So how come prayer groups keep happening, some of them with amazing longevity? Like the Moravians, whom many credit with the founding of the modern missions movement.
They once formed a 24-hour prayer chain where at least two people were praying each hour of the day - 48 volunteers at a time covering each hour of each day. Their prayer chain lasted 100 years!
Our prayer group here at Calhoun hasn't lasted that long (yet) but it has outlasted most such groups. We've been praying together now for fourteen years.
Sometimes we have three or four praying, sometimes as many as twenty. People have come and gone, the group has changed, but we're still meeting for prayer every Tuesday night.
How come? How have we kept the group praying together that long? What's the secret?
Well, the secret is... there isn't a secret. In fact, WE haven't kept the group together, the Lord Himself has. I know that sounds super-spiritual, but the fact is, when our prayer group started we had only planned to meet once and pray for one of our members headed to surgery the next day.
When we finished, one of the women in our group suggested, "All of you come to our house next Tuesday night and we'll pray some more."
We met that next Tuesday, and have been meeting for prayer every Tuesday (with only five or six interruptions) for fourteen years.
To make a long story short (too late now?), any prayer group that lasts more than a few times has to be a "God-thing". It has to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. And it has to be the result of a hunger for prayer among the larger group, which results in a small prayer group that lasts.
So, how can you foster such a group? Here's a novel idea - pray for it. Pray for such a group to form and to continue.
"You don't get what you want because you don't ask God." -James 4:2 ERV
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