By Mark A. Taylor
One of the most encouraging aspects of Restoration Revolution is the way it is motivating some churches to pray.
You”ll remember that Restoration Revolution is a 10-year emphasis challenging Christian churches to share Jesus worldwide via four main strategies: prayer (“Almighty”), launching church-planting strategies (“Churches”), creating and distributing needed resources (“Tools”), and recruiting more workers (“Servants”).
Dave and Kim Butts of Harvest Prayer Ministries International are spearheading “Light the Fire,” an emphasis challenging churches to spend every hour of a whole week in prayer as a part of this emphasis.
“Churches, campuses, and missions organizations are each committing to pray towards kingdom purposes of Almighty God, specifically finishing the task of world evangelization, for one or more weeks during this 10-year period,” according to a note on the Restoration Revolution Web site (RestorationRevolution.com). “A “˜torch” of prayer will be passed from location to location either physically or virtually as we join together in unity to seek the face of God.”
This passing of the prayer torch is happening “in person, by phone, and via Skype,” Kim Butts said. “Thanks to an elder at Northside Christian Church, Albany, Indiana, a physical torch . . . has been hand carried or mailed to every venue except one so far,” she reported in March. “Every group is attaching some kind of card” to list and/or describe their week of prayer.
Revolution on Our Knees: Thirty Days of Prayer for Neighbors and Nations is a 64-page prayer guide supporting this effort. “Many of the churches participating in Light the Fire are doing one of several things with the book,” Kim said. “Some are reading it devotionally for 30 days either before, during, or after their week of prayer.”
For more information about when your church could host its own week of prayer, find the link under “Almighty” at the Restoration Revolution Web site. To learn more about the 30-day prayer guide, click on the book”s cover at the Christian Standard Web site.
Meanwhile, we hope to have a fuller report soon, with testimonies from churches who have participated so far in a Light the Fire week of prayer.
The Restoration Revolution Web site reminds us about what”s at stake: “The clear message of human history is this: if we are to see God work powerfully in and through his body, the church, it will happen in response to the passionate, united, intergenerational prayers of his people. Prayer always precedes a mighty move of God”s Spirit.”
As more and more churches join this commitment to prayer, our anticipation heightens to see how God”s Spirit will move.
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