
RESEARCH CONCERN
Unfortunately, however, the authors devoted zero space to the development of a culture of prayer for him. Of those SBC churches experiencing revival, what percentage emphasized developing a culture of prayer in the revival process?
LITERATURE REVIEW
With regard to revitalization, several issues lend themselves to fueling the decline of the church. Since God's Word does not change, a change in the culture of the church is in order. Because of the impatience of the Israelites, even though they had devoted themselves to God (Exodus 20), it urged Aaron to make gods for them (Exodus 32).
Lloyd-Jones did not predict the decline of the SBC, but of the church in general. The eighth part of the Phase 2 research concerned the role of prayer in the revitalization of the church (see Appendix 3). Great acceptance” of their efforts to change the church's prayer culture (see Table 10).
Demographics
I have grown in my personal practice and addiction to prayer since then.” However, almost ten percent of respondents indicated that they should pray more. The final open-ended prayer question of the survey (question 28) asked, "In what ways was the theme and act of prayer prioritized in corporate worship during the revitalization process?" No distinct themes emerged from this open-ended question. The last question of the survey (question 32) was under the heading of general comments and advice sought from those who have just started the revival process, are currently in the process, or have already attended the church.
Interestingly, two of the pastors interviewed had earned non-theological doctorates and were subsequently called to serve as full-time pastors.24.
Themes
Pastors directed specific times of prayer. All twelve pastors unanimously stated that the having specific times of prayer became one of the most
I became convinced that part of the problem in the church was that men are in the church, and it's not just our church, it's any church, but the men of the church have abdicated their responsibility. This particular pastor invited the men of the church to come and pray to the altar every Sunday morning, and thus lead the church to pray by their example. 27. He said, "We always have specific times of emphasis in the life of the church, whether it's some kind of outreach event, we do a few things throughout the year that we call in a team to do for them. pray."28 Before a church-wide revival, pastor promoted 4 hundred days of prayer before the revival.
She told her husband that she and the other women prayed that the men in the church would "step up" to lead the church in the areas mentioned above.
Pastors prayed and remained humble during the revitalization process. Ninety two percent of the interviewed pastors indicated that remaining humble,
And so, our concern was, and as we knew very well that if you're going to have a vibrant community, all of your churches have to do well. God knows.”32 This kind of attitude required a dose of humility to make sure that regardless of the results of church revival, God simply controls the results. Regarding prayer and humility, Pastor 9 put it this way: “Prayer is to understand that we are not on the throne; and he is and that to me is what the prayer sums up is a reminder to me to get off the seat is not mine, it is his.”33 Pastors who worked with God to revitalize their church humbly asked God through prayer and modeled practice for their people.
Ten out of twelve pastors believed that modeling prayer in their own lives both privately and publicly.
Pastors modeled prayer in their own life. Ten out of twelve pastors believed that modeling prayer in their own lives both privately and publicly
He wanted all people to know that his church considers prayer to be an important discipline, so it forms the practice together.
Pastors discovered that congregations held tightly to the typical and traditional prayer times. A difficulty faced by seventy five percent of pastors in the
Pastors should be more intentional about prayer at the
Because of the influx of new people and believers into his church, a pastor said. I think it takes some study or training to pray effectively.”40 Another pastor said, “I certainly would have taught more about prayer from the pulpit in the early days.”41 Pastors 9 and 10 said they were purposely trained their greeters to pray for the people who came to church that day, with Pastor 10 saying, “Pray for God to take hold of their lives!”42 A final minister deliberately preached several series on prayer from different angles and perspectives.43 He wanted the church not to come to know prayer as an intellectual or academic affair, but to see prayer as God intended—as a way of communicating with him. Countless ministers referred to Gregory Frizzell and Jim Cymbala as great resources for training their people in prayer.44 These ministers deliberately sought out books and resources to help their people develop the discipline of prayer in their lives and also preached specifically about prayer from the pulpit.
These pastors saw the need to intentionally teach their people about prayer and teach them how to pray.
