Passionate, Extraordinary Prayer

Let's get back to a discussion of the critical elements of a church planting movement. In August's 2nd post and in September's 1st post, we began discussing this subject. A critical element of a church planting movement is a characteristic that seems to be present in every single cpm that is occurring in the world today. These were first identified in the late 1990s and continue to the present day. The latest most complete list in print is in the 1st appendix to Bob Roberts new book, "The Multiplying Church". The complete list was given in the 1st blog posting for September.

Although, new critical elements have continually been identified since the late 90s, the 1st element has almost always been the same: Passionate, Extraordinary Prayer.

Without exception, prayer has been critical in every cpm that we know of worldwide. This prayer has been practiced on many different levels. The leaders of the cpm are people who prioritize prayer. The movements have been covered by intercessors from around the world. Multiple kinds of prayer and prayer networks have factored into the cpms.

Here are some kinds of prayer that have been involved in cpm:
1. Prayer of the missionaries and church planters themselves. I remember meeting leaders of one cpm in West Africa (which incidentally has planted more than 500 churches in a predominantly Islamic country in 36 months). They were people of incredible prayer from the top leader to all the leaders. All night prayer meetings were weekly occurrences in the base church.
2. The prayer life of the churches themselves. CPM churches highly value prayer and an intense prayer life is part of the discipling of the new churches.
3. Luke 10:2 prayer. From top leaders and administrators to church planters, a focus on prayer for laborers for the cpm harvest is a priority.
4. Intercessory networks. Large networks of intercessors who communicate via email or other ways have been developed to cover specific cpms. These networks are literally worldwide and the new "flat" world of communication has made this a dynamic way to have global prayer cover.

The point that we would make here is that cpm is a work of God. No human strategy can achieve or duplicate these results. CPM is not a program that can be boxed, promoted or sold. One can not simply earn a degree in cpm and then go duplicate it in the power of the flesh. It is God's work or it is nothing. For that reason, intercession must be a part of it.

Let me invite you, the reader, to become a participant as an intercessor for the Honduras church planting movement. If you would like to be a part and receive prayer updates from time to time, write me at : dparish9@cs.com. I will follow up with you and let you know how you can participate right now in the launch of a church planting movement as an intercessor.

It's God's work.....let's join Him in it!

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