At the Transformational Pastor’s Gathering this week, I led a breakout discussion on experiencing your community.
One way to experience your community and discern it’s needs is to prayer walk.
A few asked me for some resources about prayer walking.
Some thought the term referred to walking the Labyrinth as an exercise in personal spirituality, but I refer to something completely different.
Prayer walking is walking and praying around your neighborhood.
See Prayer Walking — Developing An Evangelistic Vision for more information on prayer walking. (Adapted from Follow Me: Becoming a Lifestyle Prayerwalker)
An example of prayer walking
David Fitch writes 10 ways of looking for the poor in your area. This is a great article to help you observe where you are. He demonstrates the fruit of his prayer walking where he lives.
As we have been looking at houses, praying over the neighborhoods, seeking where we might buy a house, I have walked the neighborhoods trying to open my eyes to where mission could be engaged.
I find the suburbs difficult for mission. The poor are so hard to find.
Yet as I walked and prayed, I found my imagination stoked by the Spirit. Mission was all around the rhythms of this place. The poor could be found. Here are ten missional places I noticed . .. . . .
An example of a church doing prayer
In 3 Keys To Church Growth — Case Study, I write about a church that takes the work of prayer very seriously and they are seeing plenty of conversion growth because of it. A church will not grow without the labor of prayer.
Praying for Evangelism
Meanwhile, check out the articles in 10 Practical Ways Of Sharing Your Faith, that include several articles on Evangelismcoach.org about prayer.
Moving from Attractional to Missional
After your simple question poped up on Facebook I was convicted to finally get myself up and out and do the prayer walk instead of thinking about it. I walked a neighborhood that I have only recently begun to drive through. This area is a short Tiger Woods drive from our church building. It has been in my mind and heart for sometime. After talking with Christ at the Transformation Confrence I knew that was where I needed to be.
I’m not sure what God has said yet. But it was nice to walk and pray and listen. Once the trees loose their leaves I will have a clear physical view of the area. I am praying and will continue to walk it out with God. I know that God will give me and hopefully the congregation a clear view of His vision for our outreach to those we see.