Pastors found prayer to be foundational to the revitalization process. Nine of twelve pastors claimed that prayer provided the foundation they needed
The idea that prayer is fundamental to these pastors aligns with the thinking of Jonathan Edwards in his work An Humble Attempt. Regarding the foundation that prayer provides, one pastor said, "I really held that [prayer] before the people to understand that whatever we hoped to happen would have its foundation in prayer."45 This pastor desired that his people provide the firm foundation through the practice of prayer as they sought God in their outreach and revival. Building on the words of pastor 5, pastor 9 admitted: "If we are going to do evangelism and grow and do church on Sunday morning, everything must be bathed in prayer."46 Similarly, pastor 10 declared,.
One pastor described the influence of prayer in his church as "the straw that stirs the drink."48 Another pastor described the source of strength through prayer: "Where the strength comes from is from the Lord, and it was central to finding something new. life in the church and in our ministry.
Pastors described their church’s prayer culture as scattered when they arrived. More than 50 percent of the pastors interviewed described the church
Six of the twelve pastors indicated that they refocused the midweek service on teaching. Six out of twelve pastors indicated that they refocused the midweek service on prayer rather than Bible study. Then this pastor reorganized his midweek prayer service as a dedicated prayer service: 60-70 minutes of prayer, with a short prayer at the beginning.
However, Pastor 6's heartbeat came from his desire for his congregation to see how their pastor does the hard work of interceding for his people through prayer.60 The refocusing of the midweek service on prayer, not teaching, helped churches to power of prayer
Pastors advised patience through prayer during the revitalization process. Fifty percent of the pastors interviewed exhibited patience
Each of these questions is answered as they relate to the development of prayer culture in selected churches. This question 8 read: "Describe the prayer culture of the church before revitalization." The question gave the researcher an insight into the prayer culture of the churches before the revitalizers began to change prayer practices. It posed this question to pastors: "How has the emphasis on developing a culture of prayer contributed to the revival of the church?" With this question, the researcher wanted to gain insight into the effects of prayer in churches.
In phase 2, 145 pastors responded to the survey, which provided the researcher with an additional opportunity to capture experiences of the pastors about the role of prayer in their revival efforts.
CONCLUSIONS
Briefly describe the main changes in the disciple's church ministry that you believe contributed significantly to the revival process. Briefly describe the main changes in the church's evangelistic ministry that you believe contributed significantly to the revival process. Briefly describe the main changes in the church's mission ministry that you believe have contributed significantly to the revival process.
Briefly describe the main changes in the church's prayer service that you believe have contributed significantly to the revival process.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Demographic Questions
My name is Dean Clark, and I am a researcher writing on behalf of a research team of doctoral students from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, under the supervision of Dr. Based on current Annual Church Profile (ACP) data, you are in the 3.2% of Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Churches that have been led to revitalization in the last decade. As an incentive, if you complete the survey within the next seven days and indicate willingness to participate in a 20-30 minute in-person interview if requested, you will be entered into a drawing for a $250 Amazon gift card .
1 Joseph Stephen Hudson, "A Competency Model for Church Revitalization in Southern Baptist Convention Churches: A Mixed Methods Study" (PhD diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
SAMPLE EMAIL SENT TO PASTORS Dean Clark is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting
In retrospect, what would you have done differently regarding the development of the culture of prayer. What resources, if any, have you found helpful in developing a culture of prayer in your church? How did the emphasis on prayer development of a prayer culture contribute to the church's revival?
AGGREGATE DATA
A Biblical Theology of Prayer.” In Teach Us to Pray: Prayer in Scripture and the World, edited by D.A. A Humble Attempt to Promote the Express Agreement and Visible Union of God's People, in Extraordinary Prayer, for the Revival of Faith and the Advancement and Advancement of Christ's Kingdom on Earth. A Competency Model for Church Revitalization in Southern Baptist Convention Churches: A Mixed Methods Study.” PhD Dissertation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2017.
By instructing their congregation to pray at certain times, by remaining humble and patient in the process, and by teaching their congregations to pray, these pastors, through the power of the Lord, brought their churches back to health.
