The Work of Prayer

Language Ministries: Georges Boujakly
Saturday, January 1, 2005

I became a part of a task force a few years ago to develop a strategy for reaching a particular people group in a large North American city. As the tasks were assigned, one leader accepted the challenge of finding a good demographic study; another was responsible for communicating with the area churches. Another said, "I will put together the strategy for developing churches among the people group." One gifted in evangelism offered to visit and share the gospel. "I would work on bringing missions groups to help," I said.

One person remained quiet as if listening to another voice. After a few self-conscious moments, she spoke, "I would pray." We chuckled. A few moments of awkward silence followed. Jovially, one of us answered, "Yes, we must pray." Then he proceeded to pray instantly for God to bless the efforts of the task force. Furthermore, he challenged the group to pray every time we met. The one who made the suggestion to do the work of prayer lowered her eyes and became silent.

One day I met this woman in another setting. I inquired about how she was feeling about the work of the task force. "Very well," she said. "God has called me to devote at least one day per week to pray for the people group, those who are working with them, and all their needs." I lowered my eyes and became silent. I went away from this serendipitous moment chastised. Sure, we prayed when we met. But she did the work of prayer as her "doing" ministry.

Is prayer any less availing ourselves to Christ than ministry is? Is one less work or more work than the other? In Acts 6:4, the disciples knew God called them as leaders to devote themselves to the work of prayer and to preaching. The order of mention, prayer then preaching, may be instructive for today's leader. Perhaps the work of prayer is more important than preaching! I, for one, desire a healthy balance between the work of ministry and the work of prayer.

Will you choose a people group from a website below and do the work of prayer? Choose a group in your church area and do the work of prayer. The disciples were true to their calling as those who did the work of prayer. We should do no less.